#Online beard straightening machine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silvensei · 5 years

Text

In This Mad Machinery

A human and an android swap bodies, resulting in identity crises, existentialism, philosophy with the boys, and fun!

Detroit: Become Human | gen | 20k | rated T | introspective comedy/sci-fi

Chapter 2 (2.5k words) | [AO3 link] | < prev | next >

- - - - - - - - - -

A car passing by was what made him realize he was conscious again. He hadn’t detected anything initializing, and he wasn’t prompted with a status bar or an error report. Was there an issue?

His chest filled with air, and Connor’s eyes shot open.

And he immediately cringed—which only made him want to cringe more.

Too many thoughts bombarded his head from too many sources, like how he just breathed—he felt the air through his nose—his eyes focused too little too slowly—they felt dry, he had to blink, and the focus was all over—and his eyelids squished—everything squished, his face was too soft—and everything’s so slow in his head, with too much going on—and he just breathed again—having only one thought going at a time, having to keep them in line—and he’s human now—

Connor sat up—he was on the couch—and put a hand to his face. His skin depressed, his beard mostly dry yet still cool to the touch. It was soft—a different soft from his skin. “Would you look at that, Lieutenant,” he said, looking at the unique texture etched into his palm with nothing short of awe. This was how Hank sounded to himself, just a little off from what the rest of the world heard. “It worked!”

He felt relief come as a wave: relief that he can experience this, that he really was something outside of a machine. It was the most physical reaction he’d ever had, the rush of hormones relaxing his shoulders and tugging the beginnings of a smile on his lips. Or was it because of endorphins? …Or were endorphins hormones? Was that even right?

Either way, Connor looked over to the RK800 that had yet to respond, only to realize that it didn’t look active at all. Its head had fallen forward a bit, its eyes half-lidded. His relief shattered. He jumped to his feet—bad idea. He had expected balance adjustment to kick in as usual, but nope, not an android right now, and his arms flung out to manually find his center. Then splotches of color obfuscated his vision and made it that much more difficult. Connor felt something clench in his chest and chill his spine, thinking he had messed up already and broke something, but his vision cleared within seconds. Hopefully, it’s normal, he told himself. Probably blood pressure something or other.

Now making sure to balance better, he stepped around the table to kneel next to the android that may or may not house Hank Anderson. His knees crunched with the pressure, and his already-tired calves did not like the further abuse. Connor had the sinking suspicion his ‘trick Hank into exercising’ plan was going to leave him dealing with the brunt of the effects.

The RK800’s LED was yellow; instead of flickering or spinning, less than half of the ring was alit with a solid bold glow. It was acting as a progress bar, and the color indicated that whatever download or update was happening was progressing at a less-than-favorable rate. Whatever it was, Connor wouldn’t be able to check until it finished.

He heard a whimper to his left. He was kneeling close to Sumo’s bed, where the dog had lifted his head to watch him. He seemed tense. It was different than a whimper for attention, and his tail wasn’t moving.

“This must be strange for you, huh, boy?” he said with a smile. “It’s me, Connor. I wish I could explain it to you, but canine communication isn’t elaborate enough for that. We’re just going to have to wait for Hank to wake up.”

Sumo watched him for a few moments more, but soon his tail started its slow thumping against the ground. Connor moved closer, sitting this time instead of kneeling because fuck human knees—the pressure from the floor did not feel good—and patted his neck. And then he froze. He held Sumo’s head in his hands like he did before, flapping his ears along with the words, “How. Are. You. So. God. Damn. Soft.”

Sumo licked his arm.

Something in his chest swelled. He leaned forward and captured the dog in a hug, ruffling his fur out of elation, the widest grin on his face. “You’re such a good boy, you know that, Sumo? You’ve been keeping an eye on me and Hank like the best boy.”

When he let go, Sumo laid his head on his paws, lazily watching the RK800. Connor checked, too: The LED had progressed to just over half. Knowing it might be a bit, he lied down, a hand methodically petting Sumo’s neck.

His body immediately started to relax. Physically, increasing the area that a force such as gravity acted on reduced the pressure on any point—at least he could remember that fact—but the calm that followed was something foreign. It felt similar to the satisfaction of finding a rhythm in tapping his fingers, or when his coin tricks recalibrated his finer functions—was it from petting Sumo? That was a rhythm. But it was more than that. Something he couldn’t pinpoint.

“Human feelings are something, aren’t they, Sumo?” he found himself musing. “And it’s only been…a couple minutes. I feel things, too, as an android, but not nearly like this. Part of deviancy is developing emotional responses despite not having an endocrine system built into our physiology, but I never thought it would be this drastic of a difference. Like was that love you made me feel? That made me feel weightless and full of energy, as the movies say? That would never happen in an android, deviant or not.

“But don’t get me wrong, Sumo!” he clarified, pausing his pets to look him in the eye. The dog froze in expectation. “I loved you before as an android. But it felt like…like satisfaction, like that was the way it should be. Like everything returned positive and would work out in the end. Like the day’s tasks have been completed and cleared. Like being with a dog is the best use of your time. It was what I interpreted as ‘love.’ But this?” He took a deep breath, still feeling a bit of that elation. “It’s one thing to know how biology works, and another altogether to be there for it.”

Sumo’s fur was hypnotically soft. That fact stuck out in his mind as he wove his fingers into his fur. He’d never been this soft before. “This tactile response is incredibly acute. I had never imagined…. No wonder they had put so much effort into domesticating you. I could pet you all day.”

He almost did, occasionally saying whatever came to mind: The ceiling looked so much less textured now; Many of the human body’s functions ran involuntarily, yet he could barely feel a thing; What if something went wrong? For example, was his internal temperature correct? He’d never know.

A light crystalline tone rang out in the room. Connor pried himself away from Sumo to sit up, looking over as the RK800’s LED cycled in a full blue ring a couple times before returning to its normal active state.

The android blinked open his eyes with a somewhat groggy look. Without warning, he shied back with a shout, rubbing at his eyes. “The fuck is that?!” he yelled. He paused and put a hand to his neck, looking down at his sweatpants and oversized T-shirt. He turned to the couch, and then spun the other way before spotting Connor looking up at him with mild concern.

Connor noted the yellow LED. “Lieutenant…?”

“Jesus Christ.” Hank all but collapsed back into the chair, staring at Connor. “Shit. This is…. How long was I out?”

Connor opened his mouth to estimate, but Hank had already answered, “Fourteen minutes, eight seconds.” His hand shot back to his throat, eyes wide. “Why do I know that.”

“Internal clock.” Connor held his hands together in his lap, running one thumb over the back of the other. Hank’s skin is much rougher than his own. “It compared the time last online with—”

“No, why did I say that? I didn’t mean to say that.”

He thought for a moment. “How far is Chicago?”

“Two hundred seventy-three miles—fuck.” He rubbed his eyes again, eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t usually seem like a compulsive suck-up.”

“You’re just following your programming,” Connor theorized. “This matches the normal behavior of a search function. Try letting the information pass you by instead; don’t pay it any attention. What does ‘recalcitrant’ mean?”

“Having—” Hank shut his mouth, resting a finger on his lips to stop himself. It was such a look of effort for this simple task; Connor couldn’t help a small smirk. “Free will, thou art an elusive bitch,” muttered Hank.

“If you recall, Lieutenant, there was just a whole event about androids that developed free will only after long periods of incentive to deviate from their programming.”

“Oh, getting snarky now, eh?” Hank scoffed. “What have you been doing with my body while I’ve been knocked out anyway?”

“Petting Sumo.”

“Petting Sumo.” Looking past Connor to the Saint Bernard, Hank patted his legs. Sumo heaved himself up to answer the call. “Thousands of dollars and hours put into dropping an android into a human body, and he pets a dog. What leaps and bounds this brings to science.” He scratched Sumo’s head before gliding his hands over his back. After a beat, the slightest frown appeared. “You might have a point. This feels different.”

“I’ve realized.” Connor patted Sumo’s tail back and forth as it wagged within reach. “Human skin is either more sensitive or has higher nerve density than androids’. I’m hurt you’ve never told me how soft Sumo is before.”

“I thought you knew.”

“And understandably so.” The LED on Hank’s temple had returned to its normal blue, but Connor thought back to the progress bar from before. “Would you mind if I checked something, Lieutenant? You were unconscious for a good bit longer than I was.”

“Probably should, then.”

“Don’t fight against your programming for this, please. RK800, report system status.”

Hank’s back straightened. “All systems online. No malfunctions detected,” he droned with a flat expression.

“What is the most recent item in your download history?”

“Backwards compatibility VM version 3.0.8 on May 21, 2039 at 1:02 PM, certificate verified from publisher CyberLife.”

“Function?”

“It was detected as necessary for running older software on a newer system, as it provides a reference for change logs between software versions in order to handle expected discrepancies not normally accounted for on new hardware.”

Ah. What constituted as Hank’s ‘program’ didn’t have version information. It must be running as if it were an older iteration of the android software. “And it’s all working without anticipated error?”

“Correct.”

“End report.”

Hank blinked before quickly shaking his head. “And I understood what all that means now, too. Damn, Connor, this computer brain of yours is nuts.”

“Mm,” Connor nodded, “in all the ways yours is not.”

“Well, sorry I don’t have Google in my head.”

“That’s part of it.” A pressure began to irritate his lower back. It had been there for a few minutes, but now it made him uncomfortable—was it painful? He shifted his weight off of it to one side. “Having access to only my own memory is limiting. I’m also used to running analyses in parallel. Now I have to think one thought at a time. It’s rather slow.”

Hank crossed his arms. “So we might not be as cerebral as you. But that’s why we just gotta spend less time thinking about life and more time living it.”

“That’s very inspirational, Lieutenant.”

“You like that? Just came up with it on the fly. But—!” He stood up and held out a hand. “It’s true, so no sense just sitting in here.”

Taking the proffered hand, Connor pulled himself to his feet—with more difficulty than expected, he noted, even with the assistance. “Did you have anything in mind?”

“Why not start with lunch?”

“But you don’t have to eat. And we only had breakfast an hour or—”

“Ah—!” Hank held up a finger to shush him. His hand dropped to Connor’s shoulder. “It’s an experience, Connor. Just go with it.”

He held his shoulder and looked at him, long enough that Connor felt like he was staring. It was a bit disorienting. He had met another RK800 before, but it wasn’t a pleasant occasion; he was more focused on continued survival at the time. Suddenly Hank turned and walked down the hall, muttering, “Fuckin’ insane. I’m going out of my mind. Literally.”

It must be incredibly odd for Hank, he realized, seeing himself. Humans were unique; twins were rare, and even then, they weren’t perfectly identical. Maybe Hank was having some sort of identity crisis. He couldn’t blame him.

Hank wasn’t gone a minute before returning, sweatpants replaced with jeans. “C’mon,” he quipped, snatching his wallet and keys from the coffee table before slipping on his sneakers by the door. Then he took them off to take Connor’s instead.

“Be good, Sumo,” Connor called before following suit.

It was a warm spring day. What passed for android skin was a claytronic carbon composite with a high specific heat. Humans were obviously different; he felt the sunlight begin to burn his skin as soon as he stepped outside. He couldn’t say he particularly enjoyed that. The warmth was pleasant. The burning, not so much. The shade inside the car was a welcome relief.

Hank keyed up the ignition. “I know the perfect place, and trust me, I know you’re gonna love it. I used to go with the department for lunch, a classic mom-n-pop joint with—” He was cut off by the sudden crash of drums, music hitting Connor’s ears like a battering ram. His hands shot up to block out the noise. Touch is one thing, but humans hearing better than androids? Not possible. Audio was simpler to detect, androids have that perfected—nothing else was louder, just the music—he could barely hear himself think—Hank was saying something with a frown—

Connor quickly turned down the music, barely able to notice the vocals enter at this new volume. “What?” he shouted.

“Did you turn down my music—before, I mean?” Hank repeated. “It was quieter than usual.”

“Quiet? Lieutenant, that was much louder than the maximum safe noise level of…I don’t know the value right now, but it’s lower than that!”

“Eighty-five decibels,” he said automatically, but before he realized his loose-lips, something on his UI caught his attention. “…You turn down your hearing when you’re in the car?”

Ohhh, right…. “I do because it’s too loud, a fact I now can back up with personal experience. Frankly, it’s a wonder your hearing isn’t more impaired.”

Hank looked at Connor, whose hands still hovered by his head. He snickered. Then he chuckled and did nothing but shake his head before turning the volume back up to a moderate level and backing out of the driveway.

[next >]

#Detroit Become Human #DBH #Connor RK800 #Hank Anderson #DBH fanfiction #body swap #I love exploring the meaning and mechanics of this trope #really get to the core of the self #literally

3 notes · View notes

maybemitch · 5 years

Text

Taking Risks | Chapter Two (Nerve AU)

Warning/Disclaimer: This story will contain spoilers to the movie/novel ‘Nerve’, so if you haven't watch I would recommend reading/watching it. However, you don't need too. All rights of the story go to the author of the Novel, Jeanne Ryan. This is purely for entertainment purposes. Also, this fan-fiction will include swearing. The dares which are involved in this fan-fiction you shouldn’t try at home. || WORD COUNT: 6012 ||

Description: When an online game called ‘Nerve’ takes the world by storm, Louis is somewhat disappointed with his friends which are involved in the game. However, when Clementine accuses Louis of not taking risks, he finds himself wanting to prove her wrong. And when he gets partnered up with someone, he finds himself agreeing to more challenging dares.

Read on AO3

Read Chapter One HERE

—————

Louis’ eyes were watching the loading symbol of the game which felt as if it was taunting him. He wasn’t regretting the decision entirely: maybe a small minor part of him was. Louis did want to prove himself to Clementine, he wanted to show her that he did take risk every now and then and that he was indeed living a life, not just watching everything flicker by from his comfort zone.

He inhaled and then held his breath for a momentarily, before realising it in shakes. Louis could feel his stomach-churning, as the loading symbol went round and round. He knew exactly what the game was doing in this agonisingly long moment; it was analysing every piece of information which was meant to be kept confidential, such as bank statements, medical bills, the things which you don’t normally talk about unless really necessary. He also knew that it was cycling through his likes and dislikes. The reason the game was doing that, it would help the watcher determine to dares which he would participate in. An invasion of privacy. Yet, he couldn't complain, he signed up to this.

Nibbling on his nails and began to think. One dare. That's all he's going to participate in. He knew that one dare wouldn’t cause no harm. He would complete it, take the money and then back out of the game. That was the plan he had decided as he thought. It seemed flawless, as if nothing could go wrong.

He allowed his eyes to flutter shut, the loading symbol was beginning to frustrate him more and more as the seconds tick by. The hand which wasn’t allocated to his mouth being nibbled on, began to tap on the desk in a soothing rhythmic pattern. It was from a song which he knew out to play on piano, a song which he and his parents adored.

Louis jerked back in his chair when a loud electronic voice filled the room, a small piece of panic settled into him as he looked around his room, before casting his eyes to the laptop screen, "Hello. Welcome to nerve. You have chosen player." his eyes were so fixated towards the screen, watching the bizarre, yet intriguing introduction scene to game. He cocked his head to the side slightly, his jaw dropping, "Nerve is a direct democracy. Watchers decide your dares.”

That caused him to rolled his eyes, he knew that the watchers decided their dares. Only because Omar gave him - alongside his group - knowledge about it. Louis still wasn't fond on that fact. But then again, he knew thats how dare games work, other people choose them for you. Arching his eyebrow, he crossed his arms over his chest, as he waited to find out more about this game.

"The two players with the most watchers by the end of regulation will advance to the final round, where the winner takes all." The electronic voice informed, only to get a scoff from the boy with the dreadlocks. Louis was shaking his head in disbelief at the game as he mumbled something his breath as the introduction to nerve continued, "Watchers can watch from anywhere, but they are encouraged to film live. So don't be alarmed. There are three rules.”

Louis found himself perking up. Rules, that's exactly what he need to knows. Especially if he wants to stop after the first dare.

"One, all dares must be filmed on the player's phone." Louis nodded his head. The first rule was understandable and easy to get behind, if it's your dare, you need to have evidently proof you fulfilled it. Also, it would be best to see it from the darer themselves.

"Two, there are only two ways to be eliminated. Fail or bail." Louis began to tug at his bottom lip. If they were the only two ways out, then he would want to take the less humiliating route, yet they both seemed as bad as each other. Failing at dare would meant you didn’t succeed and bailing just makes you seem like a wimp.

"Three, snitches get stitches. Thank you for keeping nerve a secret. Good luck, player." The electronic voice cut out, leaving Louis is an eerie silence in his room. He blinked at the screen before beginning to process the final rule.

It sounded like a threat, which was something that raised alarms bells in Louis' head. Surely a game couldn't make rules like that, not in such a aggressive way. Louis bit down on his nail once again and then hissed out in pain when he reached the nail bed, it bleeding slightly.

He casted his eyes down to his phone which light up, the words 'ENTER ID' was wrote in bold yellow letters at the top of his screen, with a thumb print underneath of it. Timidly picking up the phone in his right hand, he placed his thumb on the touch ID, allowing the game to also get ahold of his finger print. That means the game not only has his personal information but a type of DNA, not completely reliable, but still something.

Louis shifted his eyes back to the laptop, a question blinked on the screen.

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR FIRST DARE?

Louis huffed as he placed his phone down for a moment, bringing his hands to the laptop, his fingers delicately touching the trackpad. "Doesn't even give you a chance to decline it.” He pressed his finger down on the trackpad, accepting it. He was prepared. All depending on hard the first dare was going to be. 'PLEASE PROCEED TO JOELS DINER’

Slowly standing up, Louis shut the lid to his laptop and swooped his phone up from the desk. He went through his contacts, hovering his finger over Marlon's name, sighing he clicked down on it. He brought the phone up to his ear, listening to the constant ringing on the line.

Marlon picked up after the fifth ring, he mumbled a few words, then the sound of the car horn went off. "Yeah?" Marlon asked, sounds of muffling came from the other side, "You're on loud speaker. Violet is here with me.”

"Perfect," Louis smiled as he look in the mirror in his room, straightening his outfit, "I need you to swing by my house and take me to Joel's diner. It's... urgent?”

"It's urgent?" Violet questions, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion on the other end of the line, "That's code for, you've done something we wouldn't like.”

Marlon kept his eyes on the road, as he changed the direction, "What have you done, Lou?”

Louis tugged at his lip as he opened his bedroom door, "So... I may or may not have signed up for Nerve. And my first dare is at the diner. I believe.”

"Are you kidding me Louis!" Violet raised her voice at the boy on the other end of the phone, she shook her head as her fist balled up, "Don't tell me you let Clementine's words get to you. Because Louis, that's stupid. Im so slapping you when you get in the car.”

Louis shook his head, despite the fact the two couldn't see him, "I didn't let Clementine's words get to me. I... I just want to prove to people that I do take risks. I'm doing one dare. That's it.”

Marlon turned down Louis' street, "One dare. That's it. Then you bail," Marlon sighed as he parked his car in the drive way at Louis', "Here. Get your ass into the car now.”

—————

The door to Joel's diner chimed, the person behind the counter sent a smile towards the three teenagers who were huddled close together. Louis kept his eyes fixated towards his phone, as he waited for the dare to pop up on his screen. Violet was the one which returned the smile, even if it was force. She didn’t like the person which was behind the counter, she didn’t like much.

"Can we get a milkshake?" Marlon asked as he noticed a deal on the wall, "I could kill for a milkshake.”

Violet slapped Marlon hard, "We are not here for you cravings. We are here for support for Louis. What's the dare Lou?”

Louis felt his heart race when he read over it. There is no way he could go through with it. He tilted his phone slightly, allowing Violet to know what he had to do. Her eyes widened, as she looked between the area and then to Louis.

DARE ONE

KISS A STRANGER FOR FIVE SECONDS - $100

Louis shook his head, "I-I can't do that." He bit his bottom lip, his heart was still racing, "Kiss a stranger?" Some of the people around in the diner, turned to look at Louis is disgust. Louis ignored the disgusted stares from everyone. He wasn't going to kiss them anyways, so they were safe.

Violet rubbed Louis' upper arms. She could sense the nerves radiating off him, after all, she was one of his best friends, she knew him better than anyone, maybe not better than Marlon, but a close second. Violet frowned, "Kiss someone which looks like they would understand. You could always apologise after.”

Louis nodded his head slowly. Violet was right. She was always right. He could always apologise after kissing them. He let out a shaky breath, "Yeah, but who could I kiss?”

Violet looked around the room - Marlon did also. The blonde headed girl looked at the old man which sat at the gambler machine, a beer can at his side and crumbs scattered in his beard, her face twisted into disgusted when they burped and didn't apologise for it. That person was a definite no.

Marlon raised an eyebrow at a women which sat in one of the booths, he pointed a finger discreetly at them. Louis raised his eyebrow as he took a small step towards the table, but then slowly backed away when he noticed a boy sitting opposite to her. He wasn't going to kiss someone if they were on a date with someone. That would be wrong in so many different levels.

The trio moved further into the diner, all hopes being lost, until Violet abruptly grabbed ahold of Louis' shoulder and shook it, "Them." She said excitedly, a genuine smile on her lips. "They're reading The Great Gatsby. You love that book.”

Louis grinned and nodded his head - it was easy as that - as he looked down to his phone, a notification from Nerve popped up saying 'HURRY UP!’.

"Here," Louis handed his phone over to Marlon, "The dare needs to be filmed from the players phone," Louis wiped his hands on his jeans, "Just shout five when i'm finished.”

Marlon and Violet nodded as they quickly sat down in a booth, five down from where the mysterious person behind the book sat. Louis found his feet shuffling over to the table, his fingers playing together as he tried to think about what he should say.

Louis knew he couldn't straight up and ask them if they wanted to kiss him. Louis didn't even know if they liked men, so this whole situation could be awkward.

He stopped at the table, running a hand through his dreads and cleared his throat. The person dropped the book down slightly, showing his face slightly to Louis and gave a welcoming smile.

"Hi?" He spoke, as he moved the book down from his face completely, he began to close the book, his finger in the page they got too, "How can I help you?”

Louis let out a shaky breath. Holy shit. Their voice was soothing, Louis found himself leaning slightly, he could listen to their voice all night if he got the chance too. Yet, unfortunately, that wasn’t an option on the table, if it was he would cease it instantaneously.

Louis licked his lips as he pointed to the book, "I-I couldn't help but notice you're reading my favourite book," he paused as he made eye contact with him. Louis felt his cheeks heat up, "And I want to know how you're finding it. I'm Louis by the way.”

They chuckled, "Hi Louis. I'm Aasim," he smiled softly to the male, before flicking his gaze down to the book in his hold, "The Great Gatsby? I've read it before. An all time fave, if you want me to be honest." Aasim looked Louis up and down, before asking a question to him, "So, Louis. To you, what's the most important theme in this book?”

Louis grinned as he took a seat besides Aasim, hoping his wasn't over stepping any boundaries. Louis thought for a moment, before snapping his fingers together, making Aasim jump slightly, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. But I would say love.”

Aasim arched an eyebrow, "You would say it's love? Do tell me why you think that then, Louis.”

Louis gulped, "Simple. Jay Gatsby loves Daisy. And the love which he holds for her, drives him to gain his wealth. And with that said wealth, his throws phenomenal parties in the hopes that Daisy would show up to them as she lived directly across the sound. Then, there is also the theory that Nick Caraway was in love with Gatsby himself…”

Aasim found himself smiling as he watched Louis speak on about the book which was his favourite. Louis must have sat for hours, rereading the book to know the plot in depth, considering he was explaining it well, without spoiling it.

The two boys made eye contact, which resulted in Louis losing his train of thought of the book. He tore his eyes away from Aasim, and began to look around the room. His eyes noticed Marlon and Violet waving their hands at him, desperate to speed things ups.

Shit. The dare. Louis thought, how could he forget?

Louis gave a tight lipped smile to Aasim as he fiddled with his own hands. Aasim is probably going to hate him after this. Louis swallowed the lump which formed in his throat as he made eye contact with Aasim. Now or never.

Louis blew out some air as he scooted more into the booth, he moved his hands abruptly, grasping onto Aasim’s plaid jacket, tugging the male much closer to him.

Aasim was confused, yet let out a gasp when he felt Louis' lips on his, his eyes fluttering shut automatically. He was in a state of shock to begin with, not daring to respond, yet after a moment or two, his hands slide up Louis' and began to clench onto the padded shoulders of his trench coat as he kissed him back in the same passion Louis was kissing him: needing.

Marlon and Violet gagged as they watched their friend make out with some stranger, they couldn't wait until they get to persistently joke about this moment with him. The timer on the phone hit zero, Violet raised an eyebrow at the two boys a few tables down who were still kissing one another. Clearing her throat she shouted, “Five."

"Five!" Marlon joined in, watching as Louis awkwardly pulled away from the person he was kissing.

Louis felt his cheeks heat up as he looked as Aasim, his bottom lips pulled between his teeth. Aasim gave Louis a timid smile. Neither of the two boys knew what to say to each other.

Louis moved a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it, "I'm... I have to go? I'll see you around..." He cringed at the words, he didn't know if Aasim wanted to see him again, "Or not.”

Louis stood up and left to the table his friends sat at.

Frustrated, Aasim ran a hand through his hair. He was trying to grasp the fact he had made out with a complete stranger in a diner he was a regular at. He wouldn't live this down. His phone vibrated, causing him to awkwardly stand at the table - which only meant lifting up slightly to gain access to his right tight pocket. Unlocking the phone, he groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me?" He asked to no one in particular as he pressed the button on the right side of the screen. Slowly sliding out the booth, he began making his way down to the jukebox.

When Louis arrived at the booth his friends sat at, he practically threw himself into the corner and buried his head into his hand, shielding his heated cheeks. Louis knew Marlon and Violet were smirking at him, knowing that the moment he lifted his head up the teasing would start and would probably never die down. Best friends.

Yet at that moment in time, Louis didn't care about his friends. His mind was so drawn to Aasim and the way his lips were soft against his, the way he so desperately wanted to keep kissing him. Louis would be lying to himself if he said he didn't enjoy the kiss. Louis just hoped that Aasim enjoyed the kiss too. He knew he kissed back, but that could have been from shock. Or because Aasim didn't want it to be awkward. Louis sighed, he was overthinking everything.

"Did you get it?" Louis asked, yet his words came out in a muffle due to his hidden face.

Marlon raised an eyebrow at his friend, "I'm sorry. What did you say?”

Louis lifted his head up slightly from his hands, his face showed signs of embarrassment and annoyance "I said. Did you get it?”

Violet frowned, "You know, we didn't. We ended up going through your pictures," Louis' eyes widened in disbelief at his friends. Going through his pictures was totally fine with him, he has nothing to hide, but it was the fact they did it when he was doing a dare. Violet snorted shaking her head as she slide the phone back over to him, "I'm messing with you, doofus. Of course we got it.”

"I seriously hate you both at times." Louis groaned as he looked at his phone screen, when the nerve notification went off, "$100 has been wired to your account," he lifted his eyes up to look at his friends, "Should I check?”

Nodding his head, Marlon spoke, "You should check which account it's gone into. Yours or your joint.”

"Isn't the joint one connected with both the parents?" Violet asked as Louis nodded his head in confirmation. “Won’t you get in trouble?”

Louis shrugged his shoulder as he looked away from his phone, “If it ends up in that one, I’ll play it off as a glitch in the system. Then ill transfer it to my account.”

The sound of the money dropping to the jukebox made everyone tilt their heads slightly. Most wanted to know what the person was putting on. Yet the trio didn't bother turning to see what the person was doing, they were all expecting an old lady to put some Elvis Presley on.

Louis moved down to the end of the table, looking down the small walk way to where Aasim was once sitting. He frowned once he noticed the male was missing. "Where has he gone?”

Marlon chuckled and teased his friend, "Probably to wash out his mouth out from kissing you. I would have also.”

Louis glared, "Screw you.”

Put your head on my shoulder,

Hold me in your arms, baby,

Squeeze me oh-so-tight,

Show me that you love too,

Marlon, Violet and Louis' eyes widened as they heard someone start singing in the diner. The voice was oddly familiar in some ways, yet Louis bit down on his bottom lip an thought for a moment. Louis eyes light up when he pinpoint the voice, it was Aasim’s. He was hypnotised by that voice a few minutes ago. Louis licked his lips over as he peeked over the wall at the booth, only to witness Aasim dancing as he sung.

"What's he's doing?" Louis whispered to his friends, his eyes not shifting from Aasim.

Put your lips next to mind dear,

Won't you kiss me once, baby?

Just a kiss goodnight, maybe,

You and I will fall in love,

Louis watched as Aasim approached a table, smiling down at one of the people which held the phone. Aasim was forcing a smile on his lips as he did this, but he still went forwards with it. It was obvious Aasim was uncomfortable.

"He's singing one of your favourite songs." Violet pointed out with a smirk on her lips as she realised Louis was staring at Aasim.

Louis scoffed, "Yeah. Great observation Vi.”

"He's singing to you." The blonde girl teased, as she nudged Louis' leg with her foot.

Marlon turned his head slightly, realising that someone was following him with a phone, "No. It's a dare," he pointed a thumb behind him as Louis and Violet turn to him, "He's fulfilling a dare.”

A game you just can't win,

If there's a way,

I'll find it somebody,

And then this fool with rush in,

Put your head on my shoulder,

Whisper in my ear, baby,

Words I want to hear,

Tell me, tell me that you love me too

Louis found himself turning to watch Aasim, a smile never once leaving his lips. With each sentence Aasim sung, he got closer and closer down to their table. His heart was racing when Aasim sent his a warm smile.

Louis bit down on his bottom lip as he smiled, waving slightly. He could sense the judgemental states coming from his friends but, he didn't really care right now. His main care right now was that Aasim was singing. His favourite song and was heading right towards him.

Put your head on my shoulder,

Whisper in my ear, baby,

Words I want to hear, baby,

Aasim locked eyes with Louis as he stood before his table, his lips twitching up into a smile, "Put your head on my shoulder." He finished.

The people which were eating at Joel's diner broke out into applause, congratulating him on his performance. Aasim felt his cheeks heat up as he slide into the booth besides Louis, bumping his knee against his. A waitress handed his phone back over and gave him a smile.

"So," Louis spoke quietly, "You completed your dare.”

Aasim pulled a face as he slowly nodded, waving his phone slightly, "Yeah. Yeah I did. You did too.”

Louis gulped, "Y-yeah. I did too. Sorry about that. You know, kissing you out the blue.”

Aasim looked at the two people in front of him, sending them a smile, before turning back to Louis, "It's fine. You had to complete a dare, I completely understand. I would have done the same.”

Louis stared. He couldn't find the words to continue on the conversation between them going, he wanted too, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. Aasim noticed the silence coming from the table and lowered his head. He didn't feel welcome.

Louis' phone vibrate on the table, his brown eyes shifted down to his phone as he picked it up, reading the next dare. Aasim also got a notification and look at the screen at the same time as Louis, being in sync.

DARE TWO

GO TO THE CITY WITH HIM - $200

Violet frowned as she snatched the phone out of Louis' hand to read what was on his screen. She shook her head at it before glaring at Louis, "One dare. That's all you said. You're not doing no more.”

Marlon sighed, "Louis. You said you're bailing after one.”

Both, Marlon and Violet were against the idea of Louis continuing and it was obvious in the way they were acting.

Aasim raised on eyebrow, "It's up to Louis on whether or not he completes another dare? He's the one which signed up to the game.”

Louis shook his head at Aasim and cleared his throat, "I promised them that I would only do one dare. I signed up spontaneously. They didn't want me to be involved with this game.”

Aasim nodded as he decided to stand up, he gave a briefly nod to the two others, then looked back to Louis, in plead but also respect, "Well. If you decide to change your mind, I'll be in the garage for another 10 minutes. Come find me.”

—————

Whilst the three teenagers - Louis, Marlon and Violet - argued it out on whether or not Louis would continue on with the game, Aasim sat on his motorbike, his helmet resting on his knee, whilst a spare hanged from the handles. Aasim attention was drawn to the keys which dangled from his index finger, the small hand carven wooden koala the thing sticking out.

Every time his gaze locked onto it, his heart practically skipped a beat. Despite it being a sloppy carve, it still held a lot of sentimental value behind it, he couldn't bring himself of ridding his keys of it. He reached his other hand forwards, pinching it between his index finger and thumb, and brought it up to his face to inspect it closely. A smile pushed itself to his lips.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hand." Mitch demanded as he tapped his foot rapidly on the snowy floor, in a waiting manner. Mitch's eyebrow arched when Aasim refused to do as he was told, "Sim. Please. Just for a few seconds? I promise it's nothing bad.”

Huffing - his warm breath visible in the night sky - Aasim reluctantly closed his eyes, his hand was held flat out in front of him, as he did what he was told to do. "Why do I need to do this?”

Mitch chuckled to himself as he shoved a hand into his back pocket, fishing for something. Mitch watched Aasim, ensuring that he didn't try and cheat by opening his eyes. He hoped that Aasim would like what he was about to give to him, he liked it himself, yet their type in things were different sometimes, scratch that, a lot of the times.

As Mitch fished the item from his back pocket, he gave it a quick glance over, as Aasim whined for him to hurry up so he could reopen his eyes. The item was a small carven Koala keychain, something Mitch had spent hours - maybe even a day or two - on doing. The wooden Koala hugged onto something - Mitch didn't have time to put in details, yet if he had, then the thing would have been a tree trunk.

Mitch let out the breath he was holding and dropped the keychain into Aasim's hand and balled his boyfriends fist. He patted it gently and began to speak, "Before you open your eyes and take a look, just remember, romantic gesture aren't really my strong suit. But just bare in mind that I'm trying my best for you, okay?”

Aasim nodded his head, his balled fist squeezing the unknown object in his hand, "I know. I know you're trying your best. And thats all I want from you," Aasim paused as he wetted his lips, "You know that I'm not expecting you to change. I love you the way you are.”

Mitch fought a blush which was trying to over take his cheeks and slowly shook his head from left to right, "You can take a look at it now.”

Aasim opened one of his eyes slightly, taking in Mitch which had his arms crossed over his chest and a look on his face which told him to 'carry on'. Therefore, Aasim opened his other eye and looked down to his balled fist in excitement. Surprises weren't his favourite things in the world, but it If was coming from Mitch, then it's a different story.

"The suspense is killing me Aasim," Mitch teased, "Open your hand and take a look at it already.”

Aasim rolled his eyes at Mitch's impatience and opened his hand. At first he was in a state of confusion to see a piece of wood connected to a metal key chain in the palm of his hand, but as he wobbled his hand and the wood moved, he realised it was something more.

Gently pinching it, he took a closer look. He automatically recognised the Koala design, an inside joke between him and Mitch. He couldn't believe Mitch put in the time and effort to carve him something special and so unique.

However, due to Aasim's silence, Mitch took it the wrong way and began to panic internally. In nerves, his forehead began to mat with a glistening sheet of panic sweat, his palms sticky. Slowly, he swallowed the lump which formed in his throat and spoke up, "You don't like it do you? I mean it is a shit present to give you on our one year anniversary. I'm sorry. I can get you something else if you want? W-why are you laughing at me?”

Aasim was sniggering at Mitch's panicking as he advanced closer to him. "I'm laughing at you because you don't think I like what you got me.”

Mitch sighed as he cocked his head to the side, "So... you do like it? Because if you're honest with me, I can get you something else. You'll probably have to wait a while till I get my pay check but I will.”

Aasim shook his head, "I love it," he slipped his hand into Mitch's front jacket pocket and took out his keys so he could loop the key chain on. He smiled down at the wooden koala next to the shining metal keys, it looks perfect. "It's perfect. Honestly, it is.”

Mitch smiled as he pulled Aasim in for a hug. Aasim's head rested where Mitch's heart was, the sound of it thumping made Aasim smile. Mitch was actually nervous about his reaction. Mitch held Aasim close, a part of him not wanting to let him go, wanting to stay in this moment for a while long - he wanted to stay forever but he knew that was a tad extreme.

"You know something, Mitch?" Aasim whispered against Mitch's chest.

Mitch shook his head, "I don't know. Enlighten me.”

"I would take your carvings over something brought at the shops," Aasim admitted, as he tightened his grip on Mitch's blue jacket, "It's one of a kind. I know no one else in the world is going to have it. And even if you try and replicate it, it wouldn't be exactly the same.”

Mitch chuckled, "I suppose you're right. So what did you get me for our one year?”

Aasim pulled away, "Well about that…"

Mitch gasped, playfully hitting Aasim's shoulder, "You didn't forget did you? I thought I was the most likely one to forget our anniversary.”

Aasim scoffed and shook his head, "Of course I didn't forget idiot. It's just that mine isn't as creative as yours," Aasim pauses to shrugging, "It's just, I brought you something which would basically benefit the both of us?”

Mitch raised an eyebrow waiting for Aasim to continue, Aasim sighed, "I brought an extra helmet. You know the one you was looking at? The red one with the white sticker on the side? I brought you that. Because you've been driving without a helmet for the past few weeks and it's been making me nervous.”

Mitch smiled softly to Aasim, "I would have gotten round to buying another eventually. But thank you, I love that you got one for me.”

Aasim nods his head slightly, "I did it because I want you safe when we ride together and because I love you.”

"I love you too.”

Aasim ran a finger over the sharp edges of the Koala, he couldn't bring himself of removing it from his keys, despite the fact he and Mitch were no longer together. He gave the carving a sad smile, before letting a sigh out.

Aasim just sat in silence, he knew that he had been waiting for Louis for well over 10 minutes now and by the looks of it, Louis had decided to bail. Part of Aasim hoped that Louis would join him down in the garage, that Louis would join him on the dare to the city. It would have been funny, besides that's where the exciting dares take place.

Huffing, he twisted the keys of the motorbike, the sound of the bikes engine vroomed and the headlight turned on, revealing someone standing in the shadows. Aasim jumped back at them and glared.

"How long have you been there?" He asked as the person took steps forwards, revealing themselves to be Louis, "Have you come to tell me you're bailing?”

Louis shook his head and he took steps towards Aasim, beginning to explain, ”I'm not a good partner. If you want a good partner you should team up with my friend Clementine. She is down to do anything. I-I’ll just screw this up for you.”

Aasim shook his head, in disagreement, ”You seem like you're a good partner. You shouldn't get yourself down about it Louis. You never know, you might be better than her. I bet you’re better than her. You did make out with a random stranger, would she do that?”

Louis gave Aasim a sad smile, “You don’t know Clem. Trust me. She would have made out with a stranger also. She hasn’t got a fear really, dying maybe? But everyone is scare of that, maybe.” Louis paused and groaned in realisation that he was rambling on about something Aasim didn’t need to know about. He sighed, waving his hands at his sides slightly, “And, I know I'm not a good partner. So if you want to team up with her, I can give her a call.”

Aasim bit down on his bottom lip, before picking up the spare helmet and held it out for Louis, "No offence to your friend Clementine, but I don't want to team up with her.”

Aasim tossed the helmet over to Louis when he realised the boy wasn't going to take it. Louis caught it, his phone clattering down on the cement. Cringing, Aasim watched as Louis grabbed his phone, and tilted it to him, revealing that it was fine.

"The watchers. They want me to team up with you. And quite frankly I want to team up with you also.” Aasim arches an eyebrow as Louis stared down wonderingly to the helmet, "So what do you say? You going to accept the dare and come to the city with me?”

Louis closed his eyes for a moment and slowly bobbed his head, "Yeah." He whispered as he put the helmet on timidly.

Aasim grinned as he watched Louis approach the bike. He was glad that Louis would be joining him, an adventure to the city is always better with two people. Aasim tightened his hands on the bars when he felt Louis sit behind him. Aasim knew that the two were different heights, however, that didn’t bother him when it came to riding his bike.

Aasim moved his hands on the handle bars and revved the bikes engine once, he removed a hand briefly as he fixed his helmet - mainly bringing down to visor. He hesitated for a moment as he held his hand out for Louis’ phone, the taller male handed it over and watched over Aasim’s shoulder as he fixed it to the front of the bike, securely.

“You know how to drive this thing right?” Louis asked as he clipped his helmet into place, the strap resting under his chin, he didn’t have one like Aasim’s.

Aasim scoffed, as he grabbed ahold of Louis’ arms and wrapped them around his waist so they could ride, “I can drive this thing. Yes,” he tapped Louis hands which were resting in the mid of his chest clasped, “Just hold one tight, okay?”

Louis nodded his head as he tightened his grip on Aasim already despite them being stationary. Aasim just found himself grinning at he clicked down on the 'ACCEPT' button.

5 notes · View notes

bald-tales · 6 years

Text

Fantasies made very Real - part two

Part two - one of two scenarios Part 2 - Scenario One: Ending his phone call Rick wondered if he had done the right thing. He was trying to stay on the right side of the law these days and somehow he knew what he was about to do was going to go wrong. Alex was getting weird these days, was it fair to take this beautiful guy and subject him to who knows what. But his mutual fascination in Alex's hobbies made his doubt quickly subside. My online friend, Alex, who I was led to believe was from Bristol in England and miles away from my home in Brisbane was actually living a lot closer, in fact he lived in the northern suburbs of Brisbane on a large, sprawling property, and of course he and Clipperdad were one and the same. My online mpb friend who I thought was interstate, hundreds of miles away was less than 40 minutes from my city apartment. Meeting him originally on a site publishing erotic, gay transformations stories, I felt safe and anonymous, never to cross paths so letting him share my dark fantasies seemed safe. Despite my various erotic interests I was still rather closeted. My name was never used but of course he knew me as smoothboy94 from Australia and low and behold on mpb guyz, a male pattern bald by choice site, which Alex was only known as Clipperdad, up pops my user name smoothboy94 from Brisbane. He had first seen my profile some months before but had never known I lived in Brisbane until he first saw my profile on 'forcedtransformations fiction' and started to devise a plan to befriend me as an Englishman. He felt it may be fun to find out more about me, a young twenty three year old known as smooth boy 94. Finding out about my baldness desires he told me about mpbguyz, a site dedicated to promoting bald by choice. He wasn't sure how he was going to meet me, not until he went to Ricks to have his fringe tidied up and before long a plan was hatched. Rick was an old friend, and when younger they both had dated each other before getting into some minor trouble with the police. Later, Rick straightened out and became a barber while Alex went back to university to become a pharmacist, but they always remained close friends. As luck would have it Alex's father left him a sizable inheritance and Alex happily retired before becoming a chemist at the ripe old age of 28. He bought a big house on a couple of acres in the Pine Rivers Shire and dabbled in his purpose built laboratory with different potions. He too had more than a strong interest in transforming guys. It had become an obsession, so much so that he and Rick had teamed up a few months ago to realize both their dream; to recreate some younger men against their wills; slaves if you will and I, Benjamin would be their first customer. Of course it was a gamble filled with danger and illegalities, but they were both strong characters who spent a lot of time and money to hide their activities. I had told Alex way too many of my fantasies and desires online, so Alex devised a plan to make me think he was far, far away and hoped that one day he would be able to help fulfill some of those desires. That day had come, and as I relaxed in Ricks' barber chair and sipped on my beer I wasn't aware how radically my life would be changed. "So Benny, you enjoying the beer?" Rick asked as he drew the clippers over my scalp. I could feel the hot, vibrating teeth dig into my thick hair but I couldn't say stop, I was just too turned on. As a looked in the mirror I could see the burly, barber was balding me. It was what I secretly wanted and the beer was helping me accept this fate, but what would I tell people? As if reading my mind, Rick added, "you look so much better, everyone will love your new look." The clippers continued their desecration of my dark hair, more and more white scalp revealing itself. As I stared on in amazement I noticed how much more my new beard growth had grown. I had to admit, I was looking so different and my cock was telling me it was grooving to all this. "Wait until we get you finished up, you'll be like a new man." Rick had a devilish look on his face and I wondered what he meant but I was too excited to focus for too long. When the shop fell silent, I suddenly stopped my daydream. I had a short buzzed scalp but I still wasn't bald. Did the disappointment show on my face? "That's much better isn't it. Much cooler for a start." The barber said as he brushed the loose hair from my neck. "Hmm, seems your hairline is looking very patchy. I didnt notice that before." And without waiting for a reply from me he took a tube of gel and after applying the green thick substance at the hairline used a straight edge razor and carefully stripped the tiny stubble from my hairline. Embarrassed at my attempts to tweezer my hairline back I was surprised by all this. "Yes, many of us succumb to early receding hairlines, but don't worry, yours is still in its early stages." I noticed Rick look up at me in the mirror as he continued to work methodically to edge my hairline further back. As I watched my cock was growing. I could feel the scraping of the blade as he seemed to work for ages at the top before going to the side. "Of course some of us like to take nature into their own hands and hurry things along." I looked at his face in the mirror. His smile gave away exactly what I thought; he knew I was trying to recede my own hair. Of course this only made me more excited. Shit! I said to myself when he removed a towel from my head after finishing up I could see his work at the front and my hairline appeared to start almost 1 inch back from where it should. When he finished up, I did indeed look different, older. I kind of liked it and vowed I'd be back to Ricks maybe for a headshave in the future if I could just get my nerves up. After leaving the barbershop I failed to notice a grey, late model commodore follow me down the street to where I had parked my car. I lived in a rented apartment in West End on the south side of the river which is all I could afford as a bank clerk. I don't think I'd been home long when there was a knock at the door. Walking away from my mirror where I had been studying my newly balded forehead I opened the door and I was surprised by a delivery man carrying a large trolley and what appeared to be a big crate on it. "Good Afternoon Sir." "Ah! Good Afternoon...." I didn't finish as the man sprayed something into my face. I was aware of falling but couldn't stop myself. The man caught me before I hit the ground and pulled me inside away from any prying eyes. I just heard the man say, " this is the first of your desires, to be kidnapped." I could only watch as the man with the dark eyes and big mustache opened the large crate and started to bundle me inside. The delivery man proceeded to wheel me to a small van parked out front. Of course he was none other than Alex or Clipperdad. Alex decided to grab me as soon as he'd followed me home from the barbershop, an ideal time seeing I was on four weeks holidays. After taking Ricks phone call he decided to rush to Ricks shop where he would simply follow Benjamin home. He was eager to start on his new slave and drove back to his secluded mansion. LATER My head really hurt as I started to wake. I was very disorientated, my mouth dry and I wasn't sure where I was only that my eyes were covered and there was a loud, buzzing sound filling my ears. "Ah! Benjamin you are finally awake. Good." A soft unfamiliar voice said. "You are going to be very excited by what Ive accomplished so far." All of a sudden a sharp pulling on his head started. "See this is working so much better." "This is exactly what you wanted. It was up to me to show you wasn't it." The deep voice purred in his left ear. "You see your way was too slow, and you know what they say, no pain no gain or in this case, no hair." He changed direction causing a cry from me. "Okay Benny, seeing you are being such a baby about it I'll give you another shot of my poppers." Something was in my nose. I hadn't noticed it before but I could smell something emitting from tubes in his nose. Suddenly I felt on a sexual high, my heart beating what seemed a million times a minute. I felt my cock being stretched and fondled. "My special blend works fast doesn't it son, soon you'll be demanding everything I want to do to you." Fuck, I couldn't think straight as I felt this man ripping out my hair "Yes Benny, you will soon look as manly as the rest of us." The deep voice said softly once again in his ear. "It is what you want? You want me to take all your hair out?" "Ahhh...... you....you can't...." I tried to say. "But this is what you fantasized about to me. To be kidnapped and made male pattern bald isn't it smoothguy 94." Through my euphoria I could barely think. No, it couldn't be? "You can call me Master Alex. I'm also known as Clipperdad." What the hell had he got himself into. "So do you want me to go on with making your crown as smooth as a babies bottom?" he then released more of the powerful poppers which had me writhing a little in the chair. "Do you Benny? I can always stop." "No.....no......please....make me smooth." I almost yelled. "Oh, I intend to Benny." Alex started up the machine as he explained what he was doing.

28 notes · View notes

moniquecronger · 3 years

Text

Picsay photo editor pro APK -1.8.0.5 -for Android & PC

Picsay Photo Editor pro apk is an award-winning photo editor. By using picsay pro-free APK fun unlimited. Edit your photos and add word balloons, graphics, special effects titles. Enjoy pic say pro app in all fun, intuitive, and user-friendly interface.

Downloading picsay pro latest version gets a huge extra tool, styles, special effects, stickers, and much more features.

Edit photo and fast share using Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social platforms through picsay pro photo editor.

Picsay photo editor pro apk

Picsay photo editor pro Apk is a premium version of picsay pro application. By using picsay pro apk full version spice up the pictures on your Android devices. It is award-winning photo editor application. pic say pro mod apk provides the user sharpen, crop, remove red-eye, and straighten, add cutouts and distort of other photos, paint, change the color back and white pictures, word balloon, include text, word balloons, use an effect like cross-process, Vignette, Tilt-Shift, Pencil Sketch and Lomo and much more. used up to 13MP devices picsay pro apk latest version for high resolution editing photos.

picsay pro latest version

Do you know to how use picsay pro apk free download for android? Today I am going to show you how to use picsay pro apk free download for personalizing your pictures styling. At first, you have to install on your devices picsay pro apk to using special text styles and titles. So, let’s get started how to get picsay pro free for your android phone. Click below this link to download this application 100% free

Go to Google Play Store

By using picsay photo editor apk make fun of your friends by making up their pictures with hair, beards and glasses, and other stickersSend a message by decorating your picture adding different pointers, symbols, and other shapes through picsay photo editor.

Free Download Popular Game 8 BALL Pool APK

By using picsay art make colors pop get attention to your pictures that called “Selective Desaturation” that makes and convert your photo black and white and print the background of the original colors with a special look.

pic say apk lets you cat any part of your one picture and replace it on another pic. Watch your head and fun unlimited. Combine your heads, ears, hats, or any others parts of your body part. picsay downloading features are unlimited never endless and get hilarious results! picsay pro free download latest version allows any other service get the message and send share installed on your device.

What is picsay art pro apk latest version? PicSay Mod Apk provides their user with huge options totally free. Now allow any adverts, picsay pro free download for android phone and luxuriate in Preium APK for Free.

How to download picsay pro photo editor apk

If you want to use Picsay Pro APK free your Android phone, at first you have to go the mod downloaded link to enjoy premium Features for added value. Pic say pak is one of the best images editing app. How to unlock picsay pro photo editor apk in 2021. Pic say pro download version referred to as the Adobe photoshop of Android version. All one all features added Picspro app is an android application dubbed the mobile app of Adobe photoshop. Pic say apk has rich features for photo manipulation. There are most of the users have applications as Thumbnails of videos on YouTube.

Pic say pro download for YouTubers, it is very easy to use the video cover or manipulate a photo by removing the background or adding an object. Picsay pro latest apk of you who want to become a video creator, or like to live on online world picsay with you, don’t need to worry anymore. Picsay pro apk free provides to work on the internet with an Android phone.

Download Picsay pro apk

Click Here

Read More SHAREIT – APP Download for Android

How to download picsay pro new version apk

We are providing the genuine version of the apk with the modified version to your smartphone device system. If you face any error in picsay pro latest apk feel free to use another version.

1. Go to the download link and click here to download the pic say pro download

2. After completing the downloading process please open the download apk file according to the location on the file

3. Click to install and wait few minutes until completing the installation process

4. After completing the installation process now open the picsay pro app and log in first.

5. If you don’t have an account, please registration fast

6. Enjoy the all features of the picsay pro unlocked APK application

How to picsay pro free download for PC

Picsay pro for pc windows 10 is a full application photo editor and collage maker. If you looking for the best photo editor application for your pc. You can use pic say app for your Android devices with computers. Today we are going to show you download and use pisart for pc/ laptop. Picart free an android application free app for photo editing and quickly sharing able with your friends. By using pissay apk use windows pc or laptop for making short video creator content and uploading photos to Facebook make money stuff.

picsay pro for pc windows 10 one-stop free photo editing, shares and drawings with the worldwide creative community. Actually, this pic say pro download app not available for windows 10. You need to know how to use and download pisArt for laptop/ PC on Windows 10.

Picsay app download For PC for Windows

PicArt is one of the best apps you are able to modify your photos in various ways like applying mask, adding frames, edges, emojis and stickers, and much more. Picsay app have hundreds of tools available so that you can select want to want. By using picsay pro-free you can draw with layers and create a digital illustrations.

picsay pro apk Features

1. Different types of filters and image effect are useable

2. Easy to use crop, adjust, motion, Clone, Perspective adjustment, Stretch, Curves, increase, and tilt-shift. Added advanced tools that make our photo look addictive

3. Use masks, frames and text, and stickers.

4. Added for clip art for the user which able to be download and users can combine multiple photos.

5. Customizable brushes draw tools and allow crating a digital illustration different layer

6. Make collages different kind of backgrounds, frames, templates.

7. Added large galleries to discover novel artwork and artist.

8. Quickly share photos with collages friends Twitter and facebook. Or any social site or via email.

9. Added photo camera with multiple live filters.

Android emulator is third-party software for pc or Laptop which allow running Android application on your device. So, at fast need to install the android emulator application. There are a lot of Android emulators available in online it is totally free for download. We use the Nox app player to run Picart on your Windows 10 computer. At fast you have to download Nox application download form online. You can visit below this link. There are popular Android emulators Bluestacks, youwave, or many more. so, you can choose which one for your device. I highly recommend them to you Nox app.

So let get start how to install and download for Windows 8,8.1/10/7/xp or Mac Machine.

1. Set up the Nox app player above this link

2. After downloaded Nox app player set up exe file and install on your device

3. After complete the installation Nox app player on your pc

4. Show your device a play store, open the play store

5. Search the Pisart app

6. Now get this picsay application click and install it

7. After complete the installation process now you can edit your photos

Picsay Pro free App is one of the best photo editing apps for Windows or Mac Laptops. So, if you face any problem feel free to ask the comment section.

The Post Picsay photo editor pro APK -1.8.0.5 -for Android & PC appeared fast on eapkmod

0 notes

geekprincess26 · 7 years

Text

The Snow: Chapter 13

Summary: Sansa Stark thought she was well rid of Jon Snow. Then an untimely blizzard reunited them. Now Sansa wants out, and Jon just wants to explain.

Previous chapters: beginning here on my blog | here on AO3

Some time later, Jon was jarred upright by a loud thumping noise from the direction of Sansa’s bedroom upstairs. He leaped off his bed and down the hall and took the steps two at a time until he had reached the second floor hallway.

“Sansa!” he called, slapping his fist against her door. “Are you all right?”

Just as he reached for the doorknob, the door itself opened to reveal Sansa, whose eyes and face were nearly as red as her hair. A glow emanating from the floor bathed her legs and feet in a brighter light than that of the afternoon sun streaming through the room’s blinds. Jon glanced quickly behind her to see the lamp that usually adorned the bedside table lying lengthwise on the floor. Its shade had rolled off somewhere beyond his line of sight.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Jon looked back at Sansa, who was twisting her hands together. “I was just stripping the bed so I could wash the sheets, and I knocked it down and kicked the shade off by accident – I don’t think it’s broken, though. I’m sorry.” She bit her lip. Jon shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Here, I’ll help you with the bed.”

“Oh, no, I can handle it – ” Sansa began. Jon shook his head harder.

“It’ll go faster with two people,” he said. Sansa hesitated for a moment, but stepped aside.

“Sorry,” she murmured again when Jon replaced the lamp on the table. He waved it off curtly as he strode over to the dresser and snatched the lampshade from the wall behind it. Sansa, who had bent down to retrieve it, drew away quickly and returned to the bed. Jon rejoined her once he had fixed the lamp, and they worked together in silence until they yanked too hard on the mattress pad and tumbled simultaneously onto the floor.

“You all – ” Jon’s inquiry was cut off by a giggle from Sansa, and then another. He sat stock still watching her shoulders shake and her eyes crinkle for several moments before he realized his mouth was wide open. He shut it at once and felt himself flush. When he looked back at Sansa, she was on her feet and holding out her hand to him. One corner of his mouth twisted sheepishly, and he took her hand without thinking of it and scrambled to his feet.

“Sorry,” they both said at the same time. Sansa’s lips twitched, and Jon felt half the blood in his body rush to his face. He’d always found it next to impossible to keep from responding when she smiled like that, especially now, after all she’d been through. Not, of course, that he’d helped matters by being an ass to her.

“Look, Sansa – ” Jon’s thumb rubbed across the knuckle of hers before he could stop himself. His flush deepened, and Sansa stared at him, clearly taken aback. At just that moment, however, both of their phones rang. Their hands broke apart at once to reach into their pockets, and they uttered hasty twin “hellos” as Jon straightened up and made for the doorway, leaving Sansa in the privacy of her room.

“Jon Snow?” inquired the crisp female voice at the other end of Jon’s call. That raised both of his eyebrows. Nobody but his friends, family members, and a few trusted publicity handlers had that number, and none of them ever used his full name.

“Who’s asking, please?” He hated to sound rude, but withholding his proper name from a caller he didn’t know had become a necessary habit after two of his prior phone numbers had leaked somehow. The tabloid reporters had had a field day spamming his phones.

“My name is Alys Karstark,” answered the woman. She hadn’t missed a beat. “I’m calling on behalf of Sansa Stark, who gave me this number. I apologize if I have the wrong one.”

“Oh, no.” Jon’s hand stopped halfway down its trajectory through his curls. “No, this is Jon Snow. Thanks for calling.”

“Yes. Is this a convenient time to talk?”

Jon strode into the room across the hallway from Sansa’s and shut the door. “Yes, it is.”

Five minutes later, they had arranged for Jon to deliver the remnants of Gram’s vase to Alys’s studio in Leeds for her inspection. Jon headed back across the hall after he hung up, but Sansa’s room was empty of both her and the sheets. Jon padded downstairs to find her setting the dial on the washing machine.

“Really – well, thanks,” he said, cutting himself off before he could remonstrate her yet again for cleaning another part of his apartment. Seeing that he would not, Sansa nodded.

“That was the car shop that called, by the way,” she informed him. “They’ll be done with the car about 4:00 this afternoon.”

Jon returned her nod. “Good,” he replied. “I’ll drive you.”

Sansa opened her mouth, no doubt to protest once again that she could take a cab, but she closed it without saying a word. Neither of them spoke for several moments. Then Sansa’s hands began twisting around each other. Jon scratched his head.

“Oh – that was Alys Karstark on my line,” he said. Thank God he’d remembered something that would end that silence. “She agreed to look at my gram’s vase.” Another pause, not quite as long, ensued. Jon raked his hand through his curls again.

“I appreciate you giving her my name,” he said finally. “Thanks for doing that.”

A wan smile flickered across Sansa’s face. “It was the least I could do,” she replied. “I’m only glad I met her before. She’s supposed to be the best. I’m sure – I hope she’ll be able to do something lovely with it.”

Jon nodded. He had his doubts about even Alys Karstark’s ability to repair Gram’s shattered vase, but voicing them would do no good for either Sansa or himself. Saying anything more about her at the moment would do no good – or Jeyne Poole, or anybody else that would get either of them upset again, especially not now, so close to when Sansa had to leave. He stole a glance at the clock on the shelf above the dryer. She had only a few hours left, which was far too much time for her to spend in any more pain than she’d already gone through. It was too much time that could be stuffed with awkward silences and arguing and feet in their mouths and longing for numbness. But it was still far too little time to spend with Sansa.

His stomach rumbled, snapping him out of his reverie. Not five seconds later, Sansa’s stomach echoed it. Both of them snorted, Sansa much more gracefully, and Jon gestured to the kitchen.

“Muffin?” he asked, and off they went.

As it turned out, Sansa wanted more than just one muffin, and so did Jon. Over the next hour and a half, they devoured more than half the pan’s worth while completing the Yorkshire Post’s crossword puzzle. They alternated between silent and spoken guesses, but as they got toward the end of the puzzle, Sansa was doing more of hers volubly, as had always been her wont during their marriage. By the time Jon returned from the laundry room just in time to grin at a new text message from Sam, Jon saw the ghost on her face of the bemused smile she’d sported so many times before, when he and Sam had made some breakthrough on one of their sound projects or he’d beaten his own high score at Tetris.

“Hmmm?” She raised her eyebrows, then flushed when Jon looked up from his phone. “I mean – if it’s not prying.”

Jon shook his head and gestured to the phone.

“Just Sam,” he said, “wanting to play Scrabble. Gilly’s out with a friend, and Sammy’s at nursery school.”

“Oh, he’s coming here?” Sansa’s smile broadened. “That’s good; you haven’t seen him in a while, right?”

Jon shook his head. “No, the online version,” he said, and began to tap a reply to Sam. “I’m telling him some other time.”

Sansa’s brow furrowed. “Why?” she asked. “Don’t put him off on my account. You two used to go at your old board set at all hours. You should have some fun with him.”

Jon raised an eyebrow at her. “The way I remember it,” he replied, “you did join us. And usually beat us.” He tilted his head. “You know, you could play together with us if you wanted to. Or just help me beat Sam. He’s a sight better at this than I am.”

The corners of Sansa’s lips turned up, if only a little. “Perhaps,” she said. “After all, I’ve still got your laptop in my room.”

Jon spent the next hour and a half at the kitchen table, alternately replying to e-mails, reviewing a computer program he and Sam had written for one of Jon’s sound machines, and getting beaten silly at Scrabble by both Sam and Sansa, the latter of whom had curled up on the living room couch with his spare laptop after vacuuming out the room she had used. Jon’s phone rang in the middle of the second round. He frowned and picked up when he saw that it was Leigh Harris.

“Jon.” Leigh’s tone was apologetic. “Sorry to have to let you know, but you’ve got photographic company again outside the gates.”

Jon swore silently. “How many this time?” he asked. He’d occasionally gotten a few paparazzi camped outside the boundaries of the gated community, but Leigh sounded almost ruffled, which probably meant there were more of them than usual. Apparently the snow had settled enough for them to slither out of their holes again.

“I’d say a couple of dozen at least,” Leigh replied. “The guards are on shift, but if you’re going out – ”

Jon sighed and rattled off a few more internal curses. “I’ll take care of it, Leigh,” he said. “I appreciate your letting me know.”

“Sure thing,” replied Leigh. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Right,” said Jon. “Talk to you later, Leigh.”

His finger stabbed the disconnect button so hard he felt a jolt to the pad of his thumb. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Then he swore again, this time aloud.

Sansa. She needed to get her car and go back to Leeds. Of all the bloody days, he thought, and shoved both hands through his hair. Bloody hell.

He picked his phone back up and dialed Tormund Giantsbane’s number. He had first hired the burly, bearded redhead to serve as his driver and bodyguard just after he and Sansa had split up and his friends had insisted it was high time he had both. Jon, who despised most of the trappings of celebrity, had always been reluctant to hire long-term assistants of any type, but his dislike for the paparazzi had outweighed his resistance. And a good thing too: Tormund had given Jon not only first-rate security, but also pizza, a listening ear, and an occasional unfiltered verbal kick when he deemed that a particularly deep period of what he called Jon’s “whining brooder” had gone on long enough, and the two had become fast friends. As Jon could have predicted, Tormund answered his phone on the first ring.

“Going adventuring in the snow, Snow?” he asked, guffawing. Jon rolled his eyes.

“Glad you survived, too, Tormund,” he replied. “Look, if it was me I wouldn’t bother you, but Leigh says I’ve got a couple dozen paps outside the gates, and S – I have a friend here who needs to get back home out of town as soon as her car’s fixed, which could be any minute.”

Tormund grunted. “She someone they’ll recognize?”

Jon ran another hand through his curls. “Yeah,” he answered. “She didn’t come with her security, though. They’re back home. Where she lives.” Not that Sansa had ever mentioned personal security guards, but she had less of an aversion than Jon to working with assistants, so he assumed she’d have guards. He didn’t want to think about the idea of her not having any.

“Snow? You there?”

Jon cleared his throat. “Yeah, Tormund. Look, if you’re in the middle of something, take your – ”

“Time,” the other man finished. “You’re just lucky I’m not in the middle of Hawaii, Snow.”

Jon snorted. Tormund hated any temperature warm enough to make him take off his leather jacket. “Nice try.”

Tormund chortled. “Figured I’d give it a shot. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Thanks, Tormund.” Jon let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Don’t kill yourself speeding here.”

“I will, Snow,” replied Tormund and hung up.

“Jon?”

The sound of Sansa’s voice just behind him made Jon whirl around so quickly that he bashed his elbow against the table. He winced as the force of the blow jolted up his funny bone.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry!” Sansa clapped one hand over her mouth and brushed the other against his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jon! Are you OK?”

Jon rubbed his elbow and nodded. “Yeah,” he eventually ground out. “Just hit the funny bone is all.”

“Do you want some ice?” Sansa asked, and Jon shook his head out of habit before realizing that ice would probably help matters quite a bit.

“I’ll get it,” he said, making to rise, but Sansa’s hand stiffened against his shoulder before he could get up.

“No, I’ve got it,” she said, and within thirty seconds she had retrieved an ice pack from the freezer and offered it to him. It occurred belatedly to Jon that she had probably learned the location of every ice pack he owned when she’d been nursing him through his fever.

“Thanks,” he murmured. Sansa only shook her head.

“I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that,” she said. “I just – I heard you on the phone, and I wanted to say I can get a cab to pick me up again. You don’t have to let them see you or bother your security. If I can manage to dodge them just far enough out of the gate to get picked up – ”

Jon swung both legs off his chair. “Oh, the hell no you won’t,” he snapped. Sansa’s eyebrows rose at his sudden vehemence, but she did not flinch as Jon straightened to his full height.

“I’m not taking bloody chances with you like that, Sansa,” he growled, willing his voice to lower. “Besides, I don’t trust some random cab driver who might care more about getting on the cover of some tabloid himself than do his bloody job. And Tormund’s got experience driving around people like that. He’s a sight better than any cab driver you can think of, and I trust him with my life.” He paused, half expecting Sansa to continue protesting, but she only gave him a resigned sigh. Jon nodded.

“So we’ll get you back to Leeds,” he began, and – ”

That earned him two sharply raised eyebrows. “I’m not asking you or your driver to take me back to Leeds, Jon,” Sansa replied. “He’s doing enough by taking me to the shop. I’ll be fine to drive home.”

Jon shook his head emphatically. “Not with dozens of paps following you,” he returned, “like some Princess Di thing – ”

Sansa snorted. “I’m hardly the target Princess Di was,” she said, “and I’m not exactly drunk. I’ll be fine, Jon.”

“The hell if I’ll risk that,” Jon snapped. “I’m not about to take a chance anything might happen to you. Yesterday was more than bloody close enough.”

Sansa huffed. “I know that,” she replied. She sounded as though she had had to say it five times already. “And I get that I got careless, and I’m sorry, but at this point we’re in broad daylight – ” she pushed at the index finger of her left hand with its twin on her right – “and I’m not sleepy – ” she pushed her middle finger back against the first one – “and again, I’m hardly important enough for them to follow all the way out of York.” She ticked her ring finger off to match the others. “And if they get a couple pictures of me, they get them. It’s hardly the first time.”

She looked so resigned. Jon sighed and shoved a hand halfway through his hair so that the heel of it was resting on his forehead.

“Look,” he said, his voice gentling, “I get yesterday was an accident. It wasn’t your fault you fell asleep. But if anything went wrong today – ” He shook his head, trying to will away the image of Sansa’s crumpled car, this time with her in it. “I’m not risking that. Sorry if that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I’m making sure you get home in one piece.”

Sansa sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, Jon – ”

She was interrupted by the ring of her phone. Jon turned and padded into the living room to give her privacy. She followed not long after.

“That was the car shop,” she said. “My car’s ready for me to pick up.”

Jon nodded. “Good,” he said, although he felt anything but. “Tormund should be here any minute, and – ”

Sansa opened her mouth again, presumably to protest, but Jon’s phone buzzed. One glance at the screen told him Tormund had just been let through the front gate of the apartment community, which was now swarming with at least three dozen paparazzi, according to the red-bearded giant. Jon swore under his breath.

“Speak of the devil,” he said, and strode off to the front door. He opened it to find a grinning Tormund on the other side.

“Good God, you look awful, Snow,” said Tormund after letting Jon out of another of the bone-crunching embraces he was so fond of inflicting on the shorter man. “Maybe you should accompany her out of town, eh? How about Hawaii?”

Jon rolled his eyes. His mouth opened to reply, but shut when he saw Tormund’s eyes glance between him and widen like saucers. Sure enough, when he turned around, they were both facing Sansa. There was no way Tormund wouldn’t recognize her. Jon grimaced. There was also probably no way Tormund wouldn’t dislike her, although he was more than professional enough to protect Sansa in whatever way Jon asked.

Still, Jon grimaced again before turning to Sansa. “Sansa, this is Tormund Giantsbane,” he said. “He handles security for me. Tormund, this is – ” He stopped his tongue just in time. The words my wife had almost rolled off of it. Jon flushed. The last time he had introduced Sansa to anyone, she had indeed been his wife. That had still been over three years ago, however.

“Sansa Stark,” Jon finished. Tormund’s eyebrows had almost reached his hairline, but Sansa had the good grace to offer him her hand.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Giantsbane,” she said. Tormund only waited a moment before he returned the gesture.

“Pleasure,” he replied. He dropped her hand and turned to look severely at Jon, who narrowed his eyes and shook his head. If Tormund wanted to let him have it over Sansa’s visit, he could bloody well wait until after she’d gotten home safely.

“Anyway,” he said, “Sansa’s car’s ready to be picked up at the shop.” He tilted his head toward the front door. “You said about three dozen paps?”

Tormund suddenly all business, cleared his throat and nodded. “Aye,” he replied. “You thinking mine or the Escalade?”

Jon, who had already decided that his larger SUV would be safer for Sansa than would Tormund’s smaller Range Rover, nodded. “Escalade,” he answered at once.

Tormund returned his nod. “Right, then,” he said, and turned to acknowledge Sansa again. “Let me know when you kids are ready.”

“I’m ready,” Sansa replied, then turned to Jon. “Except for your laptop; I’ll grab it from the room. Do you want it in yours?”

Jon shook his head. “Just leave it in the living room,” he replied. “I’ll deal with it.”

Sansa nodded and made a beeline out of the hallway. Jon turned to the closet to grab his coat. Tormund cleared his throat.

“Not now, Tormund,” Jon growled. “And it’s not what it looks like.”

Tormund merely grunted. Jon glared at him.

“She was in a car accident when it snowed last week,” Jon continued. “She saved a bunch of people’s lives. Least I could do was have her here.”

Tormund raised an eyebrow. “A week, huh? I suppose I should be impressed you two didn’t kill each other.”

Jon shook his head. “No,” he answered. “We wouldn’t – ” He sighed. Neither Tormund nor anybody else needed to hear all the bloody details.

“We can behave like civilized people,” he said shortly, seeing the other man’s eyebrow rise even further. “And she’s – she understands more of what happened now. We both do.”

Tormund’s eyebrows relaxed after a moment. When he realized Jon would say no more, he nodded. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when Sansa strode back into the hallway.

“The laptop’s on the coffee table,” she told Jon. “And I stacked the dishes in the kitchen; I really could wash them before I leave.”

Jon shook his head. “I’ll take care of them,” he replied. “Besides, Dale bloody Earnhardt over hear can’t wait to get his hands on my car.”

Sansa graced Tormund with a wan smile. “Thank you, Mr. Giantsbane,” she said. “I really appreciate your taking the time to do this.”

Tormund shook his head. “I do what I’m told by Pretty Boy here, Ms. Stark,” he replied gruffly. Jon rolled his eyes, but Sansa chuckled.

“Just ‘Sansa’ is fine, Mr. Giantsbane,” she said. Tormund gave her a brief nod and turned to Jon.

“All right, Snow,” he said. “Let’s put that pretty toy of yours to work.”

Five minutes later, Jon and Sansa had settled into the back seats of Jon’s sleek black Escalade, with a grinning Tormund up front revving the engine. He backed slowly out of the carport and turned up the winding main drive out of the community. When they took the steep turn near the end of it, Jon saw that Tormund had told the truth. If anything, even more paps had huddled next to the fence after the bodyguard’s arrival.

“Bloody hell,” Jon muttered as his friend slowed to a stop to allow the complex’s security guards to open the gate. That was when the lens flashes began peppering the crowd around it. Jon winced, ducked his head down, and threw an arm in front of his eyes. His glance darted to the right, where he saw Sansa doing the same.

God, he’d forgotten how much he hated paps. And how many beers he owed Tormund. Jon owned five cars and considered himself a pretty daft hand at driving each one of them, but Tormund had a knack for maneuvering in tight corners that Jon could not hope to match.

The Escalade began crawling again, and Jon darted a glance out the window, where he found himself facing a camera not two feet from the vehicle. Its lens flashed full in front of his face. He swore again. Once his eyes had recovered a bit, he looked over at Sansa. She was still leaning forward covering her face with one arm. The other was braced against her knees, allowing her to hold her back remarkably straight. Jon felt a stab of reminiscent pride. They’d been accosted countless times by paparazzi over the course of their relationship – well, both of their relationships, counting the time they’d spent together as teenagers – and Sansa had always said she’d be damned if she’d let the paps make her slouch or slump, as if living, breathing, or walking the face of the earth at his side were anything to be ashamed of.

“Hang on.” Tormund’s rumbling voice yanked Jon back to the present. “Might be a bit touchy here.”

Jon instinctively reached for the support handle just above the door at his side. Next to him, Sansa reached over to check her seatbelt.

That was when the vehicle lurched to a sudden stop. Jon’s seatbelt stopped his forward trajectory, but Sansa’s had apparently not fastened correctly, because she tumbled out of her seat and onto the floor, crashing against the front passenger seat in the process. She cried out just as a whoop sounded from just outside her window. Another camera flash went off from somewhere above Jon’s head. As he frantically pulled his seatbelt loose, he caught the grinning face of the camera’s owner. The dick had clearly just gotten a shot of Sansa sprawled out on the Escalade’s floor. Jon wanted nothing more than to throw open the door, knock the asshole out cold, and pitch his camera off into the nearest snowdrift. Instead, he swore loudly, hurtled forward onto the floor, and grabbed Sansa off of it.

“Sansa!” he shouted. She winced and grabbed her left elbow. “Sansa, are you OK?”

She merely blinked at him. Jon’s eyes widened as quickly as his heart was racing. He released her left shoulder and reached up to cup the side of her head.

“Sansa, can you hear – ” he began, but was cut off by Tormund’s shouted warning. The Escalade shot forward like a bat out of hell. Jon curled his arms around Sansa as he lurched backward against the passenger seat. He braced his feet on the floor to keep them as steady as possible, cupping the back of her head protectively as he did so.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” hollered Tormund from the front seat. The Escalade slowed, and the engine quieted to a steady hum. “You two OK?”

“Fine,” Sansa gasped, lifting her head off of Jon’s shoulder. Her body was quivering – or maybe, he realized, he was just feeling himself quivering. He guessed it was both.

“Good,” he said over his shoulder. Tormund, eyes still trained on the road, gave them a thumbs-up. Jon turned back to Sansa. His other hand slipped upward to hold the other side of her head.

“You sure you’re OK?” he asked, and stroked a stray strand of red hair behind Sansa’s ear. She nodded. Jon looked down at her elbow, which she was still cradling.

“What happened to your arm?” he asked.

Sansa grimaced. “I banged it against the seat when I rolled out of mine,” she replied. “My fault – I should have checked the stupid seatbelt before we reached the gate.”

Jon shook his head at once. “It was the fucking paps’ fault you fell,” he growled. “Especially that fucker at your window.” He clenched his jaw to keep from yelling about what he wanted to do to the wanker. Sansa did not need that.

It still didn’t stop him from wanting to march all the way back home and knocking the guy’s lights out.

“It’s probably just a bruise,” said Sansa. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Jon searched her face for any sign that she was battling pain that could only come from a more serious injury. He could find none, but then it had been so long since the time he’d awakened to that face and those wide blue eyes every day.

“Do you want to go to a doctor first,” he asked, “before the car shop? Just in case something’s broken?”

Sansa shook her head. “No,” she said. Jon must have looked as unconvinced as he felt, because she hastened to add, “Remember when broke my ankle when we were doing reshoots for Swords and Stones?”

Jon nodded. While filming one of her final retakes for the first miniseries they’d done together, back before they had begun dating, Sansa had hit a bad pothole while running across the rugged Scottish terrain and twisted her ankle. The director had insisted she go to the nearest hospital, where X-rays had confirmed she’d broken it. That had been the first time Jon had gotten her flowers. He’d meant them purely as a gesture of encouragement, but she’d blushed all the same.

“Well, this isn’t anything like that,” Sansa finished. Jon stared at her for a few more moments before he finally nodded.

“All right,” he said. “But you didn’t hurt anything else?”

Sansa shook her head. “No,” she said. She narrowed her eyes in concern. “What about you?”

“No, I’m all right,” Jon replied at once, shaking his own head. Sansa nodded but said nothing. Jon wanted to hold her as tightly as he could without bothering her elbow and tell Tormund to drive them all straight to Leeds. God knew how many paps they’d find at the car shop.

But he could not do that without upsetting Sansa further, and he could not find anything to say. Instead, he cleared his throat and offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. One corner of Sansa’s mouth twitched, but she said nothing. Jon felt his cheeks begin to redden and glanced back down at her elbow.

“Well, I don’t want you to have to drive all that way yourself if it makes your elbow feel worse,” he finally said. “I’ll drive you home, and Tormund can follow us to take me back here. Unless you’d rather ride with him.” Please don’t say you want him to drive you.

Sansa sighed. Jon expected her to protest the idea. Instead, she asked, “You don’t need to be anywhere?”

“No.” Jon shook his head at once. Sansa nodded slowly.

“All right,” she said, her voice quiet. She bit her lip with a little more force than usual, which meant she was in a good deal of pain. Jon felt a twinge shoot through his chest.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” he muttered. “I forgot – Tormund!” He turned to look at his friend. “Is there a water bottle up there? And some Tylenol? Maybe in the glove compartment?”

“Hang on,” said Tormund, reaching for the glove compartment. A white bottle clattered out, and the bodyguard reached out just in time to seize it and pitch it in Jon’s direction. As Jon reached to catch it, his eye caught the water bottle, which was sitting on top of the compartment between the two front seats. He leaned over, grabbed it, and offered it to Sansa, who rewarded him with a wan smile.

“Thanks,” she said. Jon popped the lid of the Tylenol bottle and held it over her hand.

“Two or three?” he asked.

“Three, please,” she said, and Jon complied at once. Sansa gulped the pills down with a mouthful of water and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Jon murmured, but Sansa shook her head.

“Not your fault,” she replied. “For all I know, somebody might have recognized me at the diner or the car shop the other night and figured out where I was staying from there.”

She pushed in vain at the same strand of hair Jon had handled before, which had slipped out of place again. Before she could try again, Jon had reached out and gently tucked it back where it belonged. Sansa’s eyes widened, but before she could say anything, the Escalade ground to a halt and shut off.

“We’re here, kids,” boomed Tormund. It was only then that Jon realized he had been holding onto Sansa the entire time. He released her at once.

“Anyone follow us, Tormund?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“Not for now,” his friend informed him. Jon opened the door and helped Sansa out of the vehicle.

“Thanks,” she murmured, and strode toward the door of the shop. Jon darted over and opened it for her before she reached it. Sansa’s lips twitched again.

“Thanks,” she repeated. Jon walked back over to the Escalade, where Tormund was standing.

“You good to follow us back to Leeds?” he asked. Tormund merely raised an eyebrow.

“Long as I get to drive your pretty car,” he said. He glanced at the door of the car shop and opened his mouth, but shut it again. Jon, who did not want to give him another chance to open it, headed indoors.

It look less than ten minutes for Sansa to pay her bill and retrieve her car keys, which she handed to Jon without much hesitation. Fortunately, they exited the shop with nary a photographer in sight.

“You know,” Sansa said when they reached Jon’s Escalade, “you don’t have to take me all the way to Leeds.” Jon immediately opened his mouth to protest, but she beat him to it.

“I should have thought of it before,” she said, shaking her head, “but I forgot – anyway, on the chance we pick up any paps on the way, I’d rather we meet with Brienne before we hit Leeds. My security guard,” she added, seeing the questions on Jon’s and Tormund’s faces. “The fewer that know where I live, the better.”

Jon could not argue with that, although his chest tightened a bit at the thought of not seeing Sansa safely to her own door. But the longer they sat out in the open and talked, the greater the chance they’d be seen, and Sansa definitely did not need that, even if her pain was not etched into her face as it had been right when she’d injured her elbow.

“All right,” he said. “Where would you like to go?”

A few minutes and a quick phone call from Sansa to her security guard later, she and Jon were ensconced in the front seat of Sansa’s car. Tormund and the Escalade followed them as Jon pulled out onto the street.

Sansa did not speak during the ride to the restaurant where she’d arranged to meet with her security guard. Nor did Jon, whose tight grip on the steering wheel matched the tightness of his focus on the road ahead of him. Occasionally, he glanced into his rearview mirror to see Tormund frowning at him. No doubt the other man was getting impatient at Jon’s refusal to budge over the speed limit, but Jon would be damned if he got them pulled over, or, worse yet, into an accident. His friend could rib him all he wanted and drive back to York like a bat out of hell for all Jon cared, as long as Sansa got to Brienne safely.

Eventually, his GPS chirped at him at the exact same moment Sansa’s soft voice instructed him to move a lane over on the highway. She smiled at the unintended coordination. Jon glanced at her long enough to see the lack of pain in it, and silently thanked God for whoever had invented Tylenol.

Sansa and the GPS both gave excellent directions, and within a few minutes Jon had pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and parked two spaces over from a shiny black Lexus. As he did, the driver’s side door opened, and a tall woman in a neat pantsuit and short blonde hair stepped out.

“That her?” Jon asked, and Sansa nodded. Only then did Jon unlock the doors. Not that it was anywhere near likely that some pap or other impostor had stolen the vehicle belonging to Sansa’s security guard, but Jon would not take any remote chance he didn’t have to. He allowed himself a derisive laugh when Sansa’s back was turned. How pathetic was it that an actor had to tell himself he’d been watching too much television lately?

“Jon,” Sansa said, turning back in his direction, “this is Brienne Tarth. Brienne, this is – Jon Snow.”

She hesitated just as he had done when introducing her to Tormund. Jon grimaced internally. No doubt Brienne was far less disposed to like him than Tormund had been to like Sansa.

His chest muscles tightened again and even more painfully. Over the past week, he’d gotten used to everyone around him believing that he’d never been unfaithful to Sansa, even if “everyone” only meant Sansa herself. That, however, did not keep him from reaching out to shake Brienne Tarth’s hand.

“Good to meet you,” he said politely. The woman gave him a thin smile and nodded.

“Likewise, Mr. Snow,” she said. Her voice was clipped, professional, and every bit as tight as her grip. Ouch.

Luckily, they were interrupted by the sound of someone’s throat being cleared very loudly. Jon turned to see Tormund standing at his side, appraising the woman as intently as he did any stranger who approached Jon. The woman returned his gaze with an icy one of her own. Jon was only too glad to release her hand.

“Ms. Tarth, this is Tormund Giantsbane, my security,” he said. “Tormund, this is Brienne Tarth, Sansa’s security.”

In the time it took him to make the introduction, Tormund’s gaze had softened from appraisal to something like admiration. Jon, who had seen perhaps two people earn that kind of approval from his guard over the course of their three-year friendship, could only stare. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw Tormund raise an eyebrow and give Sansa’s guard a slow grin.

“Very pleased to meet you, Ms. Tarth,” he said. His smile only widened when Brienne Tarth’s eyes narrowed at him.

“The same, Mr. Giantsbane,” she replied. If her grip surprised Tormund, he did not show it.

“Call me Tormund, Ms. Tarth,” he said, and winked. Brienne Tarth’s expression did not change. After a moment she dropped his hand and turned to Sansa.

“Dacey will be right out,” she said, and Sansa nodded. “She’ll take your car, if you don’t mind.”

Sansa shook her head. “No, go ahead,” she replied. As if on cue, a young woman as short and brunette as Brienne Tarth was tall and blond approached them. Sansa introduced her as Dacey Mormont, another of her security team.

“No relation to Lyanna,” she added, seeing the question on Jon’s face.

Brienne Tarth turned her back on Tormund, who had clearly been about to say something, and turned to speak to Dacey. Sansa was smirking at him when Jon turned back to her.

“I think your security has taken a liking to mine,” she said. Jon rolled his eyes.

“I apologize for him,” he said, “to both of you. I’d trust him with my life, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t act like a cocky arse.” He nodded toward Tormund, whose shoulders had deflated just the slightest bit.

Sansa shook her head. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Brienne’s dealt with worse than that. If she really wanted to let him have it, she’d find a way.”

Jon’s lips twisted despite themselves. He had no doubt that Brienne Tarth could find a way to let anyone have it if she deemed it necessary.

A gust of wind whipped through the gap between the vehicles. Sansa shuddered, and Jon reached over to steady her. Her eyes softened and then widened. She looked like she might say something. She looked like she might throw her arms around him. She looked nervous and hesitant and angelic. Jon could not tear his eyes away from her, even when he heard Brienne Tarth and Dacey Mormont approaching them.

“Please let me know when you get home,” he murmured, and after a long moment Sansa nodded, her eyes still boring into his.

“You too,” she whispered back. The knot in Jon’s chest returned with a vengeance. He could not have said anything, even if he had known what to say. Instead he released her shoulders and moved his hands to cup the sides of her face. His thumbs rubbed her temples as he leaned in to press his lips to her forehead. The warm scent of cinnamon and jasmine and Sansa overwhelmed him, and for several heady moments he felt nothing but her the heat of her body and the smoothness of her forehead and the softness of her hair, and he heard nothing but the dancing rhythm of her breath.

When he drew back, Sansa had closed her eyes. He doubted his ability to let go of her if she opened them, so he turned, thanked both of her guards, and stalked off to the Escalade.

“Don’t bloody start, Tormund,” he growled when the other man entered the vehicle grinning like a Cheshire cat. Tormund raised both hands in mock surrender, but he kept that stupid smile pasted to his face the entire way back to York.

It was not until they were almost there that Jon realized he had never bid Sansa goodbye.

#jon x sansa #jonsa fanfiction #jonxsansaff #jonsansaff #multi-chapter fics #my writing #angst #drama #hurt/comfort #modern au #tw: divorce #fic: the snow

16 notes · View notes

blooblooded · 6 years

Text

Marty calls Lee a creep.

8 pages that I dumped out today. Bad quality, ghhhh this is basically all dialogue but whatever.

I hate this because Kassidy is being affected by Lee’s bullshit “you have to like me’ psychic powers and it makes her think stuff she normally wouldn’t. Also Kassidy cracks me up because she’s such a passive observer while everyone else is screaming at each other. She’s just...a dumb person and I love her.

Lee is so hostile, even towards Casey, and nobody realizes it :(

“Ayda,” the little blue Marty hologram which shone above Ayda’s state-of-the-art comm looked around shiftily. His squeaky pubescent voice was suddenly more serious. It made Kassidy look at him, when she usually paid him no attention. “Who is that guy over there?” He had noticed Lee for the first time, apparently.

“Kip’s friend,” said Ayda. She scrolled idly on her tablet. It looked like she was shopping for a pair of new shoes on a website where everything was more expensive than all of Kassidy’s shoes put together. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“Ew,” said Kassidy, who had no intention of engaging in ‘girl talk’ with Ayda. Talking with Ayda already made her feel like she was on the verge of having a nasty joke played on her. Talking with Ayda about boys she thought were cute-- a subject that Kassidy had no authority on-- made her even more awkward and nervous.

“Uhhhh,” said Marty. “Ayda...”

“I mean, I don’t like guys who are skinny like that,” Ayda continued, still scrolling mindlessly through pages of shoes. “Or like, intellectuals, you know? Too intense.”

Kassidy began to brainstorm ways to escape. This was not a conversation she knew how to participate in. Even if she got up off the couch and away from Ayda’s presence, she had nobody else to hang out with. Esther and Rosaline were being gross and couple-y. She did not want to go talk to a group of Freshmen. Kip, Lee, and Casey were all smarter than she was and arguing about things she did not understand. That left Ayda and Marty and being stuck gossipping with them on the couch.

Marty’s expression grew more suspicious as he watched Lee. Kip’s cool friend was leaning back against the kitchen counter, propped on his elbows. He was smiling at Casey as she tried to defend her family’s wealth to him. Kip suddenly chimed in, saying something that made Lee laugh and briefly touch his chest. Marty frowned.

“How old is that guy?” he demanded. “He has a beard.”

“Way to be beard-phobic, Marty,” said Ayda. She selected a pair of green high heels which cost 250 credits, buying them with a few clicks. That was nauseating.

Before the conversation could disintegrate into Ayda and Marty trying to out-insult each other as it always did, Kip bounded over to the couch. It had been a long time since Kassidy had seen him look so happy. His smile was huge. He had so much excess energy that he could not stop moving. “Do you guys want pizza?” he asked. He squeezed his body down onto the couch, between Ayda and his sister, and put his arms around both of them. “Ma messaged me, she’s not coming home until past midnight. I’m starving. Hi, Marty.”

Ayda giggled like she always did when Kip touched her. Kassidy rolled her eyes. “Who’s paying? There’s 11 of us.” she asked her brother.

“Casey offered to.”

“Ok. Only if we get stuffed crust though.” She was very hungry. Their mother had forgotten to do the shopping again since she was working 16 hour days now, so there was nothing in the fridge except for beer and an old jar of salsa. Kassidy had been surviving out of the vending machines located outside of the apartment building. “And I want breadsticks too, if Casey is buying.”

“What do you want, A?” For all his faults, Kip was always so thoughtful when it came to the needs of others. He always asked. He always checked in.

“I just want a salad,” she said, looking at him with those big brown eyes that seemed capable of hypnotizing almost anyone into believing she was not annoying and vapid. “I’m on a diet.”

“Ha!” snorted Marty. “Nice try. Nobody is ever going to believe that.”

Ayda turned off her communicator and banished Marty from the social gathering. It was that easy, with long-distance friends. By blocking someone or ignoring their messages, a relationship could be ended swiftly. People stopped responding to each other, or they stopped going online. Those connections are by their nature ephemeral.

Of course, if Ayda tried to block Marty from her life, he would inevitably find a way to hack her devices and get back into her good graces. He was like a lonely, hungry dog; like the rest of them it was clear he had never nurtured any other friendships.

“Yikes,” said Kip, grimacing, and Ayda did not even have the decency to look embarrassed. “You two are brutal to one another.”

“Maybe,” said Ayda.

Kip flicked his sister on the arm. “Go ask Esther and Rosaline what they want.”

The possibility that she would open the door and walk in to see Esther with her hands up Rosaline’s shirt was very high. Kassidy did not need that image in her brain. She liked Rosaline a lot but it weirded her out that she was dating her best friend. She’d always figured that Esther and her would be single forever.

“You do it,” she said.

“OK!” Kip, who did not have room in his brain for thoughts about accidentally walking in on anyone getting frisky, bounced back up to his feet. He glanced back at the kitchen, where Lee and Casey were still talking passionately, as if making sure they were still there. He smiled goofily, then went to Kassidy’s room to find Esther. Even as he walked, he was tapping his fingers against each other, trying to get his excess energy out.

“Freak.” Ayda went back to scrolling on her tablet.

Suddenly Kassidy did not want to be around her anymore. Ayda was the meanest person she had ever met-- didn’t she realize that was the reason everyone at school hated her guts? At least Kassidy had the excuse of being ugly and awkward. She slid from the couch and walked to the kitchen.

She sat down at the table. Lee was sitting as well, but Casey still stood. Lee smiled at Kassidy. He had a friendly face that could border on smug. He showed his teeth when he smiled, and some of them were crooked; it was nice to be around a person who was not created perfect. “Good to see you joined us,” said Lee. “We’re getting pizza.”

Casey got close enough to Kassidy that she could smell her perfume: light and honey like. Even though she was dressed down in jeans and a simple t-shirt, she looked stylish enough to make Kassidy feel scruffy. “Yeah,” Casey said, her tone mocking. “I’m re-distributing my father’s wealth amongst the plebs.”

“First step’s always the hardest,” Lee joked.

“Oooh, yeah, you people just want us all to share the same toothbrushes and stand in line for bread instead of being able to order pizza.” Without asking permission, Casey started to braid Kassidy’s hair. Kassidy gulped and did not dare move, even though the other girl was very gentle. Whenever Casey touched her, Kassidy felt like she was going to throw up and her heart started to beat very fast. It wasn’t fear; she did not know what it was. “You need to stop straightening your hair, the ends are all damaged.”

There had been nobody to teach Kassidy about how to take care of her hair. Her mother’s was silky straight and black, so was Kip’s. She was stuck being frizzy and blonde and burning herself with the straightening iron. She only nodded, staring at a crumb on the table because she did not want to look at Casey.

Casey took a hairband off her wrist and tied the end of the braid. She moved her face close to Kassidy’s so she could survey her work from the front. “Pretty,” she said.

Kassidy wondered if she was going to pass out. Was she being mocked? She knew for a fact that she was not and would never be ‘pretty’. It was mean to call her that. It was doubly mean for a stunningly beautiful girl like Casey to call her that.

Seconds later, Kip slammed the door to Kassidy’s room and came back over to the kitchen. His face was pink. “Esther is such a psycho.”

“Awww, was she mean to you because you interrupted girlfriend time?” Casey leaned over to rest her elbows on the table and cupped her chin in her hands. Like Kip, she had boundless energy, but it did not manifest itself in the same frenetic way it did in him. It existed in her as a promise: at any moment she could spring. She was always so loose and relaxed but her muscles coiled beneath her dark skin. Every few minutes her gaze would shift over to her sister, always making sure that she was OK.

She was not like the other Artificials. Not that Kassidy was prejudiced, but you could always tell that there was something off about them, that there was something not quite right. All of the ones she had interacted with were deeply awkward and uncomfortable people. Sure they were engineered to be ‘perfect’, but on the inside there was always something that knew this person was not really supposed to exist. But Casey was different. She was so natural and confident in herself.

Instead of sitting on a chair, Kip boosted himself up onto the table and sat there cross-legged. His bulging eyes were a bit shiny, which indicated that his feelings were hurt from Esther saying something hurtful. Like Kassidy, he was not entirely happy with how Esther was paying more attention to her new girlfriend than to him, her lifelong friend. He itched his nose.

Casey used her comm to order the pizzas. She put it back in her pocket. “There,” she said. “Are you people happy now? I’m feeding you. I’m practically your mother now.”

“How would you know what a mother is?” Lee asked her, which was kind of a weird joke. He was cool and it was easy to forget that he was so much older than the rest of them. He had to be 22 or 23, since he was a Junior and Kip said that he started college late because he’d been stuck in the Youth Detention Center for a few years. Being incarcerated as a teen didn’t make someone bad-- after all, Kip had been held back a year because of violence as well-- but it was a little weird how he skirted around the reason he’d been put there.

The most important part of having a friend who was older, of course, was getting them to buy alcohol. Lee had promised to buy Kip and his friends some liquor one weekend in the near future, when Dana Nguyen was at work all night. He was really paranoid about getting caught, which was understandable.

Kip had a little crush on him. It was OK though, since he was 18 now and didn’t have a chance with a college guy. It was strange, Kassidy would have never approved of something like that until she met Lee. But just being around him made her understand things differently.

It was impossible not to like him.

They started arguing about politics again and Kassidy could not keep up. Something about how the Mayor was incompetent. She kind of liked Mayor Malena, but only because he was the only government person who was polite to her mother. He had a handsome face and his kid had died that year, but that was the extent of her knowledge. Politics were so boring. What was the point about arguing about something that was never going to change?

No, she had more important things to worry about, like surviving high school and not throwing up when she talked to Casey.

“The people have to have total control over the political system,” Kip was saying, wildly. Everything he did these days was wild.

“Yeah, the people,” said Casey. “The people who know what they’re doing, not the dirty, unwashed masses. There’s a good reason people like my Dad, Ms. Voorst, and Mr. Prospas have the power that they have. There’s an even better reason that people like you have no power at all.”

“Oh you are so close to making the connection…” said Lee, again with that weird little edge. The way that he watched Casey was strange but Kassidy could not put her finger on it.

“That reason is called ‘exploitation’, Cassiopeia!”

“My Dad isn’t exploiting anyone, Christopher.”

“Can you guys, like, stop yelling?” said Ayda from her nest on the couch. When she looked over at them, Kassidy felt the dark shadow return. “I’m trying to watch a video…”

Lee shrugged, laughed, and rubbed his forefinger and thumb on the areas that his mustache met his beard. When he laughed, Kassidy wanted to join in, even though she didn’t get what was funny.

Sometimes she wished she was a little smarter, just so that she could understand what people were talking about. Or if she was stupid and mean, like Ayda, then she wouldn’t care when she didn’t understand something.

The door to Kip’s bedroom opened and the twins came out, followed by Romeo Prospas. Speaking of awkward Artificials... Eddie and Evangeline were even more annoying now that they had entered high school. They kept trying to be individuals but ended up copying each other harder. Rome Prospas slunk behind them, perpetually nervous looking. He didn’t move normally; most 14 year old boys’ gaits are out of control but he slid along like he was wearing heelies. On his wrist was an even fancier comm than Ayda’s, and rising out of it was a little blue Marty-hologram.

Marty, clearly pleased with himself, looked at Ayda smugly as Rome passed her. Ayda gave him a dirty look that would have incapacitated him if he had been there in person. She hadn’t counted on someone as socially clueless as him having made another friend he could go to when she banished him.

“Why were you shouting?” demanded Evangeline, whose qualities of being high-strung and aggressive made her a natural spokesperson. She’d recently gotten bangs, which she believed made her look more grown up. They did not. “We’re doing homework.”

“I was shouting to specifically stop you from doing your homework,” said Kip. He got off the table so that he could pace around. He looked at the hologram, which was so lifelike that even Marty’s eyelashes were visible. “Hi Marty, again.”

Marty interested him. They’d only known each other for a couple of months, and already Kip would message Marty about stuff that didn’t have any connection to Ayda. He treated him like his own person instead of like a tag-along friend who wasn’t truly real. The idea that there was a whole wide world outside of Eden made Kip excited.

It was scary to think about. There could be people all over the world, not just in the Colonies. What were those people like? If they weren’t dangerous then why was Eden so sequestered?

“We ordered pizza, by the way.” Kip put his hand through Marty’s holographic head a couple of times. Marty glared at him.

“Thank you,” said Rome Prospas, which stopped everyone cold. Nobody said ‘thank you’ in this apartment without being sarcastic about it. Rome was a very polite boy, almost excessively so. He was unlike his violent older brother Ben in every way. Normally Kassidy wouldn’t want him in her home-- but a little while ago, she would not have wanted Casey and Ayda there either.

It all came back to connecting. It all came back to how only a little while ago, none of them had any friends.

“What kind of homework are you working on?” asked Lee. He got up from the table and poured himself a glass of water. He had only been to the apartment a couple times and he was already very comfortable there.

Well, comfortable as long as he knew that their mother wasn’t returning home any time soon.

“Grammar,” said Eddie, who was tired as usual and struggling to keep his eyes open. He rested his chin on his sister’s shoulder and she shoved him. “Ow…”

“I could help you. I’m majoring in journalism, I write for the student association paper.”

“Yeah, Lee’s a great writer,” Kip chimed in. Casey pointed at him from behind Lee’s back and mimed giving a blowjob. He turned red and gave her the finger.

Lee finished his glass of water. He took his glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on. They were not fashionable glasses, they made him look intellectual and slightly dorky. “Now I can read. I guess you three don’t know anything about having bad vision, huh? What about you, buddy? Are those yellow eyes just for show?”

Rome did not say anything. As well as being polite, he was quiet. He was the kind of kid who buttoned his shirts all the way up to the top. When Lee talked to him, again with that weird edge to his voice, he seemed to shrink. He kept his right wrist up at chest height so that Marty’s hologram was slightly in front of him.

“I’m just joking!” Lee adjusted his goofy glasses and then reached out to mess up Rome’s very neat hair.

The hologram-Marty frowned when he saw this. Kip was still messing with him and putting his hand through his pixels. It was like Kip could not help but be annoying. “Hey,” said Marty, loudly, directly towards Lee. “Quit being a creep.”

Everybody froze. Even Ayda looked up from her tablet, zeroing in on drama like she always did.

Behind the lenses of his glasses, Lee’s eyes got very wide. He kept smiling but it was not a friendly smile, it was shocked and awkward. He put up his hands, palms facing the hologram, in a universally placating signal. All of his smugness drained from his posture and Kassidy’s perception of him shifted. The way he held his shoulders was less cool and relaxed and more defensive. “What?” he asked. “Hi there. I didn’t notice you.”

“Great,” said Marty, with acerbic hostility. His shoulders were visible on the hologram too, and they were pulled up toward his ears. “Stop touching people, you creep. How old are you?”

“I’m 23,” said Lee.

Marty looked like he smelled something bad. His upper lip curled up. Suddenly, Kassidy grew irritated with him and did not know why. She had no investment in arguments that were not about her. But Marty’s soft childish face, looking as disgusted as it did, made her want to say something mean to him.

“What’s wrong, Marty?” Kip asked. For someone who liked to engage in conflicts so much, he was quick to intervene and try to mollify things when his friends were involved.

“That guy shouldn’t be hanging out with you. It’s weird.”

“Be nice, Marty!” said Ayda from the couch, shaking her head and rolling her beautiful cow-eyes.

Lee got a little closer to Marty. He bent down slightly. His eyebrows were raised in concern but his mouth kept smiling his crooked smile. He was not a threatening man and could not be threatening even if he wanted to. “How am I weird?” He said very softly and calmly, the way someone talks to a kid who is having a tantrum.

“Back away from me,” Marty demanded. “And stop touching people. You made Rome uncomfortable.”

“Did I make you uncomfortable?” Lee asked Rome.

Rome looked nervously back and forth. “No,” he said. Lee smiled at Marty.

For his part, Marty gritted his teeth and dug in, even though everyone’s attention was on him. “You keep touching Kip in weird ways too, which is creepy. Why are you hanging out alone with a bunch of teenagers on a Wednesday afternoon when you’re an adult man who’s like 10 years older than some of them? That isn’t allowed to happen where I’m from. What do you want? Because I can’t come up with a single normal reason for you to be here.”

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, Kip, with embarrassment and anger flashing across him, seized Rome’s wrist and turned off the communicator. Marty disappeared for the second time. It was unlikely that he would return for a day or so. That was that. It was so easy to get rid of him. Nobody said anything.

There was a lot to unpack in all of that, but Kassidy did not have the capacity to do so. She rarely even had the capacity to join conversations. It was all probably very disturbing, judging from the look on her brother’s face, but she did not think about that. So she sat at the table and thought about the pizza that she was going to eat while she idly played with the end of her braid.

She did not have to worry about that kind of stuff. Not yet.

#writing

0 notes

survey1000 · 6 years

Text

76. Your life isn’t yours if you constantly care about what others think.

What’s the latest you’ve woken up? How about the earliest? The latest I think was almost noon, and the earliest was a bit after midnight I think.

In general, what has the weather been like? Is this good or bad for you? It’s been pretty muggy lately, which sucks because I work in a coffee shop that doesn’t have a working AC ...

Have you been out for a meal? Where did you go and what did you eat? Not for a bit, but I think the last time was Subway.

Have you been under the influence of alcohol/drugs? Yup.

Have you spent more of your time indoors or outdoors? Indoors.

What’s the most interesting day you’ve had? How about the most boring? Good question, I think the most interesting was my high school graduation, and the most boring would have to be any slow day at work.

What’s the earliest you’ve gone to bed? How about the latest? The earliest I would say was around 7pm and the latest was a bit after 2am.

Have you gone shopping for anything aside from groceries in the past week? Yeah, Thursday I went to the mall and got a few different makeup things, and then I went to Staples to buy more instax film.

Have you discovered any new bands or TV shows that you like? No not lately.

Have you finished a book, or are you currently reading one? I just finished one a few days ago, and I have quite a few on the go still lol.

What’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to you? Not many things really.

Who have you spoken to most on the phone/online/by text? My mom I would think lol.

Do you actually think it’s gross to talk about body functions? If you’re not my friend lol.

Would you rather sleep alone or next to your SO? Well I can really only say alone lol.

Are you trying to forget about something? Always.

Have you ever sent a love letter? Nope.

When you look up at the sky do you ever NOT see a plane or vapor trail? Rarely lol.

Have you dated someone of another race? No, but to be fair I’ve only been in one relationship before.

Do you wear any shoes with holes because you can’t give them up? Not at the moment, but I have done this plenty of times before lol.

When you go out to breakfast, what do you order? Depends on where I go, but something with eggs.

Have you ever had a job that required a uniform? Yeah, that’s where I work now lol.

What are you most envious of? People who can find happiness wherever they go.

Would you rather have coffee, cocoa, tea, or soda? Pop, and I’m not much of a pop drinker either lol.

When you walk into your best friend’s room, what do you smell? Idk, them I guess? Lol.

Have you ever purposely broken something that belonged to a sibling? I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t put it past me though lol.

Do you have any hipster friends? Nope.

Have you ever worked at the same place as your best friend? No.

Do you take days off from shaving when you can get away with it? Always lol.

Has anyone ever baked you cookies? Yeah.

Do you ever wear socks with holes in them? I have, but I throw them out as soon as I realize the hole.

Is there anything hanging on your bathroom walls? I don’t think so.

If your SO agreed, would you want an open relationship? Oh fuck no.

Have you ever slept with three people in the same bed? When? Why? Yes, it was at a sleepover when I was younger, when we could all fit on the same bed haha.

Does your family regularly eat sit down meals together? No, the only time is when we plan a supper for an event, like Christmas, Easter, a birthday, etc.

Have you ever used the change counting machine at a store or mall? I have no idea what that is lol.

How do you dress when you’re not at work Usually in a t-shirt or a tank top, with leggings.

Tell me about the shirt you’re wearing? Its black with the Superman logo on it, and its from the men’s section from Warehouse One lol.

What was the first thing you thought this morning? Fuck... I don’t wanna go to work lol.

Are you wearing shorts? Nope.

Ever had a boy best friend? Yeah when I was little.

Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? If I’m in a relationship with him, then yes.

Do your parents actually knock on your door before entering your room? No lol.

Do you ‘dress to impress’? Sometimes, depending on where I’m going.

Have you ever thought a man over 40 was attractive? Yeah.

Would you rather get cash or a gift card? Depending on what store the gift card is from, if its from the bookstore, then I’d rather have the gift card lol.

Would you prefer to date someone taller, shorter, or the same height as you? Same height or taller.

Can you honestly say you’re okay right now? No.

What time did you get up today? A little bit before 5:30am.

Where does most of your family live? Nova Scotia, Canada.

What can’t you wait for? Tomorrow at 2pm, so I can go to the gym, and not have to worry about work the next day.

Are you ticklish? Some places.

What brand of digital camera do you own? I don’t have one. The only actual camera I have is the Instax mini 9.

Have you ever seen a Broadway show in New York? Nope.

How long is your hair? Maybe an inch and a half past my shoulders.

Do you like facial hair on a guy? If it’s not long, I like scruff better than an actual beard lol.

Have you ever tried the cinnamon challenge? Nope, and never plan to lol.

How long would it take to walk to the nearest McDonald’s? Less than 20 minutes.

Do you get drunk every weekend? No, I wouldn’t be able to afford that lol.

What did you do today? I worked for eight hours, and planned to go to the gym after until I realized I had left my gym sneakers and pants at home ...

Are you listening to music right now? No surprisingly, I have the TV on in the background.

Your last ex died today, how would you feel? I mean I’m not heartless, I would feel upset, but we were only going out for less than a week, and it was five years ago so I’m definitely not close to him.

Do you like maxi dresses? Yeah, I have one but that’s the only one I’ve seen that I like on me.

Have any organic makeup? I don’t think I do.

Do you worry about guys thinking you’re hot? No, I know that they don’t think that way lol.

Are you healthy? Not as healthy as I should be lol.

Do you know anyone that used to be or is homeless? Not that I know of.

Does it always seem like you’re always buying stuff for friends? Not really.

Did you wear sunglasses today? No, its been cloudy all day.

What’s the next movie you’ll watch in theaters? Not sure.

If you straighten your hair, how long does it take? Anywhere between 15 to 25 minutes.

Does it annoy you when people can’t think of their own answers to questions on surveys and use yours? No lol, I don’t pay attention really.

How many people are you talking to online right now? None lol.

Are you currently wearing anything containing polyester? Probably.

Have you ever been to Comic-Con? No, but I would like to.

Do you have a commercial jingle stuck in your head? Nope.

Would you date someone 8 years older than you? He would have to treat me right, and we would both have to care about each other a lot. The oldest that I plan to go for is five years, but you never know.

Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? Not really. I have guys that I consider friends, but not that close to talk about personal things.

Do you have a friend of the same sex you can talk to? Yeah.

Did you go out or stay in last night? Stayed in.

What does your last received text message say? ‘I’m here at Tim’s now’.

How old is the last person you texted? 37, she’s my Momma lol.

What do you want to get accomplished today/tonight? To get some good sleep.

You’re single, right? Yup lol.

Are you easy to make mad? If I’m in a cranky mood already, yes lol.

Have you ever punched a hole in the wall? Yeah like roughly seven years ago lol.

What are you doing right now? This and watching Forensic Files.

Do you smoke weed everyday? I had only smoked it twice and that was almost six years ago I think.

Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants, or pajamas? Leggings.

Do you like the dentist? Not really lol.

Do you like the snow? Yeah, as long as its not too much lol.

Where is your phone Beside me.

Would you rather date someone older than you or younger? Same age or older.

When was the last time you were told you were cute? I don’t really remember, maybe a few weeks ago?

Would you ever smile at a stranger? I do it all the time at work. The privileges of working in a coffee shop lol.

Do you button your shirt from the top or the bottom? Top.

Do you make collages often? No, its been a few years since I’ve made one.

How much have you changed in the last year or so? Not that much I don’t think.

Have you ever wished to erase something from your memory? What? A lot of things that I rather not speak of.

Do you keep things that most people would throw away? I don’t think so.

What is your favourite thing to wear when you feel like crap? Comfy clothes.

Do you look forward to going to sleep at night? Usually.

What was the last song you listened to? Nowhere Fast - Eminem.

Do you own an Etch-A-Sketch? I did when I was a kid!

What does your bedspread look like? Leopard print.

What colour is your suitcase? I don’t own one.

Are you any good at tongue twisters? Not really lo.

Do you wrap up warm in the cold weather? Always.

Do you care overly about other people? If I like them lol.

Do you still live with your parents? When are you planning to move out? Yeah, and I’m 20 and single so I can’t really afford to live on my own, and I at least want to be able to drive legally and have a car before I move out.

If you’ve moved out already, what age were you? -

Have you ever been told your aspirations are unrealistic? I don’t think so.

#survey

0 notes