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#sorry the audio might be a bit quiet
7ndipity · 4 months
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Second Glances
Yoongi x Reader
Summary: You and Yoongi have been best friends for years, but after you confess you feelings for him, Yoongi realizes he might have misread his own feelings towards you.
Word Count: 1.9K
Warnings: slight angst, swearing, lil suggestive at the end, partially proofread
A/N: Thanks so much to @whitefoxgirl for this request! Tbh, I'm not entirely happy with this, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging for ages while I nitpicked.🙄 I hope you still like it tho💜
Masterlist
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It was a strange thing, how you could go on seeing someone the same way for years, and then all of a sudden, something happens and turns you on your head.
When Hobi had first introduced you to his fellow members after you moved to Seoul, you and Yoongi had clicked instantly, much to the surprise of everyone else. No one could quite understand it, but the two you had seemed to fit together naturally like two halves of a whole, the yin to his yang; while he was on the quieter, more introverted side, you were bright and loud, with an infectious enthusiasm. A prime example of that being the way he could hear you and Hobi before you ever entered his studio, laughing loudly as you rushed through the door ahead of his bandmate.
“There’s no way you did that!” You insisted.
“I did, I swear, we even have video of it!” Hobi argued.
“What the fuck are you two yelling about?” Yoongi asked, more amused than annoyed by the sudden noise.
“Did he actually go bungee jumping?” You asked, turning your attention to him.
“Why would I lie about that?!” Hobi exclaimed.
“Oh, that,” Yoongi deliberated for a second before smirking over at Hobi. “No, he didn’t.”
“Why are you lying?!” Hobi yelled, making you both burst into laughter. As much as Hoseok loved you and his hyung becoming friends, you were absolute menaces together, constantly teasing him and the members, as well as each other.
“Screw it, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come with us to get something to eat?” He asked, exasperatedly.
“Sure.” Yoongi answered, still laughing slightly.
“Cool, I’m gonna go find Jimin, I’ll be right back.” He announced, heading back out the door before either of you could say anything else.
Yoongi turned his attention back to the screen in front of him as you settled on the sofa, Hobi apparently having taken your energy with him as he left, as silence suddenly fell over the room.
Yoongi glanced over at you. “You okay?”
“Hmm?” You looked up in confusion. “Yeah, why?”
“I dunno, you just got kinda quiet.” He shrugged.
You let out a small laugh. “I’m okay, I just know that you don’t like a lot of noise, so I usually try to be a little calmer when it’s just us so I won’t bug you.”
“You don’t bug me.” He said.
“No?” You looked at him doubtfully.
“Well, not a significant amount.” He smirked, making you laugh again. “You wanna see what I’m working on?”
“Really?” Your eyes lit up.
“Sure.” He said, pulling a second chair over close to his so you could both see the screen as he hit play.
Yoongi was normally quite private about his music, at least until it was finished, but he loved getting to show you his new projects, talking animatedly as you listened to part of the song, explaining how he mixed and layered the audio files, or what lines he liked best.
“So is this how you get girls?” You said, unable to resist teasing him just a little bit as he spoke.
“No,” He shot you a sly look. “I just like getting to teach you stuff.”
“Oh really?” You grinned, leaning over the arm of your chair. “You know, I don’t know how to kiss either, care to teach me that?”
Yoongi’s eyes widened, looking over at you in surprise.
“I’m just joking Yoongs!” You laughed, trying to quickly dispel any awkwardness. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“Eh, it’s okay, it boosts my ego.” He replied, grinning at you.
“Really?” You asked.
“Yeah, even if I know you’re just playing around.” He said, shooting you a quick wink, missing the way you looked away, falling silent again for a new reason.
While it was true that part of your flirty remarks were just for the sake of teasing him, enjoying the way you could so easily make him flush red, that wasn’t the case for all of them.
In the past few months, your feelings for Yoongi had shifted from those of purely a friend into something more, a fact that you had been trying to subtly bring to Yoongi’s attention, apparently without success.
You hadn’t wanted to just drop the information on him like a bomb, fully aware that he might not reciprocate, and not wanting to jeopardize your friendship, but clearly your current approach was not going to get you any type of answer.
“What if I wasn’t?” You said suddenly.
“What?” He glanced back at you, confused.
“What if I wasn’t kidding? What if I liked you?” You asked, watching him carefully.
He blinked at you. “I-, did, wait what?!”
“I know it’s probably not the best time, but I don’t know if there’ll ever be a ‘best time’ to say this.” You took a breath. “I like you, as more than a friend, and I understand if you don’t feel the same for me, but I just… I just wanted to say it.” You finished, staring down at your hands, afraid to meet his gaze.
He stared at you in complete shock, his mind scrambling to try and make sense of what you’d just said. How long had you felt this way? What did this mean for your friendship?
The seconds ticked by as the silence in the room grew nearly unbearable.
“Please say something.” You urged.
“Y/n, I-,” Yoongi sat back in his chair. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see you that way.” He said as gently as possible.
You nodded, letting out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
“I’m so sorry.” He apologized.
“It’s alright, I knew it was a long shot,” You smiled at him. “At least now I know, and we can go on as normal.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah.” You chuckled slightly at his bemused expression. “I’m a grown woman, Yoongi, I can handle a little rejection. I knew you might not feel the same, but nothing’s changed, you’re still one of my best friends. I just wanted to tell you.”
“Okay.” He said, visibly relaxing.
“Are we still okay?” You asked.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Cool.” You smiled, quickly changing the subject as the others came back in.
To Yoongi’s surprise, you lived up to your word, continuing on with your friendship as if nothing had ever happened, hanging out with him and other members as usual. Even that same day at lunch, no one else would’ve had an inkling of what had transpired between the two of you from the way you acted, sitting together and talking easily, still making your teasing comments here and there.
Everything was exactly the same, except it wasn’t.
It was miniscule at first, but in the weeks that had followed, it was clear that something had changed. Not you exactly, but something in the way Yoongi saw you changed; the way you laughed at something he said, or the way you smiled at him, but suddenly everything about you seemed to draw him in, leaving him questioning his words to you. Did he see you as more than a friend?
Looking back, he couldn’t deny that he’d always thought you were attractive, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was attracted to you. And maybe sometimes his heart rate picked up a little more than usual due to your flirty remarks, but that was just because you caught him off guard. It didn’t mean anything, right? It wasn’t like he caught himself thinking about you constantly or wondering about how your lips would feel against his-
What the fuck?! He shook himself, quickly glancing over at where you were sitting on his sofa, working peacefully on your laptop.
He felt like he was going crazy, like he was gaslighting himself. Was your confession really all it had taken to make him develop feelings for you? Or had they existed the whole time and he was just too blind to notice? Why couldn’t he have had this fucking revelation three weeks ago when you were sat in front of him? But of course you figured it out first, you were always more forward than he was, that was one of the things he loved about you…
Fuck.
The worst part was that you could tell something was off, but he couldn’t very well tell you what. He would look like a complete asshole if he tried to make a move on you after having rejected you, like he was just fucking around with your feelings.
“Yoongs?” Your voice suddenly snapped him back to the present, realizing he’d been staring off into space.
“Sorry.” He mumbled, turning back to his computer.
You sighed, sitting up and moving your things off to the side.
“Are we gonna talk about this?” You asked.
“About what?” He didn’t look up.
“About how weird you’ve been acting lately.” You said.
He didn’t respond, looking down.
“Look, if this is about what I said-”
“It’s not.” He denied quickly.
“Yoongi, you’ve barely even looked at me today.” He turned around, meeting your eyes as you stared at him.
“Please, just talk to me.” You pleaded.
He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
You waited. “Because?”
“Because I screwed up,” He said. “You told me how you felt and I said no, but now I can’t stop thinking about it and, fuck, you must hate me, I don’t know what the fuck I’m saying but I-”
His ramble was abruptly cut off by you striding across the room and crashing your lips to his, making his mind go blank. He leaned up into you, hands finding your hips to steady you as you leaned over his chair, your hands tangling in his hair, savoring the taste of your lip balm on his tongue.
Too soon for his liking, you pulled away, breathing heavily as you met his eyes.
“I definitely don’t hate you,” You breathed. “Though I do have some things to say about your communications skills.” You snickered.
“Of course you do.” He scoffed.
“We can talk about that later though.’ You smiled. “Right now, I'd rather us just cover the basics.”
You leaned in again, noting the way his breath hitched slightly.
“Do you want this?” You asked softly.
He stared up at you with dark eyes, his voice coming out as almost a whisper. “I do.”
You kissed him, pressing him back in his chair as you moved to straddle him, earning a soft grunt from him. Yoongi gripped your waist tightly, not entirely used to having someone take the lead like this, but finding himself falling into the role easily, melting against you as you pressed closer, a shiver passing through him as your tongue slipped into his mouth.
“Hey hyung, I was jus- AGH MY EYES!”
You nearly fell backwards off Yoongi’s lap at Jimin’s scream from behind you, Yoongi’s hands catching you as you both whipped around to see the younger member standing in the doorway, staring at both of you in shock.
“Do you ever fucking knock?!” Yoongi snapped.
“I was-, I-.” Not knowing how to respond, Jimin simply backed out of the room, closing the door loudly behind him, leaving you and Yoongi alone again.
“Maybe we should do this somewhere else.” You said, face flushed in embarrassment.
“Why? Now they know not to come in.” Yoongi grinned, trying to tug you closer again, but you put a hand on his chest.
“Yoongi.” You complained.
“Okay, fine” He relented. “I guess I should buy you dinner first, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”
“You suck.” You laughed.
“Hey, you’re the one that likes me, it’s not my fault you have shit taste.” He teased, kissing you again lightly.
“Alright then, Mr. Gentleman, buy me dinner.” You grinned against his lips.
“Yes ma’am.”
Taglist: @sopebubbles-replies @btsw1fe @this-must-be-my-tardis @whitefoxgirl @bethanysnow @coffeedepressionsoup @main-bangtansmauyeondan @captainorangegoose @k4ngelz
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satanic-witchcraft · 11 months
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Hi there! I really love your work! Your audios make my day every time I listen to them!
I have a request. Wally has been getting secret admirer letters and poems lately, but he can't figure out who sent them. So, when one comes in asking him to meet them somewhere, he's excited to finally meet whoever it is. Turns out, it's been his crush, the neighborhood author, all along! How would he react to finding out? And would he have the courage to ask them out?
I slightly misunderstood the request, but i hope you still like it!! Sorry! I hope you still enjoy! <3
‼️please go support wally's ACTUAL voice actor, @DaFrankiestein!🩷🩷🩷‼️
The art & characters used are by clown/party coffin!🩷Go support them and donate to their Kofi of you can!
Subtitles, wally speaking: [speaking softly] oh this one is just beautiful.. [sees y/n] huh?? Oh! Hello neighbor!! Uh- yes! I wanted to talk to you today! Are you finally free?? Wonderful! Okay so.. Look at this! I got some letter from a secret admirer! Well.. Technically I've been getting letters! They're these.. Gorgeous, absolutely stunning poems! Like.. Look at this one! It's so beautiful.. Everything about it is just gorgeous! Gosh even reading it now im- I'm turning a bit red! [sigh] I wonder who sent me these! What do you think?? Do you know anyone who.. Heheh! Might Send something like this??? [pause] You.. Sent.. Them?? Wait.. You sent these.. To me?? You made-.. You made these.. for me??? [wally slowly gets flustered and red] you did! Oh my goodness! Oh!.. Haha! Suddenly i feel rather flushed.. And a bit embarrassed!.. Oh my goodness! You.. Such an amazing, wonderful, awfully.. stunning person like you?? [wally gets a bit quiet] You admire me..?? Oh, well.. Heh! I admire you too neighbor.. You are everything to me..you make my day... Thank you for all of this! I-.. Heh! I love you too..❤️
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stone-stars · 2 months
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Transcript:
Murph: Uh, and then of course we've got Caldwell Tanner! Caldwell: Hang on, I gotta get ready. [Jake laughs.] Murph: You don't have a Birdie rhyme ready, dude? Caldwell: I have a Birdie rhyme. Emily: He has an instrument, my man! Caldwell: I have an instrument. [Pause, then the sound of a wooden frog being played. Caldwell speaks rhythmically.] Nights are cold, days are long! [Wooden frog is played once.] Try to be bold, try to be strong! [Two strokes of the wooden frog.] But with my friends and Birdie by my side, nothing can go wrong. [Two strokes of the wooden frog.] Hold for frog song! [Rapidly plays the wooden frog with intensity.] Emily: [clapping, prolonged] Yay---!! Caldwell: Yes! Yes. Murph: A-- A very important part of that is that he had a wooden frog? That he was... rubbing with a stick? [Emily and Jake laugh. Caldwell softly plays the frog.] Murph: I don't know that it quite-- worked with audio. Emily, talking over him: It was really good. It was really-- Agree to disagree Murph. [Jake and Caldwell laugh in the background.] Murph: And overall-- this is a podcast. So one could argue-- Emily, over him, with increasing intensity: Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree. And now this entire episode is gonna be scored by a wooden frog. Murph: Yeah? Caldwell: I'm so-- I'm so fucking sorry, I can't play an instrument on our podcast? Murph and Emily: Yeah. Caldwell: That's what Emily does all the time! Emily: Yeah. It's fucking gorgeous. It was gorgeous. Murph: Yeah. Okay. Okay. No-- Caldwell: Hey, you know what-- Emily: Caldwell, I'm so impressed. I'm so fucking impressed. Murph: Jake's weirdly quiet. [Jake laughs.] Jake's pretty quiet. I don't know what-- he might agree with me. Caldwell, under him: Thank you so much Emily. Emily, yelling: I can speak for both of us! Caldwell, I'm so fucking impressed! Jake: (laughing) I'm-- I'm in between Murph and Emily, I think. I thought it was fine. [Murph, Emily, and Caldwell laugh.] Caldwell: I'm going intro obscure 2024. Emily: Twenty-twenty-fure. Caldwell: Twenty-twenty-fure. Murph: Jake had-- Jake had a little bit of a scared look, like he didn't know where Caldwell was going with it. [The others laugh.] And I will say I was scared as well! When you broke out the wooden frog and just kind of scraped it as you were talking, I thought, surely this can't be that much of a part of it. Emily: And I saw it and I said "I hope this roller coaster does flips." And it did! [Caldwell laughs.] Murph: Yeah. Jake: It did loop-de-loops. Murph: It also is a reference to… was it Dungeon Court where you were doing slam poetry? Emily: Well-- I was thinking you were doing a "So I Married an Axe Murderer" cadence? Caldwell: (laughs) Kind of. It's always in there a little bit. [Emily laughs.] Murph: Okay, so you need to be caught up on Dungeon Court, Caldwell: Right. Well no, last-- Murph: You need to know that he has a frog… with him. Emily: Yeah, it was perfect, Murph. Caldwell: Yeah, it was flawless. Murph: (disbelieving) Yeah, it was perfect? Emily: The audience has followed! Murph: (laughs) Okay. Caldwell: Actually, last episode we were talking about not doing intros and doing alternative stuff. Murph: Oh, okay! Caldwell: And I said I was gonna get a cork keyboard. And I looked, but they were kind of expensive, so I figured I would use this frog statue that my friend Kiana got me. Jake: That was definitely "alternative," you were correct. Emily: I think it was awesome. Murph: Yeah. Alright. [Emily laughs.] Jake: Snaps for you, dude. Murph: Snaps for you. Caldwell: Okay, here we go. [He plays the frog.] Murph: Okay. (laughs) Again. Caldwell: Start the show! Jake: (laughs) Now he won't put away the rest of the episode, right [Caldwell laughs.] Emily: Yeah, I was like "okay, maybe I gotta tone down the support." Murph: Get it away from the mic. Get it away from the mic. Emily: Just for the sake of it not coming back during the episode. Caldwell: Just gonna put it over there now. Murph: Okay, let's go ahead and do a little recap!
[Everyone laughing.] Calder: This-- this is really catching on. Kenna: Wow, if only you had some kind of wooden frog to scrape! [Emily laughs harder. So do Jake and Caldwell.] Caldwell: Reaching for it. [Murph laughs.] Resisting. We're about to make a DC 30 check, I should not make Murph mad. [Everyone laughs.] Jake: Fair. Murph: Weird it's-- the wind picked up and it's a DC 35 check, now. Caldwell: Huh.
Murph: And you can tweet about the show using hastag Naddpod that's N-A-D-D-P-O-D. Everyone, as Caldwell scrapes the frog along to the lyrics: We are we are! The youth of the nation! We are we are! The youth of the nation!
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morallyinept · 28 days
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A full transcribe of JOEL MILLER'S dialogue/lines from the TV show THE LAST OF US.
EPISODE 6 - KIN
Includes full dialogue, and dialogue from any deleted/additional scenes available.
I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to read the dialogue. 🖤
FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE
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☝🏻Dialogue has been fully transcribed by myself using reference to original scripts (if available), audio subtitles and using my own two ears. Therefore, mistakes can be made, however I have tried to be as fully accurate as I can. If you spot an obvious mistake, please kindly let me know. Where audio is not clear, I have marked with *inaudible* Scenes are separated for ease of reference.
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FULL SCRIPT DIALOGUE:
...gimme the gun. Gimme the gun, Henry.
Henry, no!
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And the gun. 
Just someone passin’ through. Take the gun out, two fingers only. Put it out of reach. 
I’m lookin’ for my brother. 
I haven’t told you what he looks like. 
A bit. 
No. Ellie!
What did I just say?
Nevermind her. I need you to tell us where we are. 
We’re somewhere here. Exactly where? And your answer better the same as your wife’s. 
Well, you found a great place to hide, I guess. 
So you haven't heard the name Tommy?
You got any advice on the best way west? 
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They’ve lived here a long time. Put that back. 
Shut up. 
I’m okay, I’m okay. I’m fine. 
I said I’m fine! Just the cold air… all of a sudden. 
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Don’t start. It’s too close to dark. There’s some caves along the river. We’ll set up camp there, cross in the mornin’. 
We can get our own rabbits. 
Just keep movin’.
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Come down from there. You’re gonna break your neck. 
No. 
Okay?
Oh, it’s a “we?”
It’s never been an option. Maybe… an old farmhouse. Some land. A ranch. 
Sheep. I would raise... sheep. They’re quiet and do what they're told. 
And what about you, where you gonna go?
Sally Ride. 
It’s a little late to start wonderin’.
Tried what?
Well, I reckon it’s a lot more complicated than that. Marlene, she’s a lotta things, but… she's no fool. If she says they can do it, they can do it. 
I’ll do both. Get some sleep. Dream of… sheep ranches on the moon. 
__________________
You gotta wake me up if that happens. You can’t do things like this. 
I’m responsible for you, okay?
Uh-uh. 
You wake me up next time. 
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Fine. 
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You don’t know how to whistle?
No.
Talent. 
Huh. 
You can handle the shootin’. Not so sure about the dressin’.
The part where you take the guts out. 
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You’re no Will Livingston. 
Yeah. Don’t ask me. I don’t have a clue. 
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Get behind me. 
We ain’t lookin’ for any trouble. We’re just passin’ through. 
How ‘bout we just talk this through?
Okay. Easy. 
It’ll be okay. 
There’s no infected out here. 
Like I said, we’ll just move on. 
I’m just lookin’ for my brother. That’s all, nothin’ more. 
Joel. 
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Tommy! 
I came here to save you.
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Thank you, ma’am. Been a while since we had a proper meal. 
Sorry. Ellie, let’s mind our manners. 
What’s wrong with you?
Ellie. 
Ma’am, we’re grateful for your hospitality an’ all. But it’d be nice to have a moment here, maybe just for family. 
Congrats.
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And you said infected?
No, he can’t. How do you keep this place quiet?
You draw power from the dam?
So, uh, communism. 
We’ve been doin’ fine. 
Yeah. Okay. 
You’ll be fine. 
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Been a long time. Doesn’t seem like you aged much. 
Pshoo. Christmas trees and bacon? Pretty decent set up. 
She’s fine. Alright. 
Oh, yeah. She’s the daughter of some Firefly muckety-muck. Tryna find her family somewhere out here. I was headin’ in this direction, so… 
There’s a payment. So, you know where they might be, these Fireflies? 
It’ll be easy for us seeing as you can headshot infected from half a mile away, which is a bunch of bullshit, by the way. 
Oh, come on. I made it across the country. The two of us can make it from here to Colorado. 
What, ‘cause your wife won’t let you? 
She the one who kept you off the radio? Is that why you stopped messaging me back?
I’m your brother. 
No, I heard. Wrong people might show up. So is that what I am? Am I the wrong people? 
Those things I did, Tommy, those things that you judge me for, I did those things to keep us alive. 
If you knew the shit that I’ve been through, Tommy, tryin’ to find you these last few months-
Guess we’ll find out.
What else am I supposed to say? 
We’ll grab some supplies and be outta your hair in the mornin’. 
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This ride to the university, is it a suicide mission?
You’ve had people go that way and come back? 
She’s immune. 
Ellie. She got infected, but she didn’t get sick. 
Tommy. Tommy, I saw her get bit myself. That was months ago. Months. She’s immune. 
It was Marlene. She hired us to smuggle her to some Fireflies. It went bad. Tess got bit. She made me swear to take the kid. It was her dyin’ wish. What the hell was I supposed to do? We made it as far as KC, and then… You know, she saved my life there… from another kid. Five years ago, I would’ve destroyed him. But she had to shoot him to save me. Fourteen years-old. Because I was too slow and too fuckin’ deaf to hear him comin’. And I saw… I saw a man kill his own brother to save her while I just watched. And today I thought that dog was gonna tear her apart because it smelled somethin’ on her. And all I did was stand there. I couldn’t move… I couldn't think of anything to say. I just… I was so afraid. 
You think I can still handle things, but... I��m not who I was. I’m weak. Lately, there are these moments where the fear comes up outta nowhere, and my heart… feels like it’s stopped. And I have dreams. Every night. 
I don’t know. I can’t remember. I just know that when I wake up, I've lost somethin’. I’m failin’ in my sleep. That’s all I do. It’s all I’ve ever done… is fail her again and again. 
I’m just gonna get her killed, I know it. I know it. I have to leave her. 
I mean, it’s why you took off on me, right? To make up for the things we did? Well, here’s your chance to bring your kid into a better world. You’re younger than me, you’re still strong. You said it yourself, you’ll come back. You have to take her. And you can’t tell anyone, not even Maria. Tommy, you're the only one I trust. If anyone else sees those bites on her, what’s under her skin… they’ll shoot her. It’s the last thing I’ll ever ask of you. I swear. 
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Ellie…
Listen, um…
I came here to talk to you. 
What exactly did you hear?
I made this decision for your own good. You’ll be way better off with Tommy. He knows the area better than I do-
Of course I do. 
No. Don’t say another word. 
You have no idea what loss is.
You’re right. You’re not my daughter. And I sure as hell ain’t your dad. Now come dawn, we’re goin’ our separate ways. 
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No. I came here to steal one of these horses and go. 
I know. Anyway… that was thirty minutes ago and I guess… you deserve a choice. Still think you’d be better off with Tommy-
Okay. 
Hold onto both. 
General direction?
Countin’ on it. Can I borrow that? 
'Cause Maria took mine, you know?
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Wide right. You’re flinchin’. 
I made it bigger than I should’ve. Eject the cartridge. 
Mm-hmm.
Okay, give it. 
Mm-hmm.
A deep breath in, slow breath out. You squeeze the trigger like you love it. 
Gentle… steady. Nice and slow. 
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No. The country was too big for that. Back then, there were basically two main ways of lookin’ at things. Some people wanted to own everything. And some people didn’t want anyone to own anything at all. 
Neither. I just did my job. 
That’s right. Houses, stores… that kinda thing. We were called “contractors.”
Yeah. We were cool. Everybody loved contractors. 
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Right. It’s called a “turnover.” 
Yup.
Basically… but violent. 
Well, how ‘bout that? Made it in five days. 
Still time to find out. 
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Team mascot. It’s a kind of sheep. 
They’re probably in the middle. Safer. 
This way. 
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Yup.
Sort of adults. I think it was just as much about partyin’ and findin’ themselves as anythin’ else. Figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives. 
So, I’ve been thinkin'.  
I don’t want a sheep ranch actually. I mean if the deal is I can do anything?
Well… when I was a kid I wanted to be a singer. 
Why is that funny?
No. 
You’re already laughin’. 
Fair enough. 
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Must be from the old labs. 
First time seein’ a monkey? 
Lookit. 
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Mm. No guards. 
Yeah.
Yeah. 
This is a packin’ list. Something you make before moving. 
Well… least it ain’t Clickers. 
All the pins lead there. Maybe gettin’ ahead of the weather… Better facilities? I don’t know. 
Out the back. 
Ready?
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FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE
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like-a-bantha · 4 months
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Sleep Study
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Summary: When there's no time for piloting lessons, you suggest a sort of learning-by-osmosis experiment to Tech. What could possibly go wrong?
Pairing: Tech/GN Reader (No Y/N)
Rating: T
Warnings: Language, not beta-read
Word Count: 6.2K
AO3 | Masterlist
Now, this might sound weird – maybe even a tad disrespectful – but bear with me.
I’ve recently begun piloting lessons with Tech and I couldn’t ask for a better teacher. He knows, while I am a proficient mechanic, I’m a total novice when it comes to actually flying, and the man deserves a medal for his patience with me. I’ll ask the same question five times and he only gets mildly agitated around the third, but he’s always been understanding. Not everyone can be a certified genius, after all.
So lessons have been going pretty not bad, I’d say; it’s the workload that’s been causing problems. Cid’s got us going from job to job with almost no breaks. Lately we’re lucky if we get half a rotation to stop and refuel, let alone catch our breath. We’re all exhausted. We’re all on edge. It’s gotten to the point where we’ve had to put a pause on the lessons for a few days just to keep up with general maintenance on top of the back-to-back missions. Thankfully, in those few quiet moments where we can get to that maintenance, I’ve been able to sort of keep up on my lessons thanks to Tech’s rants. And maybe, for whatever reason, my brain decided these rants were incredibly soothing on one particular sleepless flight. And maybe, who knows why, I may have fallen asleep just a bit. It didn’t seem like Tech was angry, or even upset. He was almost apologetic when he gently nudged me awake.
Today, after landing on Ord Mantell for an incredibly brief pit stop, Tech and I work in silence below the ship. He’s been quiet with me since my last accidental nap and I just can’t figure out how to voice how sorry I am without sounding — I don’t know. Disingenuous? And if I’m honest, how do I avoid sounding like a total creep? But we’re just working next to each other, neither of us saying a word, and it’s nice but it’s not us and there’s this massive knot in my gut saying well, it’s your own fault, don’t you remember? 
This silence is awfully comfortable. It really would be such a shame if something were to change that.
“Hey, Tech,” I jumped in without a plan and I’ve given up hope on this being eloquent in any way, at this point I’ll be glad if my question is at least somewhat coherent, “I’m sorry about,” I trail off a bit, I don’t want to finish that sentence actually, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I just, I had this idea — weird idea — and maybe a request? Feel free to shoot it down, I mean, if it’s too much. Would you mind sending me the audio files of your lessons? Sorry, just, they’re really interesting but also relaxing and, and, maybe it can be a sort of experiment, y’know? If I fall asleep listening will I retain the information? Strange idea, sorry.”
Tech stares blankly, and when I turn to meet his gaze after giving myself a moment to reboot, he continues to stare blankly. His head is just barely tilted, and he wears a look somewhere between genuine confusion and borderline concern. With a slight shake of his head he finally responds, “Forgive me, I’m afraid I do not follow.”
If only there was a way to smash your head into a wall a few times without doing any real damage. I’d kill for that right about now. I could’ve just kept my mouth shut but no. Real bang-up job on my part.
“I, uh, I fell asleep the other day because – well, because I was tired, mainly – I don’t know, I just find your voice really soothing? Like, everything’s been really chaotic lately but listening to you talk about paralight systems made it,” I take a deep breath, no going back now, “ah, it made it a lot less chaotic. Like everything was quiet for a minute. Safe.”
Another long exhale. Tech’s still silent, processing, but his brows are raised now and his eyes have gone a bit wide behind his goggles. I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing just yet. It’s probably best to go against my gut and keep my mouth shut for a few minutes, but now the minutes feel longer than usual. Karked this one up a bit, I think.
“So you would like the audio files to… study?” I nod before he even finishes his sentence. “Or will you be using them to fall asleep?” I’m still nodding and it certainly isn’t helping his confusion at all.
“Both?” I shrug.
He raises his gloved hand inquisitively to his chin, and his face is blank aside from the visible pondering, and now I’m really starting to think I’ve karked it all up. I could’ve put more thought into it, taken my time both in the apology and easing him into the idea of sharing his pre-recorded knowledge, but instead I sloppily tossed all my cards on the table knowing I had a shit hand. And not just any shit hand, no, it’s an alarmingly weird hand. Just as I’m about to start spewing apologies his hand drops slightly from his chin, index finger extended, “An interesting experiment indeed. I shall transfer the files of our previous lessons as well as my own personal recordings.”
Huh.
Wait. “Personal recordings?” Why do my ears feel warm?
Luckily for me his face is buried too deep in his datapad to notice the tinge of red creeping up my neck. “Yes, before you joined our squad and long before our schedule became so hectic, I kept an audio diary of sorts. Detailed accounts of my findings on missions.”
“Cool,” Yes, I can feel how wide and dopey my grin is but I’m still riding the high of my botched opener somehow working and couldn’t care less. “I feel like I remember seeing you telling a bug facts about itself way back when I met you guys. Makes sense now.”
His brows immediately furrow as he finally pulls his gaze away from the glowing screen in his hands. “You assumed I was talking to the insect?”
Straight faced, I raise both my hands like I’m pleading innocent. “Hey, I don’t judge.”
I break first. My shoulders begin to shake, then my still-raised hands, as the laughter bubbles up. Tech isn’t far behind. We look at each other as we laugh and I can’t help thinking that if it were anyone else I’d hide my face, but it’s like I’ve just now realized turning away would mean missing this uncharacteristically uncontained joy. 
Normally I hate sleeping in my helmet. I know it’s for protection or whatever, but there are few things worse than waking up with a crick in your neck and the gnarly one-two punch that is the bed-head-helmet hair hybrid. Alas, I am dedicated to not only my experiment but also not getting mocked by Wrecker for the next week for listening to Tech’s lecture on, let’s see… “Botanical Symbolism in Folklore Across Kashyyyk”? Sounds interesting. But since I’m not on watch for another seven hours, I can actually take my time choosing rather than scrolling a few pages ahead to the B’s and picking the first one that stands out. I kept scrolling and skimming for a while, he must’ve sent his entire audio library to me; there are hundreds of pages and I’m barely halfway through the aurebesh. Then I’m suddenly scrolling rapidly back to the top of the page as if my subconscious just had a great idea that I’m simply too conscious to understand, and that great idea is to sort the files in chronological order.
I don’t have to scroll back very far at all, Tech wasn’t kidding when he said he only stopped his audio diary when the work started. There’s one titled “The mountainous planet of Guntcania 5” from a few days before we last left Ord Mantell. We’d been sent to loot a newly abandoned Imperial shipyard, driven out by a group of formidable freedom fighters whom we were told were not in it for the profit but the valiant cause. Turns out it was both. I remember Tech quietly commenting on the geological formations to no one in particular. I remember standing a bit closer to hear his comments. I fell asleep just shy of eleven minutes after hitting play.
He caught me in the kitchen not long after I woke up, both of us beelining to the instant caf.
“Thought your shift was over,” I grab two packets from the drawer as Tech retrieves two mugs from the cupboard, “Want some of that herbal tea instead? Get some rest, maybe?”
It’s nice, these quiet moments with him. I’ll watch the kettle, if that old saying is true maybe I can buy us a few more of those moments.
“I have yet to decrypt the schematics from the refinery,” With a heavy sigh he sets the datapad down on the countertop, his shoulders hang and his exhaustion is visible, “Once I’ve completed that and analyze the data I will rest. Until then, I will stick with caf.”
I give a sympathetic smile, “Y’know, I’d offer to help but I think that isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”
“I would more than appreciate the company,” Tech interjects, and by the look on his face I think it took us both by surprise. “If you would be so kind as to join me, that is. Though, if you have duties you must attend to I completely understand and–”
My surprise quickly melts into a warm smile. “‘Course, Tech. I’d love to.” And his face softens in turn. And then there’s a beat where we’re just standing there smiling at each other. Then another. And another. Have you ever seen a tooka knock a cup off of a table and jump at the sound of the crash? Now, imagine that but instead of a tooka it’s two mercenaries, and instead of the clatter of a cup it’s the kettle coming to a boil with an abrupt screech. I think we’d find it much funnier if we weren’t still in the vast realm of half-asleep. Right now, it’s just enough to elicit a soft chuckle at most.
Tech retrieves his datapad as I fix the caf. “Have you begun conducting your experiment? I’m sure you’ve already seen, but I have transferred all of my files from the past year or so, I’m interested to hear your findings.”
It’s enough to slow my movements, brain power diverted to processing his question as I reach for the milk at half speed. “Oh. I, uh, I played the one from Guntcania 5. Didn’t last long, though, I was out by the time you got to regional climates.”
“You were with us for that mission. Perhaps choosing a mission or topic you are unfamiliar with would better prove your theory.”
I nod once before turning to join him, a steaming mug in each hand, carefully placing the caf in front of him as I sit. “Realized as soon as I woke up. Any recommendations for tonight's file?”
He names several from memory as he works on his own task, giving brief descriptions of each without giving away too much — that could skew the results. I add them all to a separate folder, sorting them in order of how excited Tech seemed at the topic.
Of course, things got hectic again and I didn’t have time for experiments – I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been listening to those files, though. Five rotations, a standard week’s worth of sleeps and dreams in the tune of Tech’s voice. I’m waking up well-rested despite sleeping only a handful of hours at a time. I’m practically begging the force to fry some wiring or call off a job to spend even just a few minutes with him. I’m starting to think I may have a problem.
Cid called while we were out hunting down puffer pigs for one of her clients. Hunter walked away with the holoprojector about halfway through the conversation, he later told Omega this was to avoid scaring the animals but Echo and I overheard the real reason. That’s another ten credits in the swear jar. When we get one, that is; right now it’s sort of just an honor system. Next mission – big client, big payout, big enough to hack away a good chunk of our debt and take a couple days off – was called off at the last second, she’d try talking to the client again but, right now, and I quote, “He ain’t budgin’.” We’re still on call, though, and flat broke after our last refuel, so this is really just the galaxy’s worst vacation. Hunter’s hushed and extensive vocabulary perfectly summed up our feelings on the matter.
I was going to try to get some rest on the way back to Ord Mantell but puffer pigs are noisy enough in a relaxed state, toss six of them in a cramped starship and toss that starship into hyperspace and you’ll start to realize noisy doesn’t even begin describe it. Poor Hunter’s locked himself in the ‘fresher, of course Tech installed some sound dampening element to the audio relay in his helmet, but that can only do so much. Omega and Wrecker tried calming the animals to no avail, they’ve resorted to tossing bits of ration bars at them as – I’d say tasty, but eugh – edible bribes. Echo and Tech are arguing over something; it’s small, I think, but I’m too tired to step in and mediate right now. What was supposed to be a short flight felt like years.
“Never thought I’d be happy to be back here, but it sure beats being stuck in hyperspace with these things,” Echo says quietly, carefully lowering the crate in his arms, making sure not to wake the puffer pig that had just fallen asleep. I gently placed the crate I was holding right next to it, maybe when they wake up in this new place seeing one another will calm them down. Or they’ll freak out together.
“Between you and the puffer pigs, I must choose the latter,” Tech mutters, still snippy after the long journey, Echo and I turn to look at him in unison.
Echo’s expression is that of a brother who’s accustomed to that sort of teasing, flat and unphased. Mine, however…
“Hey,” I do my best to keep my voice down, “Not cool.”
Echo’s expression is no longer unphased. It is phased. There’s confusion, surprise, the hint of a smile; he seemed as tired as the rest of us before, but this clearly perked him up. Usually when I step in on these little disagreements I remain as unbiased as I can but I am now, very clearly, taking Echo’s side and now he’s visibly interested in seeing how this plays out. I know I still look hurt by the comment that wasn’t even about me. And Tech, his shift in emotion is visible, I could see him process his remark and my reaction, and his furrowed brows loosen as he looks between the two of us.
“You are correct,” Tech nods once, looking to his brother, “Apologies, Echo, I did not mean that.”
After a moment, a smile graces Echo’s face, “I’ll accept that apology.” And gives his brother a solid pat on the shoulder on his way over to the bar.
“I get grumpy-tired, too, I know how it is,” I bump him with my shoulder, an attempt to break a tension that was not there.
“You do not seem grumpy right now,” Tech breathes out a laugh.
I shrug, “Well maybe I’m not tired right now. Maybe I’m just–” My body decides this is the perfect time for an unsuppressable yawn. “Maybe I’m too tired to be grumpy-tired.”
Tech hums, “A valid theory, it seems.” With a tired chuckle and lazy nod I glance around the near-empty bar. Wrecker and Echo sit at the counter with their drinks while they recount the mission to Cid. Hunter’s setting up the cot for Omega, who is already beginning to fall asleep at Cid’s desk, before he joins his brothers. “I am going to head back to the Marauder and get some rest if you care to accompany me.”
“Yes, please, a quiet ship and sleep sounds like heaven right now,” He stands aside, allowing me to lead the way out of the parlor after saying goodnight to our squadmates.
The cool air of Ord Mantell is enough to keep me awake just long enough to carry myself back to the ship. I hear the ghost of a laugh beside me as another yawn takes hold of me. “I fear you may have conditioned yourself, the sound of my voice alone seems to be putting you to sleep.”
Turns out I’m not too tired for a good laugh, “Yeah, keep talking and you’re gonna have to carry me the rest of the way.”
“I assure you, I was trained to carry men twice my size across the battlefield, I can manage.”
“Right,” I nod, later I’ll blame my dopey smile on exhaustion, “Hey, wait, why men twice your size?”
“It is standard protocol.”
“No, like, isn’t it a one size type of deal? Clones and all, y’know,” He stares blankly at me. “Well, yeah, a few exceptions, but broadly speaking it’s just the one size.”
“I see,” Tech says, and I’ve got this look like I just beat a holochess master, “Your exhaustion has caused a state of delirium. Perhaps this means I’m forced to carry you the rest of the way to best keep you safe.” A barked laugh escapes me at that. “Very well.”
Wait. “Wait! No, no, I’m good! I’m up! I’m awake!” And I am, very much so now as I pick up my pace to evade capture. After my laughter subsides I slow my steps to a walk, and Tech quickly catches up, as we traverse the familiar streets of Ord Mantell.
The Marauder’s ramp lowers with a hiss as we approach. “Dibs on the sonic,” I call over my shoulder as I scurry towards the refresher, Tech makes no protest and takes his time boarding the starship. Our water supply, while it is thankfully abundant these days, always seems to be stuck at the average human body temperature – no warmer, no colder – but at least the cycle itself doesn’t last long at all. A full-body shower only takes about three minutes in the sonic, Republic standard for conservation of resources and time between missions according to Tech. While it is efficient, I do miss a good boiling hot, thirty minute shower to tell the truth; I’d never tell the squad that, though, I’m grateful for what we’ve got.
The chime of my datapad sounded halfway through the sonic’s cycle and I emerge to find a message from Tech. A new audio file and a handful of recommendations. I dress myself with an all-too-giddy smile. After hastily gathering up my things from the ‘fresher I elbow the door control, ready to shout my thanks to the clone and surrender the now warm ‘fresher to him. Instead, however, I am met with the clone himself, standing in front of the doorway, datapad in one hand while the other is in position to knock on the now open door.
He retracts that hand quickly, though, he still looks as if he’s about to say something but nothing has come out yet.
I decide to take the lead. “Hey, thanks for the message. ‘Fresher’s all yours.” 
His parted lips form a smile. “I- you are welcome.” But when I exit the refresher and step to the side he makes no move to enter. “After reviewing a handful of files I found those to be most interesting, I hope this helps your experiment.”
My grin widens, “Thank you, Tech, it’ll definitely help.” He nods just once with a smile before retreating into the ‘fresher. Maybe I stared at the door just a second too long. Maybe I even let out a quiet little giggle before heading over to my bunk.
I can hear the sonic start as I finally turn in, scrolling through highlighted files on my datapad while I try to get comfortable on the flat old mattress pad which always proves to be an impossible task. My sights lock in on a file between two of Tech’s suggestions labeled “Repairs and Maintenance”. Do I already know the in’s and out’s of most starships? Of course. Do I still learn something new everytime Tech talks about the in’s and out’s of the Marauder? Of kriffing course. Perfect.
The sonic’s still running when I put my helmet on and hit play, and I’m promptly out like a light.
I wake with a stir when I feel something plush fall on my helmeted head and open my eyes to see a large hand reach down and grab the offending object. Wrecker whispers an apology as he gingerly retrieves his Lula after dropping her into my bunk. Still half asleep, I can’t decide if that sorry was for me or the doll. The guys are back.
With a quiet, sleepy groan, I roll onto my side and pull my knees to my chest, blindly reaching for the datapad behind me. Waking the device is a mistake as I am instantly shocked by its brightness, my eyes snap shut and I dim the screen. I’ve moved onto a new recording, it seems. This one is titled “Atmospheric Changes of Taccoh”, about five minutes in. Taccoh was one of my first missions with them, I remember my excitement at how well we worked together as a team. I’m not usually good on a team, but clicking with these guys was just easy. It just felt right.
“—they seem to be adjusting rather well to mercenary work. I must say, they are quite the knowledgeable mechanic and are proving to be a great asset to the squad. Wrecker’s comments on their romantic interest in me are, in my opinion, absurd. Though I would not be opposed to such interest, I find the probability highly unlikely. Their interest, as I’ve observed, lies both in their work and the pursuit of knowledge. Qualities I find most admirable, as well as —“
Pause.
The heart rate monitor on my dimmed HUD glows an ominous red as the number rises.
Oh god. Kriff. I found Tech’s kriffing diary.
I pry the helmet from my head, foregoing any attempt to fix my surely frazzled hair, still damp from the fresher, and swing my legs over the side of my bunk to sit up. My whole body is tense, my knuckles pale from the force of my grip on the durasteel frame. Fresh air. Yes. Fresh air would do me good right now, I’d say.
The room seems to spin as I fumble for my boots and the sheer volume at which my mind screams nearly drowns out Echo, half-asleep and confused, staring at me through squinted eyes from his bunk.
“You alright?” His tired voice repeats.
“Yes, yeah,” I answer, all too quickly, “just need some air, is all. You okay? You good? Sleeping okay?”
Echo’s brows furrow, he shifts slightly to face me properly, “I was,” he suppresses a yawn and I hurry up with my boots, “but then you shot up like you saw a ghost.”
My laughter is quiet but crazed, and I can barely hear it, “Ship’s not haunted, Echo, go back to sleep.” 
I stand to leave but the quiet call of my name stops me in my tracks, I turn to face the sleepy clone. “You sure you’re alright?” 
“I’m fine,” I try to make it sound convincing but I know it’s a sorry attempt, “really, get some rest. Be back soon.” His gaze remains fixed on me for a moment longer before he shuts his eyes, nodding before settling his head on the pillow once again. I let out a portion of a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding as I hurry out of the ship and into the crisp night air of Ord Mantel.
My feet take me to Cid’s. She shut the sign off but I can hear the jukebox from the street, no luck kicking out the regulars for the night, it seems. My feet then decide to take me down the stairs. Then to the bar.
“Great, I try to kick two out and a third appears,” the trandoshan huffs from behind the bar, “If you’re looking for dark and broody and the kid, they’re sleeping. Not sure how, these two bozos won’t shut up.” She shouts in the direction of the booming jukebox and patrons as she pours two drinks before sliding one to me.
“Hey, can I get your take on something?” I down the drink, extending the cup in a silent request. 
She glances tentatively first at my now empty cup, then at her own drink, before quickly finishing it to pour us each a second round. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Tell ya after I hear it.”
I laugh into my drink. “This stays between us.” She laughs into her drink. “Or I can just finish my free drink and leave.”
“Fine, fine. Between us.” She waves a dismissive hand. “But it better be interesting or these are going on your tab.”
My brows furrow, I nod just once before finishing my second drink, and the second the empty cup makes contact with the sticky countertop I blurt it out, “I listened to Tech’s diary.”
She waits for me to go on, I wait for her to be a voice of reason. Neither of us get what we’re looking for. “Alright, you found Goggles’ diary. And?”
“And?” I echo, incredulously. “I accidentally listened to some really, really personal stuff that I can’t un-listen to, what do I do? Do I tell him? What, do I say ‘Hey, Tech, so the learning by osmosis experiment was a bust but a little birdie — you, you’re the birdie — told me you had a big ol’ crush on me, for, like a while, so I just wanted to —‘ I don’t know what I want. Kriff, this is bad, isn’t it?”
Cid stares at me like I’m a three-headed mythosaur for what feels like hours, I try to calm my breathing, try to take a sip from my already empty cup. I’m only pulled out of my thought loop by the howl of Cid’s laughter. It even manages to pull Bolo and Ketch’s attention away from the jukebox, if only for a second. In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never heard Cid laugh so hard. My look of shock remains even as her laughter subsides.
“Good one, kid. You almost had me for a second there.” She gently wipes a tear from the corner of her eye, but the laughter returns when she notices my expression is unchanged. “Oh, you’re serious?”
“Obviously I’m kriffing serious! Cid, I’m kind of in deep shit here, I need advice, I don’t need you laughing in my face!”
“Oh, relax, it’s not like you didn’t know. You idiots have been pining over each other from day one. Didn’t think Goggles would make the first move, though, I owe Muscles ten credits.” She mutters, though clearly still amused.
“I didn’t know! Force, how would I have known!” I put my head down on the bar with a sigh. “So, what, everyone knows and I’m just the last to find out?”
“Got it.”
All I can manage is a dramatic groan.
“Just talk to him, what’s the worst that can happen?”
I don’t even need to think about it, “I say exactly what I said before, weird him out, and go back to working by myself because he never wants to see me again.”
“Yeesh, try living a little sometime, kid. It’ll do you good,” Cid cringes into her cup, “Talk to him. Trust me.”
With a roll of my eyes I extend my empty cup one last time, Cid fills it without a word and I down the drink before leaving the empty glass on the bar as I stand, “Those were on you, I could’ve gotten better advice from Bolo and Ketch.”
“Can’t argue with you there, they’ve been together as long as I’ve known them,” She rinses out the empty cup and tosses it into the washer. “He’s crazy about you, kid. Just tell him how you feel.”
Cid’s words play on repeat in my mind as I wander the now empty city streets. Talk to him right, easier said than done. What if he’s not ready for a relationship? What if I’m not? We’re already so busy, will we really have the time? What if this changes our dynamic irreparably? What if I lose my closest friend?
It takes hearing someone call my name to pull me from what could’ve been an eternal thought loop. I’m back at Cid’s, a weary Hunter stands below the glowing sign, his arms crossed and he somehow looks both concerned and amused, “Going for a fourth lap around the block?” My lips part as if I could form a response but I come up short, opting to shrug instead. “Care if I join you?” I nod and we walk side by side, allowing silence to settle between us.
“Thought you were asleep,” I break that silence. Better to get it out of the way now, I figure I know where this is going.
“Not with all that noise,” Hunter lets out a deep sigh, he must know he could just power the damn jukebox down and get some rest. “I don’t know how Omega does it, that kid can sleep through anything.”
“She’s exhausted,” I let out a sigh of my own, “We all are.”
“Cid’s focused in on this puffer pig client, that’ll buy us some time to regroup, rest up.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Hunter nods, the silence that follows is not as easy or relaxed as earlier. He breaks it first, “I’m assuming you know what I’m about to say.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Talk, I guess. Can’t not now, huh?”
“That’s your choice,” He stops walking, catching me off guard, I stop a few paces ahead and turn to face him, “Never thought I’d say it, but I’m with Cid. The happiest I’ve ever seen him is when he’s talking to you. I get the feeling the same goes for you.”
I bite the inside of my lip, suppressing the smile that threatens to light up my face. Not the time. I nod, crossing my arms, “It does.”
“Good,” He smiles this warm, genuine smile before his serious sergeant demeanor returns, “Don’t let it get in the way of the job.”
“Copy that.” I give him a mock salute, to which his head drops with a tired laugh before his ears perk up. I raise my eyebrows in question as he turns his head in the direction of the parlor.
“Music’s stopped,” Hunter takes a step forward, extending an arm to pat my shoulder before retreating. “Get some rest.”
“Thanks, Hunter.” I give a little wave and watch as he retreats to the now quiet bar down the dimly lit street.
I begin my walk back to the ship, my mind still racing but not nearly as catastrophically quick as before my chat with Hunter. He’s probably still asleep, and I’m not planning on going back to the ship to wake him up and talk about this. My best bet would be to shoot him a message, ask if we could talk when he wakes up. Word travels too fast with these guys and the last thing I want is Wrecker bragging to his brothers about how he put his money on Tech and won. When I reach for my datapad I find the pocket is empty. Of course. I pick up the pace, almost frantically trying to recall whether or not I locked the device in my hasty departure. Odds aren’t looking great, though.
I take my boots off at the bottom of the ramp and tip-toe up in bare feet. Two out of the three men aboard are light sleepers and the last thing I want is to wake them as if I’m some teen sneaking back home after a party. Quiet as a mouse droid, I make my way back to my bunk as Wrecker’s snores reverberate through the durasteel walls. I’m greeted by my helmet, tossed haphazardly next to my pillow, but no datapad. Uh-oh. I glance into Echo’s bunk and find him sleeping, but the bunk above his, Tech’s bunk, remains empty. You’ve gotta be kriffing kidding me. Back to my tip-toes, I make my way to the kitchenette first, also empty, then the cockpit. The control panel is dimmed and all of the seats turned forward, if it weren’t for the tell-tale glow of a datapad screen I’d have thought Tech had simply vanished.
Without a word I join him, only releasing a quiet sigh as I sit in the copilot’s seat. He doesn’t look up from the datapad, its screen displaying the evidence of my discovery in bold text. “I didn’t intend to include such personal files.”
“Yeah, I didn’t intend to listen.” He nods before handing me my device, our gazes still not meeting. I take a turn staring at the display, rereading the title of the file over and over as I continue, “I fell asleep listening to ‘Repairs and Maintenance’, woke up to this one.”
“I, again, must sincerely apologize for any discomfort this finding has brought you, I was not planning to tell you in such an impersonal manner.”
“How did you…” I trail off, he was fast asleep when I left, I never pegged him for the type to pretend to be asleep and his quiet snores sounded so real.
“Echo woke me up, it was shortly after you had left. He said you appeared to be in a state of shock, I found you’d left your datapad open on your bunk.”
“That checks out.” Now that I’m here with him I can almost find the humor in the situation, I even manage a quiet laugh, “I’m sorry I flipped out, I just wasn’t expecting to wake up to that, I guess.”
He finally turns to face me, “You have nothing to apologize for.” “Neither do you,” I retort, meeting his gaze with a smile. I can almost see his thought process before his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape as he realizes the meaning behind my words. I continue, regardless, I heard him spill his guts, it’s only fair I do the same for him, “I feel the same way, Tech. I have for a while. Come to think of it, maybe I always have. Your feelings didn’t scare me, the possibilities did.”
He cocks his head in question, “Possibilities?”
“I’m scared of our dynamic changing, I’m scared I’ll kriff it all up and lose you. I’m no good at this kind of stuff and the last thing I want is for our relationship to suffer because of me,” I ignore the tears beginning to form in my eyes, turning my attention back to the viewport. Tech’s gaze, however, remains locked on me.
A hand reaches out, resting gently on mine, his thumb ghosting across my shaking fingers, “My darling, the fact that you are willing to voice these fears should be evidence enough that you have nothing to worry about. You contain a level of emotional intelligence that will never cease to amaze me. Should you choose to act upon these feelings, I assure you, we will be just fine.”
My eyes meet his, I don’t notice a tear has fallen until he reaches his hand up to wipe it away. When he notices how I lean into his touch, he cradles my cheek ever so gently, and I shut my eyes to savor the feeling, letting a warm smile wash away my worried frown. I rest a still-shaky hand upon his, opening my eyes to meet his once again, “What do you say we figure it out together, then?”
“A wonderful idea, darling,” Tech closes the small distance between us, placing a kiss upon my forehead. I can feel his smile. “However, I’ll need to review my files before you continue your experiment.”
I pull back, a look of faux shock on my face, too giddy to feel the real thing right now, “You mean there’s more?”
“Frankly, an embarrassing amount, perhaps we will review them someday but I’ve taken the liberty of deleting the more… risque files from your library.”
I’m glad the door to the cockpit is closed, otherwise the volume of my laugh surely would’ve woken both Echo and Wrecker, “Risque?!”
“I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from mocking me,” Tech sighs, the mirth in his tone evident.
“Maybe that can be the next experiment,” I laugh with a smirk.
“Mocking me does not sound like an experiment I would have any interest in partaking in, thank you very–” His mild offense fades away in realization, “Oh. An interesting experiment, indeed.”
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! As always, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated, I love hearing your feedback! Part two will be posted soon <3
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sundial-bee-scribbles · 9 months
Text
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this was supposed to be longer but i got tired (and realized maybe this wasn't such a good idea) so i kinda bs'd this to just finish it up. sorry it doesn't look all that good lol
transcript of my shitty handwriting + more rambling under cut
panel 1:
len: rin, just leave him—
rin: NO! i'm not going to give up now—
len: i know you're upset, but all you're doing is—
rin: HE'S NOT GONE YET!
panel 2:
rin: i know he still remembers, he has to...
panel 3:
rin: kaito-san, it's me; rin. you tried singing one of len and i's songs the other day. you got the melody right, remember? meiko-san's birthday is soon. remember her? a few weeks ago you said you needed to buy her a present. what were you going to get her? do you remember? tell me.
---
aight yea so this is what yall get for picking that ❄️📺❔🕚💾🪦 option on the poll (which btw was related to this drawing)
i'll just keep it simple: basically kaito gets dementia (or i guess the robot equivalent of it??). yeah.
not sure if this takes place on the cusp of v3 happening and just this specific kaito v1 module was unable to be updated for some reason? or if they're all still stuck in v2 and v3 hasn't happened yet/will not happen for a while... but i do know its def before v4 happened, so people like fukase and una don't exist yet
anyways though as you might expect, it pretty much sucks all around for everyone involved. not just the other 5 cryptonloids watching their close friend so previously full of life deteriorate into a husk of his former self, but for kaito himself too. he suddenly can't remember things like where he is or who the people around him are, and its incredibly frustrating b/c he knows he did have the memories at some point, its just as if they got misplaced... there's random bits of recollections that do come sometimes but as much as he tries to hold onto them they flicker and fade away just as quick as they appeared. left sinking back into a feeling of hopelessness that then becomes pure emptiness, as you can feel how you're losing yourself but there's quite literally nothing you can do
visually the static is used to represent a lot of that "foggy" feeling as things become more and more unclear, and given the robot/android nature it makes sense i guess? it's not really seen here but just as an actual machine might be when breaking down, his visual + audio processors begin to malfunction, causing a literal static overlay on his vision with faces/objects he can't recognize occasionally glitching out as well as constant white noise in his hearing and the sound of people talking to him becoming garbled and unintelligible. as time goes on he also loses his own ability to synthesize speech so aside from becoming withdrawn and quiet out of fear he'll say something that makes no sense, he then literally just becomes incapable of responding at all
again (as you might expect), the other cryptons aren't doing very well as this is happening. rin and len see kaito almost like a father, so watching one of your parental figures slowly march towards death is... not great. rin (as seen here) is still trying to hold on, because she swears kaito has had a few good days where he does recall more, where he seems much more like his old self, and maybe, just maybe if they wait a bit more he'll get better [tbh she's speedrunning the 7 stages of grief but goes between being stuck in some of the earlier stages its... not good]. len's grief on the other hand is manifesting itself in a way more similar to meiko's: he's not as distant as her, but he has already recognized that there's pretty much nothing that can be done and just wants to minimize kaito's suffering. len's just as shattered as rin though, but he's not showing it openly, figuring he has to accept it, as fighting against the grief like his sister won't help anything.
i just mentioned meiko so speaking of her: this is also probably extremely difficult on her, as, yknow, the counterpart v1 to kaito. she's withdrawn herself away from kaito, as she doesn't want to cause him pain in case he happens to recognize her, remember something about their relationship, but not comprehend what it means and just become confused/distressed. at least, that's what she says; it's more or so she can't bear to see him in this state, as he slowly loses more parts of himself, so she isolates herself in hopes the pain will be somewhat less when its all over, for having seen him less and not having false hopes of his recovery. that being said though she has definitely still been around him and tried to keep her composure... from kaito's pov, in moments of recollection, its disheartening seeing your wife close friend suddenly ignoring you, almost like she's mad or sad about something, but you can't remember why. did you forget to do the laundry? is it something unrelated? you want to ask her but she won't tell you; why? did she already and you just forgot? why...
miku's usual cheeriness has also crumbled, as even with rin's attempts, she can't find anything to be optimistic about in this scenario. she just feels this immense guilt, that she should've done something about this; she has influence as the most popular of the entire group, surely she could do something to make it all better. but aside from the arguments and indecisiveness regarding ethics and not wanting to do something without everyone's collective decision, she does know deep down its not her fault. maybe someone like one of the technicians or programmers would be more at fault, but she doesn't want to blindly throw accusations either, because surely they hadn't foreseen this happening either; nobody would intentionally throw in such a cruel fate for someone, it was an unfortunate system glitch that they were working to fix, but even if they did come up with a patch for it, it would be far too late for kaito at that point. she doesn't want to dwell too much on the logistics of it, miku just wants to be there for everyone else, because she knows how deep in despair the others are—she is too—and doesn't want their whole group to fall apart after such a devastating event.
as for luka: i would assume we're kind of actually seeing everything from her perspective, so as an audience lens she'd be more objective about presenting everything as it is without putting too much of her own bias/thoughts into it. but she's not completely unfeeling either. she tries interacting with kaito quite often, despite some of the others warning her about doing that too much. she tries talking to him about random things, not necessarily aiming to get him to remember anything in specific, though if any of his memories do surface in conversation she'll def address them and ask if he recalls anything more (and if not that's alright too). on some occasions she's been accused of being insensitive, but she doesn't want his death to be this huge tragedy, she would want him to be somewhat happy in his last moments. after everything that's happened, he deserves to leave in peace, in her opinion.
i've mentioned death a few times and there's a literal gravestone in the original emoji combo so safe to say, yeah, he dies. unfortunately the damage to his hardware is beyond repair from the critical/fatal errors and glitches, and it's decided that it'd be best to ultimately just deactivate him and delete all his files to not prolong any pain he might've been in for any longer. not exactly sure what would happen afterwards (aside from an obvious aftermath of the grief): if this is before/on the verge of v3 happening, there's the situation i thought about of them receiving a new replacement v3 kaito module, which has its own angst w/ it: its almost like seeing a fucking ghost, but it's not the same one they all remember, nor does it have all those memories. and this v3 kaito himself experiencing conflicted feelings as someone who was brought in to try and give back happiness to this group, only to seem to cause more despair for being so similar to someone long gone that he'll never truly replace. again though i'm not sure if i'd actually have that happen for the sake of everyone involved's sanity but it is something interesting to think about
i've been typing this for like 3 fcking hours now and i have no idea if this makes any goddamn sense lolol uhhh. like all my things it sounds way better in my head than when i actually put it on paper 😭 but congrats if you actually went thru the effort of reading all this. i might do more explanations like this of my things if anyone's interested, like of the other poll options, but we'll see
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oceanlue · 10 months
Note
if your requests are open can we PLEASE get some headcanons of making out with the YV boys?
Absolutely and sorry for the long wait it's been really hectic in life
Making out 💋 😘
💗Alphonse 🍭🧁
After a long day of work and dealing with people you just want to sit down and relax while you watch a movie with your little cinnamon roll
But I think he had other plans
After you guys came home from work you decide to sit down and watch a movie
And a few minutes after the movie was playing he started to get a little cuddly
Then a little handsy
And then he started to kiss you up your neck making you weak for him
And then it turned to soft kissing to a full make out Session
And while you guys were having your little session you finally pulled away and stared at each other
"Damn boo *huff* if I knew you were going to be like Dat I would have brought a little something extra but how about we take this from the couch to the bed"
Have dun with your mind of that
🧡Seth 🏕🍂
Both of you were having a fun time he took you for a drive on his Harley and you felt so free with the wind in your hair
Then you two decide to make camp in the woods looking up at the stars as Seth tells you lots of stories and apparently the Mothman
But we love him too much to tell him to shut up
After a little bit it was now a quiet night as you both stared up at the star sky and thinking about the future
And then Seth had a great idea he started to kiss your cheek your forehead your ear and then your lips soft kisses filled with passion of love and embrace but then it got a little heated
You guys were now in a full makeout session and there was no stopping
" well sugar if we're going to have this much fun I reckon we better head into a tent when want any stragglers to see what we're doing"
*wink*
Hey you know what they say
Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy
💚Finn 🪴🌻
Now I know what you're thinking
He's too sweet to start something so naughty
So you're basically going to have to start instead
After been closed his flower shop you were upstairs with some fresh fruits from the garden and vegetables and starting to make dinner
He came up behind you hugged you with the warm from you and him it was a nice little moment
So you decide to ruin the moment
You turned around held his cheek in your hand and gave him a soft kiss as he blushed a fierce red across his face as he stutters with the cute little mumbles he does
Then a few more kisses on his face on his cheek forehead is cute nose and then passionate kiss on his lips
You two can stop and he was now cornered on the counter with your arms trapping him in as you continue to take his breath away
" dear......oh my well......orchid this was something but maybe we ....should have this session after dinner"
Have fun
❤Auron☕🖋
It was work time and everyone was on the clock busy until lunch time
Has lunch time rolled around you are on your way to deliver some papers to your boss(sexy boss he is)
And as you were walking you got pulled into a Supply Closet ( he says this in the audio too look it up if you don't believe me)
You're about to turn around to the culprit and yell at him but he pinned you down to the wall
Turns out it was your boss and he was giving you that God damn sexy smirk that made your knees weak
You're going to question him but he looked deep into your eyes as both of you at the same desire he put his forehead to yours as if asking for permission
And you nod
He then starts to give you so much passion in the one kiss that you can hold yourself up so he had to carry you by your thighs
It was getting a little bit much more heated as he was going to take his tie off but stopped cuz you remembered your both at work
" Don't Worry My Little rookie we can finish this little session when we go to my place and I have new toys for us to try out and I think you might like that, isn't that right...pet"
I'm about to have fun ...
well I'll see you guys later
--------------
Hope you love this
I want to apologize if I haven't been on and writing stuff more frequently it's some situations in my life that must take action first before any writing or drawing I do with my mental health and my physical well-being I hope you all understand
But you guys can send in more ask if you want to I will get to them when I can
Thank you
💙💙💙
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queenburd · 11 months
Text
So like I was gonna do more with this and I might later but right now it’s bite sized and pleasant, it’s nicely self contained, so here’s a TSP fic about the narrator being indecisive about making himself a character model.
[ I have a question. ] Stanley posits to no one in particular.
He is standing in the room with two doors, quietly considering. As it is his choice, the narrator is quiet here, and allowing him the privacy of his own head. Mustn’t spoil which route Stanley wants to take for himself, he’s said before. Keeps the fellow on his toes.
(Toes. Ha. How relevant.)
“Yes, Stanley?” The narrator prompts him with friendly curiosity. At one point he may have asked with impatience, an effort to keep him moving, but they’ve done every route so many times that sometimes, it’s more fun to take their time. Stop and smell the roses. “What’s on your mind?”
Stanley—fidgets. It isn’t like him, to fidget, or hesitate. When he finally signs again, after a long consideration, it’s clear he’s chosen every word very carefully.
[ It’s probably a silly question. Is that okay? ]
“Well, Stanley, you are a silly person, so I expect nothing less.”
He scowls at the ceiling, scrunching his nose at the tease. There’s no heat in it, of course.
There’s such a… gentleness, to their relationship, these days. For two entities designed to be in conflict, they’ve somehow found a way to meet in the middle, and find the places where they disagree as ways to appreciate each other. It’s hard, having to deal with someone else’s perspective when they think so differently from you.
But it’s good. It’s nice.
“Go on, then. I will reserve my judgement on the silliness of your question for after I hear it.” Stanley snorts.
He looks at his hands. Releases a puff of breath.
[ Do you have a body? ]
There is no response, but this is fine, because Stanley continues, nothing but genuine curiosity behind his thoughts. There is no motive, no craving. Just simple questions.
[ I usually think you don’t, but sometimes you sigh, or cry or clear your throat, or just do things that imply more than just audio. People have lungs and stuff, to make those noises. But I know you’re not human. But do you have a character model somewhere, like mine? ]
“Um. Er,” is the uncertain reply. The fellow sounds caught off guard, a little sheepish. “I… no. I don’t.”
[ oh. Okay. ]
Stanley isn’t disappointed, not really. Okay, perhaps a touch. But not enough to be properly bothered.
“Wh— is that it? No followup?”
He shakes his head.
“Is it a problem that I don’t have one? I’d never thought to—good lord, can you imagine?”
Stanley shakes his head again, then considers it, and lifts a hand, seesawing it vaguely.
It isn’t a problem, per se, that the narrator isn’t a physical being. It’s simply—
[ Humans are social creatures. They need physical interaction and touch. We’re not human though, so I don’t need it. It’s like the sleep thing. ]
“Hm.”
The narrator sounds contemplative, learning something new. Stanley fidgets again.
[ I was just curious. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. ]
“Oh, no, it’s alright,” the tone is dismissive, distracted. It stings a bit, but it’s probably for the best. The last thing Stanley wants is to make them stew in an uncomfortable atmosphere. The pair of them should move on.
It’s honestly fine that Stanley’s never had interaction with another person. Or. Well. He thinks it is. It doesn’t bother him frequently. He ISN’T human, so he isn’t about to go mad without it.
There have been times where he really really wished, needed, craved comfort—mostly in the worst moments when the both of them were affected. The aftermath of the Skip Button ending is the most obvious.
But the narrator’s voice has become its own kind of presence. It can rest on his shoulders like a weighted blanket does, grounding him and soothing him, easily as intimate as a hug.
So there’s no real loss here. Stanley can’t miss something he’s never had. It’s honestly okay.
“Er, Stanley?”
Right. Doors. Stanley crosses his arms and considers them.
“The door on the left, you know the drill.”
Mm. No, he thinks he’ll take the door on the right. The lounge is calling his name, singing sweetly with its serene blue and photos. Then maybe he’ll play a different game behind a blue door.
There’s a little grumble that follows him when he heads to the right. Stanley smiles, gives a cheeky wink.
The narrator—ponders.
He doesn’t do it frequently; he finds he doesn’t like to. It’s quite easy for him to get stuck thinking about one little thing, one tiny detail, capturing all his attention until he comes back to himself and finds hours have passed and Stanley is sitting against a doorframe trying to entertain himself with a whiteboard and marker, having long since given up trying to capture his attention.
Pondering is not… good for him, the narrator thinks.
But, as he is prone to do, he catches himself going back to a moment, looking it over again and again, trying to glean something new.
Humans are social creatures. They need physical interaction and touch.
Do you have a body?
The narrator is a voice. He is a part of the parable, he is a mechanism. But then, Stanley is a mechanism of the parable as well; a vessel for a player.
It isn’t the same. They are intrinsically different. But do they have to be?
The narrator is and is not the world; he is and is not the halls, the doors, the very air itself. He controls it, it controls him. He has access to its assets; it has access to his mind.
He wonders if this is how humans feel about their own bodies. Both in control, and plagued by limitations.
Oh, for goodness’s sake, he’s doing it again. Going off on an inexplicable contemplation of the nature of humanity, existence and choice. Honestly, sometimes even the narrator doesn’t know what he’s on about.
The narrator doesn’t have a body. He doesn’t need a body.
Humans are social creatures. They need physical interaction and touch.
Would…
Would Stanley prefer it if he had a body?
I don’t need it.
He thinks on the hesitation in Stanley’s fingers. He wonders what it would be like to squeeze them.
Textures. Temperatures. Softness, firmness, sharpness. Scents, tastes.
Senses he knows about in theory. He has no frame of reference.
Would it be that difficult to make himself a character model? He has assets hidden in the code of the game, models he can edit, tweak, piece together to make something new.
Oh, but how could he choose the right features? How could he know when it’s really him?
And—oh no—what if Stanley dislikes it?
The narrator knows himself, he knows that if he wants to do something he commits to it until he thinks it’s perfect. He won’t settle for less. He’d put his heart and soul into it.
If he put all that work into a model, and Stanley didn’t like it?
He doesn’t think he’d take it very well.
He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what to do.
“When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he—would you at least be so kind as to let me finish?” The voice berates Stanley as he swerves right without pause. Stanley doesn’t even roll his eyes.
He’s going to go see the lights.
There’s a nervous clearing of the throat. “S-Stanley was so bad at following directions—“
Spare him, please. He understands the needed script, but it grates a bit this time. Stanley balances on the edge of the platform, a hand around the support rail, timing his jump.
“Look, Stanley—“
Not his enemy. No, they’re not enemies. In fact, Stanley would go so far as to call the fellow his dear friend. It’s why he’s doing this.
This is not an act of cruelty. He knows the fear it strikes into the narrator, and in honesty Stanley cannot blame him. The number of times the protagonist has gone down this route just to find a different exit, all in vain, is not a high value, but it’s still too many.
There are only two ways out of the room behind the red door. One is in the narrator’s power, if he can overcome his own nature to use it. The other is in Stanley’s power, and makes them both miserable.
It’s not ideal. And it’s so frustrating, because this place really is beautiful. It really is up there as one of Stanley’s favorites.
Clearly anxious, but trying to keep his composure, the narrator loads the map into the starry dome. In the instant Stanley steps into the room, all the panic falls away, into an easy bliss.
“Oh…”
Stanley walks to the center of the platform and sits. He crosses his legs, craning his head up to watch the lights.
The narrator is quiet, but his flood of real peace is palpable. This is one of the places he seems most open. Most willing to relax.
Usually, that can be a danger after too long. He ends up stopping, never progressing forward, unwilling to move. That’s not a life.
But they’ve compromised on so many things. This is one of those things too.
[ I’m going to stay a while ], Stanley offers in the dark, knowing he will be seen. [ You’ve been preoccupied for a bit. Do you want to talk about it? ]
“I—“
The voice cuts itself off, clearly surprised, the anxiety slipping back in.
[ It’s okay if you don’t. I thought being here might help you deal with whatever’s going on. I’ll wait as long as you need. ]
To say the narrator is embarrassed is putting it mildly.
He feels caught red handed, even though he hasn’t even done anything.
“Am I really so obvious?” He grumbles, more to himself than to Stanley. The man grins anyway.
[ I know you. I pay attention. ]
“Hmph. That’s debatable,” he grouses. Still, Stanley was wise to come to this place to prod him. He’s much more at ease here. A little less ashamed, afraid, overwhelmed.
[ Like I said. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’ll stay here while you sort out whatever’s been bothering you. This way you don’t have to be distracted by the narration. ]
He’s being…. Kind. So kind, to a person who used to be his enemy, his jailer. How has the narrator been so fortunate to have a Stanley that is so exceedingly good? He knows he certainly hasn’t been a fine example in the past.
He sighs. Stanley lays back, hands behind his head on the floor. It can’t be comfortable, on the metal grating. The narrator gives a small noise of warning, before he changes the texture pattern on the dark floor to the rug he’s saved for the Bottom of the Mind Control Facility Bucket ending. It’s a bit more comfortable than the carpet in the office.
It catches Stanley off guard a little, and the narrator chuckles as he shakes his head at the sudden change, like a wet dog shaking off water. But he settles back with a smile.
“If you intend to be there a while, you may as well be comfortable.”
It’s just… so easy. To be with Stanley. To do things for him. To try to make him smile. Like it’s innate. It wasn’t always. But he’s changed. The both of them have.
They look at the lights for a bit. The narrator feels himself relax. Like he’s floating. Like he is one of the lights, going up, down, changing slowly, unhurried and unconcerned.
Why has he been so worried?
It takes him a long minute to realize he wasn’t the one who had wondered that.
Stanley waits for him. Stanley doesn’t demand anything from him. Stanley’s intentions are entirely devoid of deceit or manipulation.
It makes this… easier.
“I…”
But not completely.
“I’ve been thinking. About making something new. I haven’t decided if I should do it, because, well—I worry you won’t like it.”
Stanley’s eyes are closed, but he’s awake. He’s listening.
The narrator is being very careful with his words. It’s been at least fifty runs since Stanley asked him about a model, so he knows at least that it doesn’t occur to the protagonist that this is related.
No, Stanley is wondering if the narrator has been considering new endings. Why wouldn’t he like the new endings? They aren’t ones where he dies painfully and miserably, are they?
The narrator chuckles good-naturedly, suddenly far more at ease. “No, Stanley. No cruel twists of fate that leave you mad or dead, that much I can assure you.”
Okay. Then Stanley isn’t sure why he wouldn’t like whatever the narrator makes for him, if it comes from some place genuine.
It leaves him a little tongue-tied. The narrator hears himself swallow, without a throat.
“It’s not that simple.”
Why not?
“Because…”
Because he doesn’t just want Stanley to like it. He doesn’t want Stanley to be happy because it’s a new thing.
He wants Stanley to like him. He wants to make this thing himself, the way humans shape their bodies to fit the way they picture themselves in their heads, and he wants Stanley to like what he sees.
It would be him. It would be his. And if Stanley was just neutral about it, or just didn’t like how he looked, then—
Oh, he couldn’t bear it. It would hurt him irrevocably. He’d throw it into the deepest pit of code and never think about it again.
“I… I think, if I did try to make this, this idea I’m considering, a reality, well—you know I don’t do things halfway. I’d be so—it needs to be perfect, do you understand? And if I spend all this time on it, only for you to, to—“
To treat it like his story.
“—yes! Exactly! Oh, Stanley, this is for you, it’s all for you. I just want to make something for you that you’ll care about, and appreciate.”
(And love, he is certain not to say. There’s no need to attach such words to this idea yet, that’s a little too dangerous.)
Stanley is very quiet. He’s thinking, but he’s thinking in that way where he wants to be certain with his words, so the narrator gives him his privacy. The narrator looks at the lights. He lets himself relax again.
He can feel Stanley’s tender heart. His compassion. Stanley cares deeply for him, can see how much it matters to him.
A desire fills the protagonist, an intense longing he can’t bury, hard as he tries. The voice can’t help peeking at it, not when it’s bubbling over like a boiling pot against a lid.
More than anything, Stanley wishes he could hug the fellow.
He must make some noise of surprise, because Stanley’s demeanor changes instantly to one of embarrassment and trying to recontextualize.
He wants to comfort the narrator! He doesn’t mean to make it weird! He just wishes he was able to provide the fellow a physical sort of validation!
The narrator feels more than sees Stanley’s face flushing all the way to his ears. He can’t help laughing, not at the man necessarily, not even meaning it at his expense. It’s just…
It’s a little adorable?
Stanley’s embarrassment only grows. Welp. Moment ruined. Time to go throw himself off the stairs.
“Absolutely not!” The laughter dies instantly, turning to an angry sort of panic. Stanley flinches.
Right. Not a funny joke when it’s here.
The narrator inhales deeply. “God, you gave me a fright.”
He can feel the genuine remorse radiating off his friend. Forgives him immediately.
“It’s—it’s alright. Slip of the tongue, as they say.”
Well, Stanley can’t talk, but, yeah. They both are on the same page.
“In any case. Thank you for listening. I… I think I will try, actually. I honestly appreciate your… your sentiment.”
The narrator can hear the smile in his voice. Yes, he’s going to go through with this. He’s certain now.
Because Stanley wants to hug him. And that in itself has erased all his doubts.
Still.
“Can we… stay here, for a little longer?”
He’ll reset. He will. Stanley doesn’t need to hurt himself. It’s just…
It’s so peaceful here.
Stanley shoots a thumbs up at the ceiling, towards the lights. The narrator relaxes again. Tries to imagine himself laying besides Stanley. Looking up with him. He wants it more than anything.
“Thank you, Stanley. I… thank you.”
Soon.
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sliceofajayke · 8 months
Text
the bet pt. 2
Tumblr media
lee heeseung, the most popular guy at decelis academy, had mediocre grades, good looks and of course he was the flirtious fuckboy jock.
y/n nishimura, well known in the school,not perfect grades(apart from english) but still good and best friends with maddison, one of heeseung’s ex-girlfriends— the longest relationship he’s had, being almost a whole month.
warning: swearing?? i dont think anything too nsfw will be in this as theyre in the last year of high school but the spin off might
likes, comments and reblogs are much appreciated<3
y/n! you made it!” maddison smiled, walking over to her friend, opening her arms “who convinced you?” she gasped in realisation
“heeseung did, didn't he! oh my gosh, that means it's now just the two of you so..”
“it's not date, we’re at a party and he’s probably flirting or sucking off some other girls face by now” she said, as she looked around for drinks to mix “oh, sweetie you’re jealous 5th grade ‘i have a crush on my good ‘ole friend heeseungie’ is showing” y/n rolled her eyes “yeah whatever”
-----------------
the night ended with y/n getting...very drunk and maddison searching for heeseung (who wasn’t sucking another girls face off) “heeseung, your girl is wasted” she said, finally finding him “where is she?”
maddison pointed to the couch “she's talking to sunghoon” heeseung threw his head back in frustration, sunghoon is y/ns ex, she broke up with him because he kept distracting her from her book, he didn’t think it was worth writing.
“been a while huh?” sunghoon threw an arm around her shoulder “yeah, haven’t talked to you since we broke up” she began to lean on him. not because she was actually falling for sunghoon’s act, but because she was drunk and tired
“you wanna go find a room upstairs? lie down for a bit?” he smirked as y/n’s eyes lit up, he knew that she wanted rest, and he wanted to hold her in his arms again, even if it was just temporary. he genuinely missed her.
“think i can take it from here” heeseung said with a clenched jaw, eyeing sunghoon, a gasp from beside him was heard “heeseungiee! i have a wONDERFUL idea for the next part of my book!” she made grabby hands at him, heeseung quickly helped her to her feet “let’s go home then okay, tell me ‘bout it in the car” she nodded, following his lead in wobbly steps “at this rate, we won’t make it to the car” heeseung chuckled
“ugh, fine then. carry me” and so he did.
after putting on her seatbelt, heeseung went into his seat, starting the car “so you gonna sleep on the way home or you wanna tell me about the next part of your book?” her head lifted from the window to look at him then smiled “wanna tell you it, but can you record ‘cuz ‘m really fuckin drunk right now” he nodded pulling out his phone “its recording so whenever you’re ready..” she nodded then leaned her head against the window again “so basically, heeseung’s moms, fainted right, so the next chapter, it like gonna be in her point of view while shes out, it’s gonna be like growing up as a vampire and with her mom, and it’s gonna be sO COOL!” heeseung shook his head with a smile “you named your character heeseung?” y/n licked her lips “yeah,temporarily…when i write i keep my window open and i could see you playing guitar through your window, your name was first to come with and it just stuck to me yanno”
“You’re adorable y/n nishimura”
y/n woke up in her own bed, confused and head pounding as she picked up her phone, the light blinding her for a while until her eyes adjusted to it, and to her surprise, she had texts from maddison, sunghoon and heeseung.
maddison:
holy shit i’m so sorry i left you with Sunghoon
thank god for heeseung
omgomg i’m sosososo sorry
sunghoon:
about last night...
are you and heeseung a thing?
heeseung:
hey you got super drunk last night
here’s the audio of the next chapter of ur book:)
groaning, she didn’t reply to any of them. carefully she climbed out of bed then downstairs, immediately meeting the quietness of the house, this wasn’t normal, so she looked around and finally, she noticed the sticky on the fridge ‘at the lee’s for an early start of family game night! come down when you’re ready’
y/n sighed, going back up to her room to change into some sweatpants and a simple tee. after putting her hair in a bun and brushing her teeth, she made her way over.
“crazy night huh?” jake smiled opening the door for the girl, who groaned slightly when he spoke “are you yelling or am i just..” he chuckled “you’re just very hungover. come on,heeseung’s mum made bacon and forced us to save you some” y/n sighed happily “i love his mum”
“morning sleepy head” y/ns mum smirked as she sipped her coffee “morning. you’ll be happy to hear that i am the champion of beer pong”
“you only won because jay was your partner” heeseung said, placing both a cup of coffee and a plate of bacon in front of her “thanks.. and that's not true..maddison is just a worse player than me, i’m slightly better” riki sat next to her “if you won, why did heeseung have to carry you up to your room?” y/n smiled “had to celebrate my win with a few shots of course”
“i think you mean our win.. well really my win” y/n looked up “ah jay,there you are, it was odd not seeing you in heeseung’s presence in his home.” he looked at heeseung then back to y/n “so are you guys.. you know” everyone in the room gasped “finally!”
“woah, hey wait what?” y/n looked around “we’re not together..”
“yet. we’re not together yet, i mean we drifted as friends for a while,” heeseung looked at y/n sleepily
“sure.. heeseung whatever you say...anyways not that i don’t want to, but since when did we start doing family game night again?” their mother’s looked at each other “since we learnt that heeseung still had feelings for his childhood crush”
“and that y/n went on a date with him to the movies” y/n bit into some bacon, “yeah, you can’t call that a date, riki was with us.”
heeseung’s mum chuckled “thats not what riki said” y/n groaned, throwing her head back, then looked at riki from across the room
“hey, you guys fought for paying at starbucks, i swear thats like a first date kinda thing” y/n shook her head then continued eating.
“so..since its family game night, can i go sleep until then?” both their mothers nodded
“you can sleep in my room, for now, i might go in there to do some homework at my desk, i won’t disturb you,” y/n nodded, as heeseung lead her up to his room
“if your room is as messy as it was when we were younger, i’m gonna fight you” he chuckled. “don’t worry. my room and i both matured”
they walked into the room and he wasn’t lying, the bed no longer had spider-man sheets, and the room didn’t have that child like vibe to it, nonetheless, the room brought back memories, “remember when we had the ‘draw the best spider-man’ on the wall contest?” she asked “‘course i do, got a load of shit from it, but i never cleaned it off” heeseung moved the desk slightly to the right “damn, i thought they looked so much better before..” he chuckled “i still think mines better than yours” y/n shrugged, plopping down on the bed “woah.. i swear your bed has always been so much comfier than mine, maybe we should just switch beds”
“or maybe, you can just sleep here with me” heeseung threw his arms around her and tackled her down on the bed, causing her to laugh and lie back on the bed. “i thought you had homework?” he shrugged “rather have sleepovers like before” he mumbled in her hair “plus its english” y/n lightly nudge him when she felt him getting heavier, meaning he was starting to fall asleep “go get it, i’ll help you” he groaned in response “c’mon, then when we’re done we can both sleep” his head went up “its romeo and juliet”
“i love romeo and juliet”
“is it even english? i mean..” y/n laughed “go get it” he pouted, but did as told.
an hour and a half later, the work that had barely any writing in it, was now almost full “how in the world did we do all this in an hour and a half?” heeseung questioned, putting away the book “because we both knew all the answers. you just never paid attention to what the questions are asking.’” y/n yawned
“no, its because you translated it to real english” heeseung fired back, sitting next to y/n who was lying down on her side “shakespeare is real english” he rolled his eyes “yeah,yeah, move over”
--------
“heeseung, y/n! its game time, hope you finished your work-oh..they’re sleeping..together”
jake smiled at his own dumb joke, then went back down to inform the rest of them that the two friends were asleep and cuddled up..
everyone rushed up the stairs and into heeseung’s room and the sight both warmed the parents hearts but also made their blood run cold. heeseung’s arms were tightly wrapped around y/ns waist and one of her own was lying on his chest
“GAME TIME!” y/n’s dad yelled, as jay and jake hit the two of them with pillows “we’re up! we’re up!” both their hands away from each other and blocking boys' attacks. “first game, charades! lets go.” everyone ran back down, “guess its time to go”
----
it's been a week since the family game night, and heeseung and y/n were.. closer than they were before the movie with riki.
“y/n, guess what!” heeseung smiled, walking over to her locker, where she was placing her things back into her bag “whats up hee?” he shook his head then raised his work packet they had worked on “hey! a b+, good for you!” she smiled, giving him a hug, which surprised both of them, heeseung hesitated, but hugged her back “i have a test on this soon, but to celebrate my first high grade in english, you wanna go to starbucks, on me?” y/n smiled,
“hey y/n, you wanna come with us to the-- oh, hello heeseung” maddison smirked, heeseung sighed “hey maddison..” the smile that was on his face was now gone
“anyways y/n, you wanna go to the mall with us?” she bit her lip then slowly shook her head “thanks for the invite maddi, but..i’m going on a coffee date with someone”
heeseung’s eyes lit up and the smile on his face evidently grew wider. “darn, lucky guy...well, text me later ‘kay?” maddison and the rest of the group walked away “so...whos your coffee date?” heeseung smirked, a light blush grew upon y/ns cheeks “did..did i say date? i.. i meant a study date” heeseung laughed, then draped his arm around her, “c’mon then, off to our study date” he made air quotes when he said the word study “date!” he caught both jake and jay’s eyes, then winked.
at the starbucks the two were talking to eachother as if nothing had changed between them, heeseung had said something that made her pout and he quickly took a photo of her
“hey!.. delete that!” he smiled down at it “no, it’s cute”
the bell on the door rang, and both turned to face it, in came morgan, who rolled her eyes at the two of them, then made her way to the back. y/n sighed and stood up, “i’ll be back, restroom” heeseung nodded then went into the groupchat with jay and jake. ‘40 bucks😏’ he sent the photo of y/n that he had taken moments ago.
“so what have you been doing after we..drifted?” y/n asked, taking her seat in front of him. “been singing a bit, playing piano and guitar, i’ve even recorded a few covers actually but haven’t had the guts to post any of ‘em though.. unlike you though” he winked. “did you get noticed by anyone yet?” she shook her head “nope, but i’m still writing.. music, and my books, and i’ve started an account specifically for singing” heeseung smiled." finally, how many followers so far?”
“well i haven’t posted anything so 65” heeseung pulled out his phone and searched her name “make that 66”
the day was filled with laughter and deep talks between the two old friends. “we should head home,” y/n sighed after laughing “we should, c’mon i think jay and jake are preparing a movie night at my place, you in?” she nodded “i mean i was going to write..but why not.. can we bring riki?”
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kelpan · 6 months
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Our first Sundrop POV chapter!!! Enjoy this precious, handsome boi! :D
Credit for this commissioned Sundrop Headshot goes to wwispie on Etsy! As their shop is closed at the moment, check 'em out on Instagram by the same name! Their art is absolutely incredible!
Might be a little bit 'till we reach Moon's first POV chapter, but that headshot will be ready and waiting until then!
Ao3: Petals on a Stream of Stars
Act 1, Chapter 5: A Quest for Snacks
Tuesday
12:00 PM
Sundrop
Sun’s motors whirred as he waved goodbye to the last of his little sunspots, content to watch them all run off, giggling and screaming under the watchful eye of the two human staff members in charge of handling lunch today. He released a deep exhale, his body slumping forward, shoulders drooped and arms dangling. He loved his little sunspots, he really did—but he just did not have the battery to keep up with them all today!
Not like he ever seemed to have much of a full battery anymore, but still.
Turning about on his heel, he made his way over to the security desk, and grabbed a bottle of disinfectant spray stored there, along with a clean towel. No time to waste dragging feet; The Daycare wasn’t going to clean itself.
He’d start over at the gym mats, he decided, given how many running, sniffling noses he’d noticed during tumble-time today. Spring allergies must be hitting the kids pretty hard this season. He wouldn’t be surprised if a few of his regulars started calling out sick soon. 
He sprayed and wiped down every tiny vinyl nook and cranny, refusing to allow even one speck of germ-riddled dirt to remain for the next group of kids to find. Humans were such fragile, susceptible things. A clean environment was crucial to ensure all his kids would grow up to be big and strong!
After he’d finished, he spared a glance to arts and crafts, and spotted his new coworker still hard at work re-organizing and cleaning her section, just like he’d asked her to. Already she’d done better than the others who Fazbear tried to shove in the position. Everyone else had been far more concerned with their phones to even consider interacting with the kids, and Sun knew upper management was getting tired of having to find new hires to fill the role. If there was ever a staff member he needed to ensure he made a good impression on, it was her.  
A soft melody floated through the air from her direction, sweet and enticing for such simple notes, the sound commanding he stop and listen. She sang under her breath, too quiet for his audio detection system to make out clearly. The song was light, and cheery, but held a curious note of sadness to it. Wanting to hear more, he made his way over after putting away his cleaning supplies, careful to be soft-footed lest he interrupt.
He managed to walk right up to her from behind without her noticing. After waiting a minute, to avoid coming across as awkward, he attempted to announce his presence as subtly as he could.
���Why, don’t you have a pretty voice!” he said, injecting his voice in the space where she stopped to breathe.
Chrysanthemum jolted on the spot, her shoulders snapping up to attention. She whipped about to face him, her sharp, bright green eyes shooting daggers.
“Jiminy Crickets! God, Sun, don’t scare me like that!”
She clutched a hand to her chest, breathing hard. He flashed an apologetic smile, rays tilted backwards, and held his hands up in surrender.
“Sorry! Sorry!” He lowered his hands once she relaxed some. “Won’t happen again”. He gestured to the side with his thumb. “So, how goes it? Do you need any help?”
She gave him one more half-hearted, pointed stare before turning her focus back to the sea of tiny tables and chairs. 
 “No, not really, it’s all done. I just put the last of it away a second ago.” 
 “Ah, perfect! That’s wonderful.” He stood tall, with his hands on his hips, surveying the space with satisfaction. “I’d say it looks great! Thank you for helping. Why don’t you go ahead and take your lunch break now, get a couple of extra minutes of rest before the next shift rolls around. I’ll finish up the rest on my own.” 
Her brows crinkled. “My lunch break? Oh, yeah. Right. Should probably eat something, that’d be smart.” She looked around the room, and tapped her arm. “Hey, are you sure you don’t need another hand? I’m happy to keep going, you know, if there are things that still need done.” Though she smiled, she appeared tense. Something was off. 
“That’s very sweet of you.” He said, picking his words carefully. “But no, I’ve got this. Go take care of yourself. I insist.” 
Her smile faded as she listened, and she looked aside. He waited for her to speak first. She’d tell him whatever was on her mind when she was ready. 
“I… didn’t think to bring anything with me.” She mumbled, as if embarrassed. “Wasn’t thinking that far ahead.” Her voice rose in pitch. “B-But, it’s fine! I can just wait until I get back home later to eat. It’s no big deal.”
He recoiled. “And go that long without fuel? Oh no, no, no, I don’t think so! Kids forget their snacks all the time. Come on, come with me. We’ll find you something to eat!”
He reached straight for her wrist and tugged, guiding her towards the door. She squeaked in weak protest, but he held firm. Only once he saw she would follow of her own accord did he let go.
Out the Daycare and down the hall, he led them to the main crossroads on this side of the building. They walked in silence, the only sound to accompany their footsteps the jingle of the belled ribbons tied to his wrists. Sun watched Chrys stare at her surroundings with interest, and his features relaxed. To see an adult look at his world with eyes like that of a child was… refreshing. 
Before long, they reached the first landmark, a large central staircase connecting multiple levels to the rest of the pizzaplex. Once they’d begun to climb the first few steps, a loud thudding noise echoed from out in the distance, each thud reverberating through to the floor. Chrys stopped in her tracks, head swiveling from side to side, stray strands of her red, wavy hair bouncing from the movement. 
“Hey, don’t worry,” He chimed in, sensing her unease. “That’s just another animatronic. The others aren’t as, uh… light on their feet as I am. Have you met any of them yet?”
She shook her head no, her discomfort clear. He placed what he hoped was a reassuring hand behind her back, floating just a hair above to keep from actually touching, and kept them both moving until they reached the top of the stairs. Upon reaching the next level, he received an alert on his internal monitor, detecting movement approaching from the left. His rays fell the instant he saw who it was that stepped into the light.
Of course it had to be Monty.  
“Well, well!” The Gator perked as he spotted them in turn. “Looky there! Vitamin D, I ain’t never seen you out the Daycare anymore! What’s it been, weeks? Months? Not that I blame ya, ya know, after all that uh… mess. Uh, so! How ya been? Kids recovering?”
Sun tensed, his fists tightening at his sides. This was not the time, nor the place to be talking about that day, especially with such nonchalance. 
And in front of her.
Sun grit his teeth, doubling down on his composure as Monty clunked over, his green and yellow endo-skeleton shell polished to a shine.
“Our kids are just fine, thank you very much. I suggest you be more concerned with the kids in your own sector. Heard another fell into the river again. Didn’t they almost drown?”
“Ay now, not my fault if the pizzaplex didn’t install a safety railing!” He pointed a fat, clawed finger at his face. “Don’t you dare accuse me of being neglectful. Those kids are way safer with me than they are with you and your slash-happy brother over at the—”.  
“Shut it!”
Sun darted, slapping Monty’s finger away and shoved his own towards Monty’s snout.
“You don’t get to talk about him like that, you hear me? Why don’t do us all a favor and go find some random display stand to destroy. Just as long as you leave us alone, we’re busy.”
Too little too late, Sun realized the error it was to reference Chrys in front of Monty the moment he saw those arrogant red eyes pan down to hers, shifting from rage to confusion to mischief. Sun sidled his hand slightly in front of her, a silent word of warning. 
“Aye, wait a tic, who’s this? You steal a newbie or something, Sun? Heh, didn’t think you had it in you. What’s your name, cutie?” 
Monty leaned down low, circumnavigating him. Sun kept his eyes trained on Monty’s every movement, ready to respond the moment Monty overstepped—which he always did. 
From the corner of his eye, Chrys stiffened, her heart-rate rising enough to ping his monitor. 
“Um, Chrys. My name is Chrys.” She said, voice shaky. 
Monty flashed his bleached row of sharp, pointed teeth. “Chris? That’s funny. Is that a common human name or something? Seems we got a lot of those on staff. Can’t say it's my favorite, one of them is a righteous pain in my ass. Literally. Though you are the prettiest outta all of them here by far.” He took Chrys’s hand in his own without asking, and raised it to the tip of his snout, pressing to it a makeshift kiss. “Pleased to meet ya.” 
That does it!!! 
With force, he grabbed Monty’s wrist and squeezed, breaking his hold on Chrys’s fingers and shoved him away, sending the staggered gator backward a few steps. 
“Hey! The fuck? What the hell is your problem???”
“Language, Montgomery. You know that kind of behavior isn’t appropriate”.
“Oh, come off it! Ain’t no kids here. I was just being polite with a lady. You got a problem with that?”
Sun stood firm in the face of Monty’s bared teeth. It paid to be one of the few animatronics in the ‘Plex with height advantage, especially given Monty’s reputation for acts of violence. “If being “polite” means harassing my assistant, then yes, I have a problem with it. Keep. Your. Hands. To. Yourself.”
Monty stared him down, before breaking the terse silence with a grunt and a roll of his eyes. 
“I wasn’t… I was just… Gah. Whatever, Sun, have it your way. But you listen to me, filly,” He broke eye contact with him and looked at Chrys. “This one may look all brave now, but just you wait. When push comes to shove, he’ll freeze like a deer in headlights, leaving you all alone to drown. And ain’t nobody gonna come save you. ‘Specially not me.”
He emphasized his words with a sharp thumb jab, before shoving past the two of them, muttering “outta my way” under his breath. 
 Neither Chrys nor he moved until he had disappeared from sight, his heavy footsteps fading to a disturbed silence.  
Arrogant lizard.
Sun took a deep breath, in an effort to reground himself. He couldn’t let Monty’s antics get any more of a rise out of him than they’d already had. 
He turned to Chrys, examining her features for any lingering signs of distress. She looked him right in the eye, her cheeks dry and mouth set in a straight line. Not great, but better than the tears he’d anticipated. 
“Miss Chrys? Are you alright?”
She refused to speak, instead continuing to stare at him with a blank expression. Her heart rate had fallen to a more appropriate level, but still remained higher than her baseline. She didn’t seem frightened, or upset, leaving Sun at a loss as to how to navigate this situation. Had he frightened her? Was she uncomfortable now? The gears in his gut clenched at the thought of her taking the Gator’s words to heart.
“I-I’m so sorry you had to see all that! Don’t let him get to you. Guy has no manners whatsoever.”
“Yeah. Thanks”. She said, arms held close to her, making her appear so small. She hooked a strand of hair with a single finger and fiddled with it. His rays drooped. The ease to which they’d interacted before seemed to be gone.
“Of course.” He said, reserved. 
Sun gestured, and the two walked on in silence, him unable to resist looking over at her every few seconds. She kept her eyes to the floor, her face just as unreadable as before. Sun clamped a lid on his nerves, thinking it best to give her some space instead of forcing small talk.
Minutes passed, uncomfortable and drawn out, before Sun saw a light at the end of the tunnel; The marquee sign hanging above the entrance to the theater. 
“Ah, h-here we are! It’s just a little further to the storeroom. Sorry for the bit of a walk, there’s no other way to go that has this much light.”
Chrys nodded her head, and ducked under his arm which held one of the heavy double doors open for her. It closed behind them with an unsettling click.
Chrys stood in the middle of the lobby, head tilted back as she took in the space. “Didn’t know the pizzaplex had a theater too.”
“Oh yes!” Sun said, guiding them down past the box office and into a red carpeted hallway littered with “staff only” signs on every door. “Plays, musicals, comedy, poetry readings, you name it! It’s catered more to the adults, but it’s been doing very well lately! It’s mostly just the staff who do the performances though. Saves money, apparently. Hey, maybe you could do something too! I heard that voice of yours, I bet you’d be fabulous at it!”
Chrys let out a conflicted chuckle, and turned away. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
His shoulders dipped. He’d made a misstep again.
Following the carpet down the hall, they passed through a bare metal door, and entered out into a wide, concrete room, a stark contrast to the warm atmosphere of the theater. 
“Welcome to the Storeroom!” Sun said, arms outstretched. They stood on a small, railed landing, connected to the center of the room by two small steps. An amalgamation of supplies sat littered about, some strewn across the floor, while some sat haphazard on the rows of shelving units filling the space. The fluorescent rod lights buzzed overhead. 
“This space connects to multiple sectors of the Pizzaplex, so we all have to share it. All of the Daycare’s snacks should be right here!” Sun bounded off the railing and made a beeline for the leftmost corner. He popped open three different tubs, each causing him to frown once he’d looked inside. 
“Ah. Seems as if someone has done some, uh, rearranging, since the last time I did a supply run. We might have to look a bit, but I’m sure all the snacks are still in here somewhere!”
With a nod of her head, Chrys stepped off to the side, peering around and into boxes without moving or jostling anything around too much. Her footsteps faded into the quiet of the room, her every movement gentle. Even with things that weren’t hers, she was careful, he noticed. 
The sound of their individual shuffling filled the air, until his sensors picked up on the tiniest of voices. 
“Hey, Sun?” Chrys asked, hands still on the flaps of a cardboard box.
“Y-yes?” He stopped what he was doing to devote his full attention to her, his coils wound tight in the seconds between. 
“Who was Monty talking about? The one he called… slash-happy?”
Shoot. 
He knew it was too much to hope that she’d forgotten that part. Sun chewed on his words for a moment, before releasing a sigh. Better to get this over with.  
“Oh. Yes. Well, that would be… Moondrop. My uh, twin.”
He picked at his ball-joint knuckles. Her hands slid from the box to the shelf, where she let them rest, her brows furrowed as she looked at him. 
“Your twin? I didn’t realize robots could have twins.”
He shrugged. “Built by the same person at the same time. Just like human twins.”
She nodded. “Guess that makes sense. Does he work in the daycare too, then?”
“Ah,” Sun tugged on one of his rays. “Yes and no. He’s in charge of naptime, but until the Midnight Garden is operational again, all naptimes have been suspended. He’s been… transferred to security for the time being.”
“Will I get to meet him?” She asked in a quiet voice.
He raised his gaze to hers, and hesitated before answering. In her he saw not a drop of judgment. No disgust. No fear. He matched her energy by letting his genuine emotions come through, without caring if he was being professional or not. 
“I… imagine so. At some point.”
She smiled then, a widening of her lips that lit up her face. “If he’s anything like you, I think I’d like that.”
Sun’s own ever-present grin faltered, and his arms went limp. How can such a simple look hold such warmth and tenderness? He wanted to see it more, more than just this. She returned to the box she’d been originally rummaging through, as if she hadn’t just stunned him still. 
With a hard shake of his head, he followed her lead and redirected his thoughts back to the task at hand. Focus! Based on the disorganized mess that was the Daycare’s shelves, he had little inclination to think that what they sought would be in any sort of logical spot. But the more he thought about it, the more he came to realize he might know of one plausible place to look; The lower dressing rooms. Perhaps the daycare’s food had been mistaken as a part of the theater’s concessions and moved there?
Checking to make sure Chrys would be alright before stepping out, Sun made his way through a series of shelves to the back half of the room, and found the connecting door to the basement-level dressing rooms propped open. Stepping inside, just as he suspected—and clearly labeled—were the boxes of snacks he used to help the kids stay energized between meals. Taking a quick perusal of his stock to ensure nothing was missing, he grabbed two strawberry uncrustable sandwiches and a bag of goldfish, tucking them securely in his pants pockets. Not the most nutritious meal, but better than nothing. He’d have to remember to come back after hours and return everything back to its proper locations.  
As he turned around, the ripple of his reflection caught his eye, and he stopped to look at himself in the nearby vanity mirror. A hunched, rail thin, gangly figure in jester clothes stared back at him, the ruffled red and gold collar encircling his neck stuffy under such direct lighting. He’d never say it out loud, but he hated this outfit. Too fantastical, too outlandish, too… different. Sure, the kids like it, but often he’d wonder how bad it would be if he snuck some clothes from the gift shop, tried on something simple like a t-shirt, or sweatpants. Would some of the parents talk to him then, like a fellow adult? Or even some of the other staff members? As much as he hated to admit it, with Moon now… reassigned, he often found himself at a loss for company. Actual company. Where he could talk as himself. There were only so many safe topics he could share with the kids.
Least there was Chrys now. For however long she lasted before getting scared away, like had happened with all the others before her. 
He’d just taken a step out of the room when his mind nagged at him to go back, that something wasn’t quite right. He shifted a half-step back, and looked around for anything off. It was then that it hit him; While he expected the main running lights overhead to be on, the room did appear far brighter than it usually did when not in use. The reason was easy to ascertain; Every single bare bulb circling the vanity mirrors was lit to full. 
“Huh. That’s odd. Staff should know better than to leave those running. They’ll overheat and blow the fuse if left on too…”
Oh.
Oh no. 
Oh nononononono!!
He dove for the table, fingers scrambling to find the light switch along the backside. Whether from the timing or his jostling, a low, ominous humming began to fill the room. The noise rose in volume, before climaxing into a booming CRACK that ricocheted and bounced off the walls.
The silence that followed was just as vast and endless as the darkness it brought.
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tired-reader-writer · 9 months
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I yearn for the WFM AU Lore, it’s wormed it’s way into my brain meats.
I'm gonna assume you mean my AU (it's got a name, finally!) so that's what I'm gonna talk about!
For those of you who haven't seen the other posts and are curious, I'll tag this post w the AU tag so that y'all can go explore it. With that out of the way, here's what I got (it's mostly about Ellyus bc I'm obsessed with my own OC, of course):
Ellyus has a non-linear time perception, if this were a proper fic (man I wish I had enough energy for a proper fic) the story would open with his death, it's the first thing he'll ever be aware of. And then things are out of order for him, between one breath and the next he might see Vanadis, between sleep and wakefulness he might see the future. It's all scattered, and oftentimes repeats over and over, if this were a proper fic he'd experience what has been written/uploaded thus far every time there's a new reader. The pressure in his skull and eyeballs build up and up until it causes pain as sort of a side-effect or aftermath of these visions, and he dissociates a lot. Suletta is one of the few people that can ground him. He has to take pain medication to dull the symptoms, and he also has cybernetic implants like Cardo Nabo:
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Watsonian reason: it helps manage the pain and augments his nervous system so that he can live just a little longer.
Doylist reason: this is so that he reminds Prospera of Dr. Nabo, a haunting of her ghost. Doesn't help that he becomes pretty much the leading engineer/researcher of GUND-ARM Inc. like she was the head researcher of Vanadis Institute.
He'll die and then become the twelfth GUND-bit. (Haven't yet pinned down an exact point in the timeline yet but probably juuuust around Plant Quetta-ish. The attack never happens, or more like a similar incident happens later down the line on Earth and that accelerated his death.) And then he leaves everybody else to pick up the pieces of his impact.
And it is Ellyus who breaks the news to Suletta, about Vanadis, about their origins, about Ericht. But he couldn't bring himself to do it while he was alive, there's certain things he as a character is Not Allowed to say directly to people, so he takes a loophole and pre-records video/audio messages to be automatically released to certain ppl upon death like a dead man switch. It... well, people take it just about as well as you'd expect.
“It's up to you, now. Whatever you choose, I want you to live. I want you to be happy. Do you understand, Suletta? It's your right to be happy. To choose. You understand. I'm sorry I couldn't say this to you when I was still alive.”
Man if I had enough energy I'd write Suletta piloting Aerial for the first time after Ellyus dies, only to notice that there's a twelfth bit now, and the bit's voice... she can't put her finger on it but it's familiar.
Too familiar.
Suletta's always been smarter than people give her credit for.
She'd recognize her brother anywhere.
And she finally asks, after the duel or something, not expecting an answer, hoping she's wrong: “...onii-san?” in a quiet, hesitant voice.
She doesn't want to be right.
She wants to be right.
To which the bit replies, in a garbled voice, “Yes.”
But how did he die? What was he feeling in the moments leading up to it?
His narrative time as an insert character was about to be up, he knows he's gonna die, and like with a heart attack he feels the Dread settle in— not the jittery kind of “something's coming” that he often feels as an instinct, no. The kind that says, “that something is here.”
He is taken from the hospital by Prospera and her accomplices, all parties involved knowing what she has in store for him. She takes him to Aerial and just as she's about to upload him into the Data Storm—
He takes her hand.
“I'm not Ericht. Neither me nor Suletta. But it can still matter, right? Our— Our efforts. Our dreams. GUND-ARM. It matters, right, mom? M—Mom. You won't ruin it, right? You'll let it— let it live— right, right? Mom? Please, mom. I— I don't wanna— don't, don't do— don't. —ant to... to l— Sulet—ta— (El4n's new name)— J—Jeru— some—someone— no, no, I don't—”
Aka, he dies terrified for everyone and everything, scared that despite his efforts in disrupting the plot it might all be for naught and things will course-correct and Prospera will... Yeah. You know.
At some point during his frantic speech Prospera takes the hand he's been holding and covers his eyes.
The pain ends abruptly, and he's... well, inside. With the other Children of the Coven.
The twelfth GUND-bit.
And lately I've been getting more and more fond about the idea of Prospera nudging Shaddiq and El4n into cooperating with Quiet Zero— she wants Shaddiq to kill Delling and take the presidency. Miorine is... complicated. She's the one keeping the GUND ideals of medical application, saving lives, despite being the daughter of the man that ordered their slaughter. It's complicated, and El's desperate pleas shifted... something, in her. So she spares Miorine for now, until she can figure out what she'll do next. In the meantime, Shaddiq is the unfortunate target.
Wouldn't it be fun if Prospera and Shaddiq actually team up? Against Benerit and Spacians as a whole? Quiet Zero will surely give Earthians enough power to strong-arm some negotiations, and well...
Shaddiq now also has someone stuck beyond the Data Storm that he'll want to give a second chance at life to.
Thankfully due to Ellyus' influence Shaddiq is... less destructive than in canon, more on the lines of collaborating w GUND-ARM for disaster relief and stuff, uniting the various factions on Earth into a single unified front, he finally fucking learned that destructive means alone won't help people so yeah. He still has a lot of cunning fire in him though, and plots for Delling's death and snatch the presidency.
El4n isn't so stoked about Prospera— He unfortunately sees parallels between Bel/Peil and Prospera (what he knows now from El's post-mortem messages plus all the little hints while he was still alive certainly doesn't help), he only has to hear “We're not the ones that matter, Suletta and I. We'll never be Samayas. You understand.” once and alarm bells are going off in his head.
At some point he angrily demands Prospera: “Did El ever matter to you? Does Suletta?”
But he does go along, because he feels it's unfair that he was saved by Ellyus (he who wasn't even sure if he wanted to live or not, a puppet without a purpose) and yet he couldn't do the same for El.
Suletta is unsure about all this. She's doubting and second-guessing Prospera's goals— she isn't sure if this Quiet Zero thing won't end horribly like Ellyus was worried it would (post-mortem messages hello). She doesn't know if this is what Ellyus would've wanted and... I don't know. I don't know how things will proceed from her end just yet.
Some miscellaneous stuff:
Ellyus and El4n are the only ones allowed to call Shaddiq by his birth name Jeru Ogul, and in private. It's a sign of trust— Shaddiq keeps it under twenty layers of masks, a reminder for the Earthian boy he once was, fuel for what he must do. He's literally never trusted anyone with this tender heart of hearts before this. Before them.
Ellyus' nickname is El, as you might've noticed. Suletta wanted to call him Elly/Ellie when she was young, but he suggested El instead— because “it's cute, but that's not my name”. It's because Elly/Ellie would be written the same as Eri in katakana: エリ, and he... he doesn't want to bear Eri's name for all that he's fond of her (he got to hear Eri's little speech from Lfrith's pov after all). El would be written as エル, sharing the beginning of Elnora (エルノラ). Though... his full name エリユス does have “Eri” hidden inside it.
Since from what we've seen of the girls' bedroom of Earth House, I guess it's safe to say that boys also share a room w bunk beds, though El4n might receive a bed he still worms his way onto El's. They cuddle.
The Earth House kids have a groupchat. Chaos ensue.
El5n is most definitely involved in the project to burn Peil Technologies even if I don't have a solid plan on when and how.
There's... a lot more of this AU I haven't included in this post but I'll cut things off here, for fear of the post getting too long. I don't think that many people will be interested in my stuff anyways, but it sure felt nice to get this off my chest. So thank you so much for the ask!
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dottielovegood · 2 years
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Shadowsinger [erotic audio for women, nsfw] - part 3
Chapter title: Birthday Girl
Chapter one, Chapter two Read this fic here on AO3
Summary: Azriel does audio porn. Elain is a big fan.
(Disclaimer: No, this is not an audio fic) ________________________________________________
“One more shot,” Nuala shouted over the music as she scooted into the booth next to Elain. Cerridwen was on her other side nursing a beer. 
“I might die if I take one more,” Elain answered, knowing fully well that she would succumb to the bad influence of the twins. Not that she minded. She really needed this. She had been working way too much and school had been kicking her ass for the last couple of weeks. And she hadn’t been able to sleep well since that handsome man walked into the coffee shop and ruined her life. 
Basically, she blamed Shadowsinger for her sleep deprivation. It wasn’t more than fair. 
Cerridwen laughed beside her and nudged her arm, “We will all die sooner or later. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather be drunk when I die.” She reached for one of the shots Nuala had placed on the table.
“What is it?” Elain asked, one last attempt to tell herself that multiple shots was never a good idea. 
“It was called Orgasmic bliss .” Nuala wiggled her eyebrows. “Sounded like something you might need.”
“Nuala,” Elain gasped, feigning a horrified shocked expression. And failing miserably. “Not in front of Jesus.”
Elain pointed at the man who had been dancing vigorously on the dance floor for the past 30 minutes. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his long hair had earned him the nickname ‘Jesus’.
“From the way he was looking at you earlier, I think he might volunteer to give you a different kind of orgasmic bliss,” Cerridwen said and nudged one of the small glasses closer to Elain. “Come on, birthday girl. You only live once.”
Elain rolled her eyes but picked up the shot. “Live, laugh, love.”
Nuala raised her shot to and shouted, “Carpe fucking diem.”
“I will regret this in the morning,” Elain muttered under her breath and raised her glass to Nuala's. 
Cerridwen followed suit. “To orgasms.”
“To orgasms,” Elain and Nuala said in chorus, and then they downed the shots. 
It was sweet, an artificial taste of strawberries and cream sliding down her throat. Nuala had wanted to get them tequila but Elain had promptly put her foot down (both literally and figuratively.) She wanted to remember her birthday and if she had tequila, there was a very big possibility that she wouldn’t. 
“It was better than the last one,” Cerridwen commented. 
Nuala turned to her sister, a teasing grin on her face, “What, you didn’t like the Cum as you are ?”
Cerridwen wrinkled her nose, “whoever came up with that shot should go to jail. The consistency was a bit too accurate.”
“Not in front of Jesus, Cerr.” Nuala teased. 
“Sorry Jesus,” she shouted.
And of course, ‘Jesus’ turned around, sending the girls into a giggling fit. 
Rita’s was packed tonight. Sweaty bodies dancing closely on the dance floor, people sharing pitchers of beer and couples making out in the corners. Elain hadn’t been out for god knows how long, which was probably why she was already starting to feel a little bit drunk. It felt great. Her mind was finally quiet and she found herself thinking that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to fall asleep and sleep the entire night for once. 
That would truly be the best birthday gift she could receive. 
“Hey, speaking of orgasms and bodily fluids,” Cerridwen said, leaning forward. “Guess who I saw yesterday?”
“Harry Styles?” Elain guessed without missing a beat. 
“Taylor Swift?” Nuala added. 
Elain shook her head, “No, I bet it was Gordon Ramsey.”
“If she had seen Gordon Ramsey she would have died on the spot from happiness,” Nuala said. “I think it was…Kanye West.”
“Or Kim Kardashian?”
“Donald Trump?”
“The Queen of England?”
“Shrek?”
“Harry Pott–”
Cerridwen put her hand over Elain’s mouth. “No, you idiots. I don’t even want to know how you connect those people to orgasms and bodily fluids.”
“Harry Styles and Taylor Swift could give me orgasms any day,” Nuala said and raised her half empty glass of beer in a salute to mainly herself. And maybe to Harry Styles and Taylor Swift too, Elain wasn’t sure. 
“Yes, I know, you horny heathen. But this isn’t about you.”
“So who is it about then?”
“The birthday girl, of course.”
Elain furrowed her brows. “Me? Did you see my sisters?”
Cerridwen shook her head, a teasing smile on her lips. “Nope. Better.”
“Did you meet someone who said that I have won a hundred billion dollars?”
“Better,” she said, her smile turning into a grin. 
“What is better than a hundred billion dollars? I mean, unless I won two hundred billion dollars. That would definitely be better than one hundred–”
“God, you talk a lot when you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” Elain lied. “I’m tipsy.”
Nuala patted her back. “Whatever you say, sweetie.”
“Okay, you’re not allowed to guess anymore because you obviously suck at it. I saw your sexy stranger,” she exclaimed, holding out her hands to emphasize how amazing this was. 
Elain just stared at her. “Who?”
“Oh, don’t play coy. The sexy, dark, brooding, mysterious stranger who ordered a coffee when he actually wanted to order you.”
“I think Elain would like to be ordered around,” Nuala interjected. 
Elain could feel her face get hot. Thank god for the dim lights because she definitely didn’t want the twins seeing her blush like this. Because yes, she did like being told what to do by that sexy stranger. She liked it a lot. And she missed it. 
“Get your head out of the gutter, Nuala,” Cerridwen said. “Anyway, he came into the coffee shop yesterday.”
“Okay?” Elain tried to seem unaffected by the news when she actually wanted to scream. He had returned to the coffee shop? There was a chance that she might meet him again? 
That wasn’t part of her plan. 
Her plan was to never think about him or his velvety smooth voice ever again. 
“Yes, he came in and said that I was right about the coffee being the best he ever had.” Cerridwen looked smug. “And then…” She dragged that last word out, trying to increase the anticipation. “He asked about you.” Elain, who had just taken a sip of her luke-warm beer, had to cover her nose with her hand as she started coughing. He had what now?
“What?” she was able to croak out. 
“Yes, he asked if you were there because, apparently, you are very good at recommending food,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “He looked disappointed when I told him you had a few days off.”
“Oh,” was all Elain could think to answer. 
“Oh?” Nuala raised her voice. “That’s all you’re gonna say? OH?”
“Well, he was probably just hungry.”
Nuala rolled her eyes. “You are so clueless. You didn’t think that Jesus was checking you out and now you think that the sexy stranger asked for you because he was freaking hungry. You need to look in a mirror, girl.”
“Jesus was not checking me out. He was just looking for a new dance partner.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” Nuala leaned back against the black leather seat. “But aren’t you even a little bit curious why the sexy stranger asked for you?”
Yes, Elain wanted to shout. Yes, she was curious. Of course, she wanted to know why he had asked. She knew that it couldn’t be because he craved cinnamon rolls or other sweet treats, but Elain couldn’t even fathom that he would have any interest in her either. He was Shadowsinger , for god’s sake. He was the man she had dirty fantasies about when she didn’t even know what he looked like.
She touched herself to his voice. 
Even if he did want to see her for some reason, she was relieved that she hadn’t been at work that day. And she would never admit that she was curious because she shouldn’t be. He was a sex god and she was…Elain. Plain Elain. She wasn’t funny or exciting. Definitely not exciting enough for someone like him. 
Elain knew that she couldn’t keep telling the twins that she didn’t care because they could see right through her. But she couldn’t tell them the full story either, so she went with, “Sure, I admit it. I would like to know why he asked for me. I can’t really think of a good reason since I was a babbling idiot the last time I saw him and we only spoke for a minute. But that doesn’t matter because I will never see him again, so that’s that.”
And I will never hear his voice again, she added silently. 
There was a beat of silence between them. Or, it wasn’t really silence since every sound was drowned out by a horrendous remix of an old pop song from the nineties. The twins looked at each other quickly, a silent communication clearly going on between them. Elain took a sip of her beer, trying her very best to ignore the way they were looking at each other, and then at her, and then at the bar. They were probably just trying to decide what shot to order next. Telepathically. 
Elain almost laughed at the silly thought when Nuala leaned in closer and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
“What?”
“I said,'' she gripped Elain’s chin and turned her head toward the bar. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
As soon as the words registered, Elain saw what the twins had been staring at just seconds ago. Or more accurately, who they had been staring at. 
It was him. 
He was here. 
The sexy stranger. 
Shadowsinger. 
He was here, at the bar she used to visit regularly and god, he looked good. Too good. Looking like that should come with a warning sign. 
Tonight, he was dressed in black, easily blending into the darkness of the club. Yet, there was something about him that made him stand out. That made Elain’s eyes seek him out, like a moth to a flame. 
She took in the leather boots, the fitted black jeans and the black T-shirt. She let her eyes travel up his body and when she reached his face, she quickly realized her mistake. 
Because of fucking course he was looking right at her. And Elain just wanted to sink through the ground because both times they had been in the same room, he had caught her staring. 
For a beat, he did nothing but look straight at her, holding her gaze. Then, with a small smirk on his lips, he raised his glass of amber liquid towards her and gave her one single nod. Was that his way of saying hello?
Elain could feel herself blush again, and once more, she was happy that the dark club hid her pink cheeks. 
She suddenly felt sober. Or well, not sober, but definitely more tipsy than drunk. 
When he turned back to his friend at the bar, Elain realized that she hadn’t been breathing. She took a deep breath and sank down in the booth, reaching for her glass. When she tipped it back, she realized that it was empty. 
“Shit,” she muttered and put the glass down more forcefully than she intended. 
“Was that a shit, he’s here or a shit, I need more alcohol ?” Cerridwen teased. 
“Both,” Elain sighed. “Why is he so good looking?”
The twins laughed and huddled closer to Elain. Probably to make sure that they could all hear each other better.  
“I mean, shouldn’t it be illegal to have a face like that when he also has a voice that…” she trailed off, realizing that she almost told her friends way too much. 
The twins looked at each other, a puzzled expression on their faces. “Well, well, well,” Nuala said. “I didn’t know you had a voice kink.”
“I don’t,” Elain answered quickly. Too quickly. 
She didn’t have a voice kink, per se. It was just his voice that made her kinky.  
Elain was very glad that her friends couldn’t read her mind. 
“Oh, my god. You do,” Nuala gasped in fake shock. “You’re blushing.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, stop lying to yourself, El. You think he’s hot and his voice gets you going.”
“No,” Elain muttered, more to herself than anything. She was a bad liar on any normal day, but give her some alcohol and she was the human version of a fountain of truth. She really did have to bite her tongue in order to not blurt out that this very sexy man did audio porn. And that she listened to audio porn. Or used to, at least. 
She missed the porn. 
Well, that was something she never thought she would say, or even think. 
“Please, go talk to him,” Cerridwen said. 
“That is definitely out of the question.”
“Why?”
Elain stared at her friend. “What do you mean, why? I can’t talk to him. Firstly, because he is a customer and I…”
“He’s only a customer because he wanted to talk to you, silly. So that’s not a problem. What’s your next excuse?”
Elain worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Well, he is way out of my league. I mean, look at him. He’s all dark and cool and mysterious and I’m…” she gestured at her floral dress. “I’m cute.”
“Yes, you are,” Nuala said. “The cutest. And I bet he thinks so too.”
“Yeah, well. I’m drunk. You know that I get weird when I’m drunk.”
Cerridwen patted her knee. “Good thing you’re only tipsy then, because tipsy Elain is talkative and clingy…”
“Yeah, and those are traits most men don’t like.”
“That’s because most men are idiots,” Nuala said with a little too much enthusiasm. 
Elain laughed, “says the bisexual.”
Nuala shrugged and finished her beer. “Well, look at that. All the glasses are empty.” She gestured to the array of glasses on the table. “Whatever should we do about it?”
Before Elain could answer that maybe it was time to go home, Cerridwen snapped her fingers, “You know, I think it’s Elain’s turn to get the drinks.”
“Oh my god, my very smart sister. I think you’re right.”
Elain eyes went from her friends to the bar (where a certain stranger still stood), and then back again. “I–I don’t..”
“It’s only fair.” Nuala pushed back the glasses on the table to make room for new drinks. “I’ll have a beer.”
Elain turned to her friend. “But I’m the birthday girl,” she pouted. “I shouldn’t have to get my own drinks.”
“Fine,” Cerridwen snapped. “I’ll get the drinks, but you are going to help me carry them.”
Before Elain could protest, she was being dragged through the dark bar. Jesus was still dancing like a maniac, which was fitting since the DJ had decided to play that Maniac song from the Flashdance soundtrack. It had been one of Elain’s favorite movies growing up. 
Elain felt hot. Now that she was standing up, she definitely felt more drunk than tipsy, or at least somewhere in between the two. Another drink would surely push her over the edge. 
She looked down as she walked, cursing herself for wearing heels. She smoothed a hand over her thigh-length dress. Why had she worn this dress? It made her look young and inexperienced. Like someone who spent their time frollicing in fields while singing about hills being alive. She stuck out like a sore thumb among the people wearing dark clothes and sneakers. 
“What do you want?” Cerrdidwen’s voice cut through her inner monologue. Elain looked around and realized they had made it to the bar. “I–-uh…”
Her friend shook her head and turned back to face the bartender, “She’ll have a beer too.”
Elain just nodded, not really caring about the drink because at that very second, she realized exactly what her friend had done. 
She had squeezed in next to the sexy stranger. He was standing with his back against them, talking to a very big man with a man bun. He was almost as handsome as Shadowsinger, in a burly kind of way. 
The only thing separating Elain and Shadowsinger at this very moment was Cerridwen’s body. Elain knew that she had done this on purpose. She leaned in closer so she could speak in her friend’s ear, “Seriously?”
Feigning innocence, Cerridwen just smiled at Elain. “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
What happened next felt like a scene playing out in slow motion in front of Elain’s eyes. The bartender put their drinks on the bar and reached for the bill Cerridwen had put down. But she didn’t reach for the drinks. 
No, she took a step back. 
She took a step back and just happened to bump into Shadowsinger. Elain could do nothing but stare at the smug look on Cerridwen's face as he turned around. “Oh,” she mouthed and if Elain hadn’t been frozen in place, she might have turned around and bolted out of the bar. 
“I’m so sorry,” Cerridwen exclaimed and turned around to face the man. Elain didn’t dare to look at his face so she forced her eyes to focus on his hands. He was still holding his drink, thank god. This would have been even worse if her friend had made him spill his drink. 
“That’s okay,” he said, his voice louder than Elain had ever heard it. 
Of course it’s louder. He’s not whispering in your ear, telling you to be a good girl for him. 
He was looking at Cerridwen for a second before recognition dawned on his face, “Oh, I recognize you.”
“Well, it is said that you never forget the person who gives you your best cup of coffee.”
Elain could hear him chuckle and she decided to dare a glance at his face. Just one. And at that same moment, he shifted his gaze too. Their eyes met and Elain could feel her mouth go dry. There was such intensity in his eyes. And he was so freaking hot. And she was drunk and her friend was a traitor. 
“Hi,” he said, a small smile forming on his lips. 
“Hello,” Elain answered. She hoped that she sounded confident, but she doubted it. She reached for one of the glasses on the bar just to have something to do with her hands. The glass was cold and wet and for a second, Elain thought about just running back to their booth. His eyes were too intense now and he looked like some sort of dark angel as he stood there in front of her. From this distance, she could see tattoos peek out from underneath the sleeves of his shirt. They looked like shadows wrapping around his strong arms. 
The things he could do with those arms… Elain blinked hard to force her mind out of the gutter and when she focused her eyes on her friend, she was staring at her with a shit eating grin. 
“You know what, “ Cerridwen said. “I really need to pee.”
Elain shook her head, trying to silently tell her friend to stay. When Cerridwen started walking toward the bathroom, Elain shouted, “Do you need me to come with you?” 
“No, I’ve had a lot to drink. I’ll probably pee for like fifteen minutes.” And then she was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. 
When Elain turned back, he was looking at her with an amused expression. She wished she knew what he was thinking. And she also wished that he would go away. 
“Well, I should get back to my other friend,” Elain said just as he said, “The cinnamon bun was great.”
Elain blinked at him, “what?”
“The cinnamon bun,” he repeated, “The one you recommended. It was great.”
“Oh, I’m glad. I made those,” she said, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. He didn’t care if she had baked something. He was just being polite. 
His eyebrows shot up slightly, “really?”
Elain nodded. She had no idea what to say. Why was she so awkward? Why hadn’t the alcohol made her talkative yet? 
“Do you know each other?” a voice behind Shadowsinger asked. 
Elain had totally forgotten about the man with the man bun but now he was her favorite person in the world because he had just saved her from a very awkward situation. 
Elain shook her head to say no, but Shadowsinger answered before she got the chance. “She works at the coffee shop, you know the one by the river.”
A look of confusion passed over Man Bun’s face, but then something must have dawned on him because his face split into a giant smile. “Oh, is this coffee girl?”
Elain stared at him. Coffee girl? What the hell? 
“Cassian,” Shadowsinger said through gritted teeth. It sounded like a threat. 
Man Bun, or Cassian, picked up his drink from the bar and patted Shadowsinger on the back, giving him a look Elain didn’t understand. “You know what, I suddenly have the urge to dance.” He turned to Elain. “It was nice meeting you, coffee girl.” 
And then he was off. 
And she was alone with the only man who had ever made her come. 
Elain hated her brain. 
The man in front of her shifted on his feet, looking a bit uncomfortable. Elain was glad to see it. And just to make it even more awkward (because why not?), she asked, “Why did he call me coffee girl?”
He looked at the dance floor and then back at Elain, an apologetic look in his eyes. 
“I might have told him about you”
Elain stared at him, not knowing what to say to that. Had she heard him correctly? “What?”
He let out a deep breath. “I might have told him that there was a very beautiful girl at a coffee shop I visited a few weeks ago. He came up with the nickname.”
Elain had stopped listening after ‘beautiful’. He thought that she was beautiful? 
“What?” she asked again because apparently, her brain was unable to form any other word. 
He chuckled and scratched his head. “I’m sorry if it’s weird and please tell me to fuck off if I make you uncomfortable.”
Elain shook her head, willing him to continue. She needed him to continue. 
“I came by the coffee shop a few days ago,” he said. “I might have asked for you.”
“Yeah, my friend just told me.”
“Did she now?” he leaned an elbow against the bar, the stance making him look a bit cocky. Elain had no idea why she liked it. “I thought that she might.”
“Why did you ask for me? Did you want another recommendation for a sweet treat?”
His eyes left her face and traveled down her body, taking her in. He was looking at her as if she was a sweet treat. Her drunken mind really liked that. 
“No,” he said after what felt like a small eternity. Elain had to press her thighs together when his gaze returned to hers. What was he doing to her?
She told herself that she felt like this because she knew what he did for a living. If she hadn’t listened to his audios, she wouldn’t find him this attractive. It was just her brain playing tricks on her. Her brain and the alcohol. 
“Okay,” she said, feeling uncertain now. She had no idea what was going on. She glanced back at the booth she had spent the majority of the evening at but the twins weren’t there. She scanned the venue until she found her friends - with Jesus. They were crazy dancing with Jesus. Elain rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile. They looked like idiots. 
“What’s your name?” Shadowsinger asked, pulling her attention back to him. She took a sip from her beer. She probably shouldn’t drink more but there was some sort of comfort in having something to focus on that wasn’t the tall, sexy man in front of her. 
“Elain.”
With a gentle smile, he said, “That’s definitely better than coffee girl.” He reached his hand out in front of her. “I’m Azriel.”
She looked at his hand and thought that it was a bit odd, and a bit old fashioned, to offer her a handshake. And since Elain had always liked all things odd and old fashioned, she took his hand. “Well, that’s better than…” Elain shut her mouth quickly, looking at their clasped hands in horror. She had almost called him Shadowsinger. 
“Better than what?” he asked when she didn’t continue. He had let go of her hand and Elain hoped that he didn’t think that the condensation from the beer was hand sweat. 
“Uh,” she started, scrambling for anything to say. “It’s better than not knowing your name.”
He regarded her for a moment, clearly knowing that she had been about to say something else. But he let it go. Thank fuck. 
“So, Elain,” he said, and she felt a shiver run down her spine when he said her name in that velvety voice of his. “What brings you to Rita’s tonight?”
“Oh, I’m here with my friends. They kind of forced me to go out.” She pointed to Nuala and Cerridwen on the dance floor. With a shrug, she added, “It’s my birthday.”
He clinked his glass to hers. “Happy birthday.” He took a sip from his almost-empty glass and Elain followed suit. 
“Thank you.”
“So, how many birthdays have you had before this one?”
Elain couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from her chest. “Is that your way of asking me how old I am?”
Azriel cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe.”
“Haven’t your mother told you that it’s rude to ask a lady how old she is?”
“She has,” he said, setting down his empty glass on the bar. He stepped closer to her and Elain was certain that she had stopped breathing again. He leaned down, his face just centimeters from hers. His breath on her ear gave her goosebumps all over her body. “Are you a lady then?” he asked, his voice low and oh so inviting. 
Elain had no idea what to say to that. She had no idea what he was asking her. Well, actually, she did have one guess, but no… He couldn’t be asking her that , because that would definitely bring this conversation into flirting territory, and he wasn’t flirting with her. Right?
“I turn twenty five today,” she blurted out. She’d rather tell him her age than answer his question since she had no idea what the answer would be.
He hummed, the sound making her shiver again. He stood up straight, his eyes focusing on her’s again. They looked almost black in the dim lights. 
“So, how old are you?” Elain asked. For some reason that she didn’t understand, she wanted to keep the conversation going. 
“Twenty nine.”
She nodded. She would have guessed that he was older than her, but 29 wasn’t too bad. A four year age difference was okay. 
Okay for what? she asked herself. It’s not like they were in a relationship. For all she knew, he had a girlfriend. 
Elain desperately hoped he didn’t.
“So, has your day been good so far?” he asked. 
“Yes. I finished an assignment that I have been working on for the past week and then I had dinner with my sisters. And then I came here.”
He nodded, listening intently to every word - which was impressive since the music was so loud. Elain had almost forgotten the music and all the people around her. She was too focused on Azriel. 
Azriel . That was a great name. It sounded like something from a fantasy novel, she thought to herself. Like a fallen angel that lives a dark and dangerous life until he finds his soulmate and has to fight demons and all kinds of creatures to keep her safe. 
“You go to school?” he asked and Elain had a feeling that he also wanted to keep the conversation going. She had no idea why. She wasn’t being particularly interesting. 
“Yes. I’m taking a business class. I want to open my own bakery.”
“Impressive,” he commented. “You’ll probably have people lining up within the first week. I should know, I have tasted your buns after all.”
Elain’s eyebrows shot up and she couldn’t keep the laughter down. When Azriel realized what he had said, he started laughing too. “Shit, that came out wrong.”
Elain waved her hand in front of her, trying to calm herself. “No, it’s fine,” she said, her voice still full of laughter. “Thank you for saying that. I mean, the part about people lining up.”
“It’s the truth.” He was still smiling at her. Elain raised her glass to her lips to take another sip of beer when someone bumped into her from behind. She jerked forward, dropping her drink as she reached her hands in front of herself instinctively. She heard the glass smash on the floor just as her hands found something firm and warm. 
Azriel’s chest. Her hands were splayed on Azriel’s chest, his heart beating steadily beneath her palm. He reached out, gripping her waist to steady her. He was so close now. So close, and he smelled so nice. Elain looked up and met eyes full of concern. 
When he saw that she was okay, he looked over at the man behind her. “Hey, asshole. Watch it.”
There was venom in his voice now. Something sinister slithering from him as he cursed the man who had pushed Elain. Unfortunately, Elain realized as she looked back, the man who had pushed her was Jesus, and he was drunk as a skunk. He just laughed at Azriel and gave him a thumbs up. Up close, Jesus looked nothing like Jesus. He was white and blonde, but the sweat had turned his hair a darker color. He smelled like stale beer and regret. 
Elain was thankful that Azriel ignored the other man after that. She hated it when men protected girls with violence and if Azriel had done something like that, she would have been out that door sooner rather than later. 
“Are you okay?” he asked, still holding on to her waist. 
Elain stood up straighter, letting her hands fall back to her sides. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “All good.”
Azriel motioned for the bartender and told him about the broken glass on the ground. He nodded towards the entrance, “Want to get some fresh air?”
Elain froze. She had heard about guys asking girls to leave a club with them before, and they only wanted sex. At least according to Nesta. And it wasn’t that Elain didn’t want to have sex with Azriel - it was just that she couldn’t. Not only was she a bit drunk, but she also knew something about him that made everything more complicated. And to top that off, she had never had a one night stand before. She didn’t think that this would be a good time to change that. 
Elain opened her mouth to tell him no, but that’s not what came out. 
“I don’t like one night stands.”
That’s it. Elain was never drinking again. Never ever. She wanted to turn into the puddle of beer at her feet, slowly seeping into the floor. Azriel must think that she is the weirdest person ever. 
She wouldn’t blame him. 
But when she met his gaze again, there was amusement dancing in his eyes. “Me neither,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “But I do like fresh air.”
Elain closed her eyes for a second. She was warm. Hot. The air was heavy with the smell of sweat and alcohol and her shoes were covered in beer. Air sounded like a splendid idea. 
She nodded, not daring to open her mouth again. She never knew when drunk-Elain would make an unwelcome appearance. 
Azriel led her through the crowd, only stopping to say something in his friend's ear as they passed him. Cassian the Man Bun nodded and looked at Elain. “If he’s being an ass, it’s totally okay to kick him in the balls,” he told her, a big smile on his face. Azriel rolled his eyes. Then, Cassian came closer and leaned down to whisper something to Elain. 
“But in all honesty, he’s not an ass. He can seem a bit cold, but I promise he’s not.”
“You done, Cass?” Azriel interrupted, leaving Elain feeling confused. Why would he tell her that?
“Yep! I found a new friend anyway,” he nodded toward the dance floor. “Don’t wait up.” He winked at Azriel and walked away. 
Azriel shook his head, as if this was a regular occurance between the two of them. 
“Do you live together?” Elain asked.
“God no. We haven’t lived together since we shared a dorm room in college.”
As soon as they stepped outside, Elain felt as if she was breathing for the first time in her life. It was a chilly night but she welcomed the cold air on her hot skin. The pavement was full of people. Most were huddled together and smoking cigarettes, some were waiting for taxis or friends. 
Azriel walked a few steps and leaned against the wall. He took a deep breath and in the glow of the street light, Elain couldn’t help but admire the beauty of this man. He wasn’t just hot and sexy - he was beautiful. His dark hair stuck to his forehead and his t-shirt was pulled tight over his muscled chest. 
The chest she had been touching just moments ago. 
She blushed at the thought. Azriel looked at her, an expression on his face that she hadn’t seen before. 
“You’re cute when you blush.”
And that just made her blush even more. She decided to ignore that comment because she had no idea what to say. 
Elain stepped closer, but not close enough to touch him. She stood in front of Azriel, her shoes almost touching his boots. “So, you know what I do for a living, but I know nothing about you.”
That was a lie, but he didn’t have to know that. She wondered if he would admit that he did audio porn. Elain knew that it was more socially acceptable to do such things nowadays, but she didn’t know if anyone would tell a stranger about it. 
He chuckled. The deep, warm sound made its way straight to Elain core. “Yeah, I’m very mysterious.”
“Like a villain in a fantasy novel.”
“A villain?” He raised an eyebrow. 
“Or maybe a morally gray character that is able to redeem himself at the end.”
“Definitely better than a villain,” he laughed. “I’ll take it.”
“What would your powers be?” she asked him, definitely feeling the effects of talkative, tipsy Elain now. 
“My powers?”
“Yes. If you’re a character in a fantasy novel, you need to have some sort of power. Like magic or having an army of dragons.”
He smiled at her, his brown eyes warm and kind. “An army of dragons sounds cool as fuck, not gonna lie. But I would probably like to be more stealthy. Maybe I’d be a spy or something. I’d definitely be really good with a sword.”
Elain had to bite her tongue to keep herself from saying something inappropriate. 
“How about you? What would your powers be?”
Elain pretended to think about her answer, but in all honesty - she had been thinking about this since she was nine and read her first Harry Potter book. 
“I would be a witch. I would do spells and potions and things. Maybe grow my own herbs and use them to do magic.”
“You’ve thought about this before,” he teased.
“Maybe.”
“What kind of spells would you do then?”
“Oh, you know. Just the standard spells. Love spells. Conjuring demons. And if someone hurt my friends, I could make them regret it.”
Azriel laughed, the sound turning Elain’s insides warm. “Remind me to not get on your bad side.”
What would you do, Azriel? What would you do if I did something bad? she wondered. Would you punish me? Torture me? Tease me?
Elain shivered at the thought. 
“Cold?” he asked.
She shook her head quickly. “No. Are you?”
“No, I’m still quite hot.”
“Yes, you are.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. Stupid, tipsy Elain. 
“So are you.”
Okay, maybe tipsy Elain wasn’t that bad after all because he was definitely flirting with her, and she would gladly let him. There was just something about him that made her feel at ease. He made her feel comfortable. Safe. Even though they just met, Elain somehow trusted him. 
She smiled at him. “So, are you ever going to tell me what you do, Azriel?”
His eyes turned darker when she said his name. “You sure you want to know?”
Oh god, was this it? Would he really tell her?
“Yes, I can handle it.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m a software engineer.” 
“What?” That was definitely not the answer she had expected. 
“I know, it’s not very mysterious,” he chuckled. 
“But you’re not,” she said before she could tell herself to keep her mouth closed. She couldn’t explain it, but the fact that he lied to her made her irritated. He didn’t owe her the truth, of course not. But her brain wasn't making much sense right now. She blamed the beer. And the orgasmic bliss. 
“I’m not mysterious?” one corner of his mouth quirked up. 
“No, I mean… you’re not an engineer.”
“I’m not? I guess I better call my boss and let him know.” 
Elain finally regained control over herself and her stupid mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”
“No. You did mean to. The question is just why you said that.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at her closely, as if he was trying to see right through her. 
“It was nothing, I’m sorry,” she tried to laugh it away but the laugh sounded hollow. “I blame the beer.” She looked away from him. She focused on the graffitied wall behind him, trying to make sense of the shapes there. She couldn’t look at him. She had fucked everything up. 
“I should go,” she murmured, but before she could make a move she felt his fingers on her chin, turning her face back to him. And for the third time tonight, she stopped breathing. His hands felt hot on her skin. Hot and coarse. When he let go, she realized that they were covered in scars. 
She hadn’t noticed that before. 
“Why did you think I did something else for a living, Elain?” 
She forced herself to hold his gaze. Forced herself to not run away. He let go of her chin and she desperately wanted his hands back on her. 
“I–I thought you did something else, but I was clearly mistaken. I’m sorry.” She really was sorry. And she also doubted herself. What if she was wrong. What if Shadowsinger and Azriel really were voice twins and not actually the same person? 
Had she deleted that app without any real reason to do so? 
“No, there’s clearly something you’re not telling me.”
“We’re strangers. There’s a lot of things I’m not telling you.” she scoffed, feeling defensive. 
He opened his mouth to say something but Elain beat him to it. “You’re not telling me everything either. Like, why did you ask for me at the coffee shop the other day?”
“Because I wanted to ask for your number,” he said without missing a beat. 
“You– what? Why?”
He shook his head, laughing silently as if that had been a silly question. “Because you’re beautiful. And a little weird.”
“You wanted my number because I’m weird?”
He shrugged. “What can I say, I have a type.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, “which is?”
“I’m starting to think that you’re my type.” He held her gaze as he stepped away from the wall and stood up to his full height. Elain had to look up in order to look at him properly. He was so close now. If she stood on her toes and he just bent down a little, their lips would meet. 
“Oh,” Elain said, clearly not feeling as confident anymore. 
“Why did you think I worked as something else?” he asked again and Elain knew that she couldn’t avoid the question anymore. Maybe it was for the better. 
Azriel was proving to not only be good looking. He was also funny and interesting and easy to talk to. And he was flirting with her. If Elain wanted to have any chance of dating him, she knew that she had to tell him what she knew. It would come out sooner or later anyway, and sooner seemed like the better alternative. 
“I just… I thought you did something else. Or maybe you have two jobs, what do I know? I’m probably mistaken.”
There was an expression on his face that she couldn’t decipher. “And what is it you think I do?” 
She kept her voice low just so no one nearby would hear her. “Audio porn.” The words were barely audible. 
“What?” he asked, leaning down to hear her more clearly. 
“Audio porn.”
The air grew still between them. Elain counted each of Azriel’s breaths as she waited for a reaction. There was the possibility that he would have no idea what she was talking about. He might find her disgusting for saying such a thing and walk away, leaving her all alone outside Rita’s. 
But there was also a chance that he did know. 
There was a chance that he was Shadowsinger. 
She had counted ten breaths when he finally spoke. “And what if I do?”
It was not the response she had expected. 
“What do you mean?”
He leaned in close, his lips almost touching her ear as he said, “You’re a smart girl, you know what I mean.”
She let out a shaky breath. “It wouldn’t matter.”
“No?”
“No.”
“And why do you think I do audio porn, Elain?” 
His voice was barely a whisper, and Elain had no doubt in her mind that the man in front of her was Shadowsinger. Azriel was Shadowsinger. He was all of her dirty fantasies combined. 
She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the feeling of his breath against her skin. “I might have recognized your voice.”
“Yeah? Is that why you could barely look at me that day at the coffee shop?”
Elain nodded, her mouth too dry to form words. She closed her eyes. He was so close. Their bodies were almost pressed together, his lips almost touching her skin. 
“Hmm,” he murmured. “and is that why you blush so prettily when you’re around me?”
“Yes,” she breathed, unable to tell a single lie. 
Azriel shifted so that he was looking at her again. Gone was the kind warmth in his eyes - there was only fire now. “Did you like it? Did you like listening to me in the middle of the night?”
Elain couldn’t tell him the truth. She couldn’t tell him that he was the only thing that could make her relax and fall asleep. She couldn’t tell him how much she had liked his audios, and how much she missed them. 
“So, it’s true? It really is you?” she asked instead, even though she already knew the answer. 
“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.” He tucked a strand of her long, golden hair behind her ear. 
Once again, she cursed her body for blushing so easily. She felt her cheeks grow hot as she nodded. “I liked it.”
With a purely male grin, he whispered, “you look so innocent, who would have guessed that you like porn?”
“I don’t. I just like your voice,” Elain said, needing to defend herself. She didn’t want him to think that she was into porn in general. “Is it weird?” she asked, taking a step back just to get some space between them. She couldn’t think when he was so close. 
“Is what weird?”
“That I know that about you.”
“No, Elain. It’s not. But I must admit, you’re the only person who has ever recognized my voice. Is it weird for you?”
She shook her head. “It was weird when I tried to pretend like I didn’t recognize your voice.”
“Is that why you gave me the wrong cup? Did I make you nervous?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “Do you like it?”
“Like what?”
Elain lowered her voice again, “doing audio porn.”
“I did. Have you checked the dates on that website recently?”
“No. I deleted the app.”
“Why?”
“Well, I couldn’t very well listen to that when I knew what you looked like.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he chuckled. “But if you for some reason download the app again,” he winked at her, “you’ll see that I haven’t uploaded anything since 2020”.
“Oh, why not?”
“That’s a story for another time,” he said. His voice had gone back to normal now, and Elain realized that she liked his normal voice almost as much as she liked his seductive, sexy whispers. 
There was a beat of silence. The door to the club opened and the horrendous music from the dance floor filled the air. Elain bit the inside of her lower lip - a nervous habit. She had no idea what to say. No idea what to ask. She thought that it would feel awkward to ask him about the audios, but it didn’t. And the way he had answered had only made her want him more. 
Because god, she wanted this man. She had never felt such raw attraction before and she needed him to not walk away from her now. He had to stay, just for a little while. 
“Do you want to go back inside?” She asked the first question that popped into her mind. 
“No.” he answered, his eyes still intensely focused on her. 
“Oh, okay.” Elain looked down at her shoes. Her feet were so much smaller than his. “What do you want to do now then?”
Without missing a beat, his hand came up to cradle her cheek. Elain leaned into his warmth, her eyes never leaving his. “I really want to kiss you, Elain.” Once again, his voice was dangerously low, making her insides melt.
Elain was certain that her heart stopped for just a second. Even though she wouldn’t admit it, she had thought about kissing him since the first time she heard his voice. His eyes were like molten lava as he waited for her answer. There was fire and heat and darkness in them - in him. It promised all kinds of things that she didn’t dare think about. 
For the second time this evening, she placed her hands on his chest. His heart was beating faster now and Elain felt smug knowing that she affected him in some way. 
She stood up on her toes, bringing her face, and her lips, closer to him. She had no idea where this confidence came from but she intended to make the most of it. “That sounds like a very good idea.”
“Good,” he said, his voice low and raspy as he closed the remaining gap between them. His hand went to her neck, tilting her face just the way he wanted it. Elain’s eyes fluttered shut as he brought his lips to hers. 
It was soft at first, his lips just gently grazing hers. He tasted like winter and whiskey. Elain balled her hands into fists, gripping the fabric of his shirt. When she deepened the kiss, he let out a groan. Swiftly, he turned them around so that Elain’s back was against the wall. His body was pressed even closer now and she could feel just how much he wanted her. 
She teased his bottom lip with her tongue and he opened up for her, letting her in. 
Offer and permission. 
For a few moments, Elain forgot about the club and her friends and the world. All of her senses were full of Azriel - the feeling of his muscular chest under her palms, the taste of him, his scent. It was enough to drive her crazy. 
She moved her hands to her neck, pulling him even closer. She needed more. Needed things she didn’t even know how to ask for. One of her legs hooked around his waist and he moved his hand to graze her thigh, his lips never leaving hers. The kiss was hot, passionate. She didn’t feel the cold or the rough texture of the wall. She only felt him. 
Only wanted him. 
“Azriel,” she moaned as he pressed himself closer between her legs. She was so wet. So desperate for more. She wanted him to tell her all the dirty things he could do to her. She wanted–
“Get a room,” someone shouted, effectively bringing them both back to reality. Azriel leaned his forehead against hers. “Fuck,” he groaned, kissing her gently again. 
“Maybe we should…” Elain started but she didn’t get a chance to finish because Azriel let go of her thigh, smoothing her dress down. 
“We should probably continue this another time.” He nodded towards the entrance where Nuala and Cerridwen stood. “Somewhere private.” 
They twins were staring at them, an amused expression on both of their faces. As soon as Elain met Nuala’s gaze, Nuala gave her a thumbs up. 
“Sorry about them,” she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot again. 
“Don’t be,” Azriel said and stroked her cheek. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have talked to me if your friend hadn’t accidentally bumped into me earlier.”
Elain smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I better get going. They live on the other side of town so they’re staying with me tonight.”
“Lucky bastards,” Azriel chuckled. “Can I see you again?”
“Yes.” Elain realized that she seemed a bit too enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing him again but she couldn’t muster up the energy to care. She wasn’t the kind of girl that pretended to be all cool and mysterious and unaffected. When she wanted something, she usually made it pretty clear. 
With a smile, he handed her his phone. “Put your number in here and I’ll text you.”
Elain did exactly that, making sure to check the number twice before saving it and handing the phone back to Azriel. 
“So,” she started, not feeling very confident when she knew that her friends were following her every move. “I’ll see you around?”
“Definitely.”
Elain walked over to her friends glancing behind her one last time. But he wasn’t there. It was as if he had stepped into the shadows and just disappeared. 
Weird. 
“Dry humping against a wall, huh?” Nuala said and wiggled her eyebrows. “So much for not wanting to talk to him.”
“Well, technically, they weren’t talking,” Cerridwen said. 
“And technically, you both are a pain in my ass.”
“You love us.” Nuala draped her arm over Elain’s shoulders. 
“Yes I do.”
When Elain came home that night, she found that she had two new messages from an unknown number. Her drunken eyes made it a bit difficult to focus on the text, but she managed after a bit of concentration. 
Unknown Did you get home safely? 
Unknown This is Azriel by the way
Elain smiled to herself and added him as a contact in her phone. 
Elain I did! 
She thought back on the night. It still felt unreal. She had kissed Shadowsinger. 
Shadowsinger was Azriel. Azriel was Shadowsinger. And Elain had definitely enjoyed kissing him. Kissing him was even better than listening to his voice telling her to touch herself. 
Her lips still tingled from the taste of him. Her body still buzzed with energy from the way he had touched her. It also buzzed from the alcohol she had consumed, which might explain the next message she sent. 
Elain You have a very nice voice. 
His answer came less than a minute later:
Azriel Shadowsinger Want to go on a date with me?
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pumpkinblossoms · 1 year
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OK, in the spirit of positivity, here are my top reads of 2022!
A bit in the way of context: I am a librarian, I read a lot, and, for better or for worse, I live and breathe books/publishing buzz/ARCs/etc. The list below is purely based on my own fully biased opinions, though those biases have nothing to do with whether I had early access to a title, a connection to the publisher, etc. and everything to do with whether a book is sad, gory, or gay. And thanks @explosionshark for suggesting I write this up!
DEAD COLLECTIONS by Isaac Fellman: holy fuck was this book good. The whole “trans vampire falling in love and solving a quiet, sad mystery in the archive where he works” angle is catchy, but this is definitely not the fluffy or straightforward story some people are after. I really loved how vampirism is depicted as a life-ruining weakness rather than a cool and sexy superpower. I also really loved the multimedia aspect of including forum posts and TV scripts and listserv chains.
BABEL: AN ARCANE HISTORY by R.F. Kuang: I think some criticisms of this one, like that it’s slow and repetitive and a little didactic, are founded. However, I couldn’t care less. R.F. Kuang excels at unhurried school stories that slowly and brutally dismantle themselves over hundreds and hundreds of pages, and the formula she establishes in the excellent Poppy War trilogy is perfected here. This is what actual dark academia looks like–The Atlas Six could never.
KISS HER ONCE FOR ME by Alison Cochrun: I used to read a lot of contemporary romance, specifically f/f romance, but after being burned over and over and over and OVER by bad books I’m incredibly selective about what I read and recommend in this genre. I gave Alison Cochrun a ton of shit for her incredibly mediocre debut, The Charm Offensive, but I am totally willing to say that she’s improved, and this book–while still definitely goofy and even grating at times–was probably the best f/f romance out in 2022 from a major publisher other than Delilah Green (which I read in 2021 and therefore did not include in this list, but also whose sequel sucked so much it honestly made me like the first one less). Do me a favor and don’t even read the back copy because it doesn’t make any fucking sense and will turn you off the book.
THE PALLBEARERS CLUB by Paul Tremblay: hoooo boy. OK. So this one got dismal reviews from the Goodreads crowd, but I believe fully and genuinely in my heart that everybody is wrong about it and should feel bad about how wrong they are. The thing is, Paul’s books are slow and atmospheric (are you sensing a theme to what kind of books I tend to like best) and there are no easy answers or moments of triumph or anything you might be led to expect via publisher-created blurbs or taglines. And going into a book with one expectation and having that expectation remain unmet is one of the quickest and simplest ways to have a bad-faith negative reaction to said book, in my personal experience. Like, could this book have been scarier? Definitely. But I loved it regardless, and I loved that the physical format of the book–Art’s memoiry fiction draft, or fictiony memoir draft, depending on your perspective, plus his best friend Mercy’s commentary written in red in the margins–is the sort of embodied story that I love because it fucking sucks to read on a screen or an ereader. You’re tied to the format, either print or audio (which I hear was well done for this one, though I haven’t heard it myself), and that’s great to me.
THE THOUSAND EYES by A.K. Larkwood: In my opinion this duology is criminally, WOEFULLY underrated. Csorwe is a grumpy butch orc warrior and she spends most of her time getting herself and her terrible frenemies out of trouble and also falling in love with a powerful sorceress. This book is the second one and is gloriously angsty and everyone gets middle-aged and sad and yet they all still pine for one another across time and space. I cried. I’m not sorry. It’s GOOD.
AN ARCHIVE OF BRIGHTNESS by Kelsey Socha: ok, full disclosure, this is my wife’s book, but it came out in August and it’s a lovely group of interwoven weird little gay stories. I would’ve loved it even if I didn’t share a mortgage with the author, I promise. Like, people live in houses made of scorpion corpses. Come on.
Honorable mentions: I didn’t really feel like getting too much into YA here, but I really liked CONFESSIONS OF AN ALLEGED GOOD GIRL by Joya Goffney, which was a really honest and interesting exploration of purity culture and religion; HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART by Jake Maia Arlow, an interfaith winter holiday f/f romance (what a year for holiday romances, sheesh); and HELL FOLLOWED WITH US by Andrew Joseph White, a really gross and sad book that also manages to be incredibly, gleefully YA even as the protagonist morphs into a horrifying monster.
I also didn’t want to mention anything that hasn’t been released yet, so HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix and SOME DESPERATE GLORY by Emily Tesh are both out, even though both were SO GOOD and you should be foaming at the mouth to get your hands on them next year. And lastly, I didn’t think The Locked Tomb series needed any extra hype and if you haven’t picked it up yet it’s not like I’m going to convince you, so I didn’t bother saying anything about NONA THE NINTH although it was really very good.
And finally: I’m currently reading WHEN THE ANGELS LEFT THE OLD COUNTRY by Sacha Lamb which absolutely fucking rips so far, very much Good Omens meets Spinning Silver, but I haven’t finished it yet so it didn’t seem fair to count. I recommend it based on the first half, though!
PHEW ok that’s it! Send me your recs please!!
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DIABOLIK LOVERS DAYLIGHT Vol.12 Tsukinami Shin [TRACK 5 + EPILOGUE]
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Original title: 強くあるために & エピローグ
Source: Diabolik Lovers Daylight Vol. 12 Tsukinami Shin
Audio: N/A
Seiyuu: Morikubo Shoutaro
Translator’s note: I honestly really enjoyed the emotional moments in this CD a lot. It was great to see Shin experience such strong emotions of fear, since it is something we do not see of him very often. Huge props to the voice actor because he did a great job conveying those raw emotions. It’s a bit of a shame that after such a great built up and development, it kind of falls flat at the end when the CD is cut short before we get a proper conclusion. :/
Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 + Epilogue
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TRACK 5: TO KEEP STRONG
Shin walks up to you in the garden.
[00:12] “So this is where you’ve been. …Taking care of the flowers?”
You nod.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be resting instead?”
You insist that it’s fine.
“I see…I won’t stop you if this is what you want to do. Although, I don’t want you to push yourself either.”
You promise.
“You know…You really are similar to Nii-san at times.”
You seem a little surprised.
[00:49] “Mmh. Like how once you’ve made up your resolve, you go quiet…and there’s nothing or nobody who can change your mind. …I went to talk to Nii-san, you see. At first I simply got angry. From the flurry of different emotions ranging from shock to worry…I couldn’t help myself. ーー And then I pressed him to tell me why he kept quiet about it this whole time. But instead he asked me: ‘Do you truly not know?’
[01:32] …Heh. Nii-san looked at me with a peaceful expression on his face. Like a warm embrace. …When I saw those eyes, I was reminded of you. Neither of you want to make me worried…Also…”
You tilt your head to the side.
“You don’t want me to have to hold back from doing what I love. That you really would like me to be able to live my life as I please. ーー When I realized that, I felt defeated. Especially by you.”
You frown.
[02:22] “Mmh. You saw me off into battle, didn’t you? Even though it obviously made you suffer…in the end, you let me make the decision for myself. I believe that was incredibly courageous of you. I told you that I would do anything to protect my pride as a Founder but…not once did I consider how you would have felt hearing those words.
But once I was also confronted with the threat of losing someone, I finally understood. I’m sorry for being so inconsiderate…and pushing you to see me off with a smile.”
You apologize.
“Haah!? Why!? …There’s nothing for you to be sorry about!”
You explain.
[03:33] “...H-Hold up!? Isn’t it normal to cry? You were hurting after all! …Yet you’re worried that you might have stood in my way…Ugh. You really are…”
You look up at Shin.
“No, it’s nothing. …I’m going back inside now, okay?”
He turns around and leaves.
*TIMESKIP*
[04:10] ( The following days passed peacefully. There were no significant changes in my brother’s condition. However, she visibly weakened with each passing second, it was almost painful to watch. Still, she tried her best to make herself useful. She would continue to look after us, taking care of the household on her good days.
Whenever I looked at her doing so, there was only one question which ran through my mind: ‘How exactly does one define…true strength?’)  
*Creaaak*
[05:02] “Shouldn’t you get into bed instead? I’m sure that sitting is hard on you, no?”
You tell him you like sitting by his side.
“Haah…If only I could actually share some body warmth with you. That might just help soothe your pain as well.”
You tell him that his presence alone helps comfort you.
*Rustle*
[05:27] “...!! You…really choose the weirdest things to be stubborn about, huh? Fine. If that’s what you want, then stay by my side the whole time.”
You tell Shin that you can’t do that.
“Eh…!? …!”
You face him with the reality that you will pass away eventually.
“W-Wait…Don’t say that…!”
You talk about how things had been until now.
“Don’t start talking in the past tense! Almost as if you’re going to…”
You nod and confirm his suspicions.
“...!!”
“Cut it out, I said! We can still consider having children together…in the future…”
You say that you loved him that much.
[06:27] “...Heh. For real…How come I’m always the first thought on your mind? I guess that’s exactly what makes you so strong. Those who can put others before themselves…are the strongest people out there. I guess true strength isn’t achieved through overpowering those around you. I learnt that from watching you. Not only have you accepted your own fate, but on top of that, you’re still living life to the fullest…protecting those dear to you…and trying to convey your love for them. I ridiculed that way of living for the longest time.
Instead I tried to work my way to the top by brute force. I’ve always told myself that doing so was a sign of strength. I needed to keep on climbing upwards, because from the moment I came to a standstill, I’d be done for. There’d be no future for me if I gave in. …But I was mistaken. That’s why…I won’t be reckless any more. Rest assured.”
You thank him.
[08:21]“No need to say thank you. So please, just continue to stay by myーー”
You slowly close your eyes.
“Oi, youーー!”
*Rustle rustle*
“D-Don’t go just yet!”
*Rustle rustle*
“I-I’m begging you…!! Don’t leave me…! …Ugh…Why? …Just when…I finally saw the light thanks to you…This just can’t be, right?”
Shin perks up his head.
“...!!”
He presses his ear against your chest.
*Ba-dump・ba-dump・ba-dump*
[09:25] “...!! …Ah…It’s beating…Then perhaps…! Think, I have to think…! What can I do!? If I make the right choice quickly, I might just be able to save her just in time! Her heart…Cordelia…Ah! …Aah…Right! It all makes sense now! Haha…Hey, Nii-san? When you bowed your head to the leader of the Vibora, you must have felt the exact same way, huh? Just a few weeks ago, I would have never been able to imagine myself having to ask that guy for help but…Heh. I guess this is thanks to you as well?
ーー Yes, exactly. Right now I realize that being able to submit to others when needed is a sign of strength as well. It does not matter if this other person belongs to another race, or if they’re the enemy of us Founders. …I refuse to give up. Not until the bitter end. No way in hell! This is my chance…to show you how strong I truly am!”
Shin bursts out of the room.
TRACK 6: EPILOGUE
*Knock knock*
You enter the room with a dining cart to serve tea.
[00:20] “...Hm? Oi, you. Are you okay? Should I lend you a hand?”
You insist that you can handle it.
“Heh. I figured you’d say that. But still, don’t push yourself, okay? …You brought me some tea, huh? Thanks.”
You point out that he’s cleaning his blades.
[00:47] “Yeah. Ahー But don’t get the wrong idea! I’m not planning to use them in battle. I just want to clean them first before moving everything to the storage.”
You ask if there will no longer be any conflicts.
“Nii-san and I are going to hold a conference with the Wolves very soon. We plan to have formal discussions with the other Demonic species as well. Heh…Unless things really take a turn for the worst, these weapons will be behind closed doors for a while.”
You sigh in relief.
“Heh…Yeah. Rest assured.”
*Cling*
*Woosh woosh*
[01:26] “Well then, I worked my way through the first batch, so why don’t we take a little tea break? I was just thinking of snacking on some walnuts.”
Shin takes a seat.
*Rustle rustle*
“Think you can eat some? I’ll crack them for you.”
You nod.
“Okay. Let me see…Which one would be good? I guess I should go with a smaller one for you…”
*Rustle rustle*
One of the nuts catches your attention as he rummages through them.
[02:00] “...Huh? What’s wrong?”
*Rustle*
“Oh? You’re right. What a pretty heart shape. You don’t see those very often. Want that one then?”
You feel bad for ruining it that way.
“Mmh, gotcha. Give it to me for a sec, okay?”
You seem reluctant.
“No, I won’t eat it either. Instead…”
*Woosh*
You ask him what he did.
[02:38] “I put a seal on it. Now it will never break nor rot. It’ll stay a pretty heart forever.”
Shin hands it to you.
“You can have it as a good-luck charm.”
You thank him.
[02:55] “Hehe, you’re welcome. (whispers) …If only I could do something about your body as well. I don’t mind what measures I have to take, as long as you can forever…”
You ask if he said something.
“Ah, no, not really. Anyway, why don’t we drink our tea now? Before it gets cold.”
*Cling*
ーー THE END ーー
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princekaces · 9 months
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So cute how enthusiastic you are for me <3 Ive been really eyeing that ask game in your top posts so I thought I'd answer/ask some of the questions in there! Sorry it took me a bit to send this message between the last one, I mostly use mobile 💔 Hope you enjoy!
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4] Sleeping with one of those lovely gags that has cock on the inside to stuff your mouth. That way your jaw can get used to being forced open for hours at a time without getting sore. Plus the added bonus of no snoring!
During daylight hours though, I'd of course want to put one of those remote plugs in you so that I could edge you throughout the day. Everytime you have a dirty thought, you'd text to me it, and I'd up the vibrations a bit to reward you for admitting your filthy desires. Eventually, I'd get rid of the plug and you would just start to feel intense pleasure from texting all the disgusting things you think about. Then remove the texting, and now you get insanely turned on just from having slightly innapropriate thoughts, leaving you aching all day from being a sex-hungry slut.
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6] Cumshots! What is it you specifically like about it? Is there any place you'd like to recieve it the most?
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7] I know you like monsters but is there any specific kind you're particularly interested in?
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9] Both and public! Your hips would be stuck in one wall and you'd be facing a second wall with a hole in it. Those who would be interested in your mouth get to hear through some speakers your sloppy sucking and moans, while those interested in your ass get to look at a screen right above your hips that shows your face, teary eyed and covered in cum.
After a long day of work, I'd make sure you got home safe and were all cleaned up. Before you went to bed though, you'd get a message from me, containing all the audio files and camera footage from the day so you'd have something nice to listen to while you slept <3
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11] If I had to pick one, it'd be blindfold since I can already restrain you with my arms and gag you with my cock. Plus, I want you to be surprised, not knowing if whats coming next is a gentle kiss or me roughly choking you, or both!
But why not all? I'd love to have you completely at my mercy, bound to a bed and no way of knowing whats going on other than feeling the mattress shift around you. Honestly I might just do nothing but sit there and touch myself, admiring the beautiful, writhing view. Afterwards, I'd undo you and you would have no idea what I did, any evidence removed beforehand, leaving you confused.
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12] I'd love to go out on a walk with you, just exploring town and playing some pokemon go. We're both good at it, but youre distinctly much better, and that starts your trash talking. Normally I can take it, but I'm feeling particularly antsy today and I eventually snap after a few minutes of this.
I grab your arm and drag you to the nearest alley, forcing you onto your knees. Seeing my hands start to undo my pants, you try to reason with me how it's still very much daytime with many people walking by who could see us and that this area is pretty well-lit. That afterwards, you have a long walk home where everyone will be able to see the... aftermath. Unfortunately for you, your words are going in one ear and out the other, my only interest in shutting you up.
I shove my length into your moving mouth and push my leg against your torso to keep you still, pinning your head between the building's wall and my hips. I sigh, loving the sudden still and quiet... that is until you start sputtering and gagging. I pull back a little, but I have a firm hand on your forehead, keeping you pressed against the cool concrete.
"I think you need to get your mouth washed out. Do not spit. Do not swallow. Keep your mouth shut." I don't wait for any response before I start thrusting, the tip tickling the back of your throat. It isn't long before I cum all over your tongue, but I'm quick to grab your neck. "Remember what I said. If you swallow, we're doing it again."
No matter the response though, you're walking home notably quiet, with bruised knees and messy hair.
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13] Believe it or not I'm actually also really into being a sub! I'd love if we were still fully clothed and making out, grinding on each others thighs. It'd be a challenge; whoever cums first has to do what the other sub wants[including topping]. So we would be stuck there edging ourselves, trying everything to get the other to climax. Of course I wouldn't lose- I mean what could you even do to win?
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Aha you're fine!! Thank you for your patience with my response. I also use mobile haha, dw! I actually answer my asks in a notes app when they're this long just to make sure I dont miss anything. Heres my answers!
[4] Routine! What's something you'd want me to do every day to keep me addicted to pleasure?
- Having my mouth trained to take cock would be the dream, I think about doing it a lot! Getting different size inserts.. starting small and working my way up to one's I have to deepthroat. I have a pretty frequent craving of waking up and wanting to give oral, this would make me such a mess. I'd be dripping every time I wake up, moaning around it in my sleep. Maybe an insert for my pussy would be necessary, sleepy and stretched out on both ends.
- The texting training would make significant progress with the former still in practice... work is hard, my legs are always tired at the end of the day since I'm constantly on my feet. The thought of rest before was amazing, but now it just makes me drool. Knowing I'll be stuffed full at the end of the night I can't help but text you, thinking of all the ways you could tie me up and break me down. It feels so good to let my thoughts drip down my thighs. I can't wait to be home.
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[6] Which of the kink's on the yes list in my pinned are you most curious about? I'll share my thoughts and why I'm into it.
- I actually didn't know I was so into cumshots until I saw a gif here on tumblr! I don't have the link anymore sadly, but it was just a very aesthetically pleasing shot of cum hitting against the edges of someones lips and chin. After I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it, and how badly I wanted that to be me, it just kind of... spiraled, I guess!
For me just the thought of being covered in it... it's so possessive, almost. But mainly I like the taste and the smell, it makes my brain go fuzzy. Something about the thought of the splatter of cum against my skin just makes me so submissive. I'll take it anywhere. The favorites would be on my face and on my pussy (ah, theres something so teasing and dominant about that one, the action of pulling out just to mark me...). But really, anywhere is a turn on except like, my feet ig. If someone proposed marathon sex and just came all over me; ass, thighs, chest, face, etc I think I'd go crazy.
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[7] If there's a kink not on the list you're interested about, ask if I'm into it!
- I'm pretty "vanilla" when it comes to monsters, I like the usual werewolves, ghosts, tentacles! That kind of thing. But I'm certainly not opposed to exploring! Surprisingly a bit biased against vampires, despite being into blood and biting, but it's mainly just because I fell they're all written a bit odd. There's certainly some good prompts out there tho.
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[9] Free use: you can put me in a glory hole. What kind is it: one with holes for cocks to come through, one where I'm bent at the hips for anyone? Is it private or public?
- Being in both at the same time sounds like it could get a little clumsy being pulled in so many directions! But oh, the camera footage is a huge turn on. The thought of being presented with a cock and just absolutely fawning over it, giving it the wettest and lewdest treatment I can, only to find out after the person wrecking my cunt could see every little thing? I'd be excited to put on a better show the next day <3. The whole point of glory-holes is anonymity, but this special twist would be too good to resist.
(AND, SOBS, YOUD MAKE SURE ID GET HOME SAFE THATS SO SWEET GOD FUCK—) The audio and video would be something I'd start a collection with for sure. Downloading it onto a USB and maybe converting it all into cute little matching casette's or VHS tapes. A stunning series!
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[11] Do you blindfold me, bind me, gag me or block my hearing? Why?
-The blindfold is my favorite! But your reasoning... fuck, that got me. You have a very fair point. The anticipation would be fantastic.
And for all of them... It would be so hot if there was footage after, so I could see everything you did to me. The tease of cleaning up any trace of it all after would have me begging to know, to do it again! Maybe I can guess, and if I guess right I get once sense back, if I guess wrong I get one taken away! That sounds fair, right? (Maybe I'll guess wrong on purpose, but who knows...)
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[12] Date night! Describe a date and how it leads to us fucking (cnc welcome). (THIS RESPONSE IS THE ONE THAT GOT ME THE MOST.....)
The pokemon mention at first had me feeling silly, but then you pulled me into the alley and that went down the drain quick. The leg against my chest keeping me still makes my eyes feel heavy, my body feel small in such a good way. Sure, I may be good at some things, but you'll always be better at making me submit to you.
The order, "Do not spit. Do not swallow. Keep your mouth shut." it confuses me for a moment. What do I do when you c— and then your cock is in the back of my throat and everything feels so thick. I can't help but relax against where your leg presses me to the wall, opening my mouth more and moaning as you start to thrust as rough as you want.
The heavy pace feels good, I can feel myself clench around nothing and tears brim in my eyes. One or two pool over after an especially hard thrust, throat spasming as I try to adjust, and the way you pull out to the tip and cum on my tongue makes my eyes practically melt into hearts. My immediate impulse is to swallow, but you grab my throat so tight I can't, cutting in with that reminder that makes this so much hotter, "If you swallow, we're doing it again." I think about looking you in the eyes and drinking it all down right then and there, but the way the concrete juts at my knees is a bit too uncomfortable now.
I nod, getting up to walk with you and feeling a little bothered about the way precum drips down my legs. Its embarrassing, but if I don't draw attention maybe no one will notice. The way the cum weighs on my tongue makes it hard to focus (I want more of it), so I place my hand in yours and let you lead the way.
Before you can say anything about it as we open the door, walk inside, I shoot you a look full of nothing but mischief. I open my mouth to show I've been good, letting a bit of your cum drip wetly off my tongue. Just when there's a hint of a smile from you, I close my mouth and swallow.
"Oops! Guess you'll have to do it again," Really, I should have tried to piss you off sooner.
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[13] sub4sub, we're both feeling needy and dumb, can we get each other off? how?
- Well, I'm afraid we might be there forever! I'd love that. Sweating and panting and grinding, just making out and trying to find release. I'd get frustrated after a while, but hey, it's a challenge. What I didn't mention is that I can't actually ah... I can't cum without penetration. It may be a while, but you will lose ;P. I don't usually cum during sex, actually! By the time I get close it's been hours, and intrusive thoughts can ruin the mood quickly if I'm not careful, so they usually do rip. I've not been with a proper partner, so I think I'd have an easier time if someone was there to actually physically distract me in the space from any gross thoughts that would turn me off. It's probably part of why I'm so turned on by other people's cum, honestly. It's so hot how they fall apart! Either way, whether its 1 hour or 8 I'm not giving in, I've gone for both without such!
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larryatendoftheday · 5 months
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So I’m super new to the fandom and I have questions. I keep getting convinced then unsure. I’m wondering why if H&L have been together so long that they write songs about other people? Like references to uni (E) or Olivia or Taylor or Kendall or Camille songs? Do you think they’ve broken up a few times? Also, I listened to this phone recording with two fans I think where Louis seems so angry about shippers (so funny that both fans admit to being shippers too). One other thing, there are all these clips of H being literally so sick while performing and it’s usually Liam who cares or seems worried. From what I saw, Louis doesn’t and that’s when their relationship seemed the most obvious. What do you think? Then I see things like the Louis the Fish book and it’s like undeniable.
I'm sorry I've been slow to respond to this. There's just so much to say, and I know someone else will approach it differently. But you came to me, so here's my take.
I don't actually think Harry and Louis have always been together and never broken up. None of their music points to that.
In fact I'm not really convinced they are currently together or even have been recently.
I try to keep an open mind. Maybe they did date other people and write about it and come back to each other. Maybe they are writing about each other through the lens of what their public narrative says. Maybe they are just not romantically involved anymore at all. What do we know?
A lot of what we "know" are assumptions or stretches. They're fun and heck maybe they're right, but we don't know that to be true. Many things could be fun coincidences or just nods to this part of the fandom from queer and queer supporting celebrities that don't actually mean "Larry is real."
That audio clip of Louis is interesting. I don't know much about the context other than that Louis has a history of speaking his mind. What motivates those moments probably varies and might not always be that fans are wrong-- again keeping an open mind--maybe he just hates his personal life being so scrutinized or something along those lines.
Interactions during concerts are always complicated because we have such video spotty coverage of live shows usually. So I am generally a bit skeptical of that evidence unless I think I can really see everything that did and didn't happen.
Big picture: I kinda gave up trying to figure out what is real because we have so little information. We know so little of their lives. Instead I just enjoy the music and fanworks about fictionalized versions of their relationship.
I don't usually say this stuff online because it can be upsetting to some fans, but I made an exception. (To anyone who hates this: please keep scrolling. I'll go back to being quiet.)
Take care anon 💗
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