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duckymcdoorknob · 3 years

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BNHA Boys Headcannons:

He Hears You Sing for the First Time.

Hi fellas!! Welcome to my BNHA headcannons! I wanted to write something other than my normal fics, so I’ll be posting a master list of these scenarios and updating them mostly bi-weekly! ❤️✨

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Katsuki Bakugo:

Tonight was a calm night during the sports festival. Classes 1-A and 1-B were at a shady bar, engaged in a heavy karaoke contest. It all started with a certain Monoma deciding that 1-B could be superior to 1-A in anything they wanted. Jirou decided to pick a karaoke contest.

Inside, you were mentally cursing yourself. You had never revealed your talent and it didn’t match with your quirk whatsoever. Nonetheless, If it would get that corn-headed bastard to shut up, you were willing to make a personal sacrifice.

After Jirou finished her rendition of I Hate Myself for Lovin’ You, she received almost max on the applause-o-meter. Next it was Tetsutetsu’s turn. You spaced out trying to figure out what you were going to sing. Then it hit. The best song. You didn’t even have to sing, just speak fast. It was perfect.

Tetsutetsu received low applause, making you feel bad in a way, but not too much.

“Next to the stage. Class 1-A, (Y/N) Tamayaki” Monoma announced.

As you passed by him, he flicked your shoulder. You turned your head and scowled at him, “if you’re scared about me beating your 5 on the meter...” you walked on the stage and tapped the mic, “you should be.”

You whispered to the DJ, selecting your most straightforward repertoire song, It’s The End of The World As We Know It

The familiar tinking of the intro played, gaining some hoots and hollers from the crowds. You took to the microphone, “that’s great it starts with an earthquake, birds, snakes and aeroplanes, Lenny Bruce is not afraid”

You masterfully complete the first verse, without a misstep or stutter. Seeing Monoma look like a deer in headlights made it all the more satisfying. When moving into the chorus, you notice a head full of blonde spikes walk through the door.

“Six o’ clock, Tv hour...” you spoke so fluidly it was almost mechanical. The usually stoic boy turned to look at you with a hint of shock in face. You moved through the second verse with a little wobble, mixing a word or two after seeing the explosive blonde.

“The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mt. St. Edelide...”

After the entirety of the bar shouted “Leonard Bernstein” at you, your turn was almost up. You finished the song with full power in your voice.

The audience erupted into boisterous cheering, leaving you dazed on the stage. Jirou ushered you away with a, “why the hell didn’t you tell us you sang?”

As you passed by Bakugo, you felt a rough hand on your shoulder.

“Oy extra,” a gruff voice sounded, “that was pretty damn cool. Since when do you do that shit?”

Your cockiness from Monoma never left you, “it’s always been there, pretty boy, just never let anyone know it.” You get on your toes and whisper in his ear, “it goes much deeper than this. Let me know when you want to hear more.”

You walk off with Jirou, earning a high five from her. Bakugo stood dumbfounded. Maybe you weren’t an extra after all.

Izuku Midoriya:

Class 1-A’s antics never did end. Kirishima insisted on the whole class hearing his singing voice, a god awful one may I add. So, the class was broken out into full on song.

You had never shown anyone you could sing, it just didn’t fit with your quirk. So you held it off. As soon as the whole ordeal started growing, you found yourself walking to the front of the school.

You plant down on a bench, plugging in your earbuds. You scroll through your Spotify playlist, but ultimately let it shuffle. You un-tensed as the beginning of The Boys of Summer echoed in your ears. You closed your eyes and let lazy lyrics escape your lips.

“Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach...” you quietly echoed the song.

This was the true symbol of peace: no one to bother you while you listened to a bomb ass song. You didn’t notice the added weight on the bench next to you until it was too late.

“Well I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun...” you quietly let the words escape your lips like clockwork.

You opened your eyes to take in the world around you. You nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw Izuku sitting right next to you.

“I-uh h-h-hi! Sorry to bother you, but you just disappeared. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

You chuckled softly. How could you be mad at this stuttering mess?

“Um (Y-Y-Y/N)? C-could you keep singing for me?” Izuku was flushed. He was embarrassed with himself, clearly.

You let out a soft breath of air, your lips curving into a smile. You let the next words of the song release from you. You leaned back onto Izuku’s lap, not thinking anything of it. You felt the boy tense up in your lap, but he ultimately relaxed and began to play with your hair.

Okay you lied, this was the true symbol of peace. You spent the whole afternoon in the same position; singing along to whatever song happened to be next in the shuffle.

Denki Kaminari: (got a little carried away here. I’m a Kami hoe)

Certain days bring certain events that you can never plan for. The spring festival most definitely had the it’s surprises in store.

You were hanging out with your friends, Mina, Bakugo, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari. Today has been the best day you’ve ever experienced. So many fun filled events! Bakugo dominated ring toss and won a giant stuffed zebra for himself, plus a giant stuffed Pikachu for Denki. Sero won the ropes course, receiving a small teddy bear. Mina and Kirishima took on a milk bottle toss, in which they both walked away with a stuffie of their own.

“(Y/N)-Chan! You haven’t won a prize yet! What game can we all play to get one?” Mina chimed

“Oh! I’m not sure! I’m not very athletically inclined, if you catch my drift.” You rubbed the back of your neck in embarrassment.

“That’s okay! Neither am I, I just have a good throwing arm” Mina beamed back in response.

You gave her a closed-eyed grin as you continued with the group. You had to admit that you wanted a stuffie of your own, but how were you supposed to win one?

“Ooooh! Look! Look!” Kirishima’s voice suddenly rang.

You look up to see a midsize stage, a huge crowd of your fellow students and Present Mic setting up a microphone. This should be good...

“Attention studennnnntsssssaah!” A booming voice echoed through the field, “come to the stage for a cool talent show! Winner receives a speeeeeecial prizzzeee!~”

You looked at Kiri with furrowed eyebrows. You hadn’t told anyone about your singing voice yet, so you played dumb.

“What could I possibly bring to the stage? My quirk? You’ve all seen it already.” You snapped in defense while fiddling with your hair.

“You can sing! I heard you humming in the common room!” Kirishima bit back in rebuttal.

“That doesn’t mean a damn thing! And even if I could, Ive got tons of other people to go against!”

You looked amongst your friends, who all had the same look in their eyes. You hung your head down and went to Present Mic to sign up.

After a few minutes, your name was called. You mentally cursed yourself as you shuffled onto the stage.

“Next in our competition, (Y/N) Tamayaki!” Present Mic announced.

You looked at Kirishima, who gave you a thumbs up. As the music started, you sucked in a breath. This is it. The tempo grows and accompaniment becomes more intense. You can’t help but smile.

“Movin’ on the floor now baby, you’re a bird of paradise” you began to sing.

Kirishima cheered. Rio was a favorite amongst you and Kiri. You moved through the first verse with great ease.

“Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand.” You were feeling free, not holding back a bit. You sang your heart out through the next verse, masterfully completed the second chorus, and chuckled as the instrumental break sounded.

As the saxophone began to play, you felt a hand on yours and soon you were spun around. Kirishima has come up to the stage to get you to “loosen up”, but he just wanted to perform with you.

“You make me feel alive, alive alive! Luck is on my side or somethin’, I know what you’re thinkin!” You chimed as Kirishima spun you again.

You started the final chorus, while Kirishima beckoned the whole audience to sing. They all obliged except for one...

A dazed Denki stood with a pink tinge on his cheeks. He was awestruck for sure, for you had never revealed this side of you to him.

As the song ended, you stuck your microphone up in the air and smiled wide. The audience roared in applause, and you won a (favorite animal) plushie.

You exited the stage and tried to grab the voluptuous plushie, but it was so heavy you stumbled backwards.

“Woa-! Careful (Y/N)!” Kaminari cried as he caught you by your underarms, “dude! What the hell that was SO cool!!”

You chuckled and helped yourself to your feet, taking one end of the plush and Kami on the other. You both met with your group while Kaminari pestered you with questions.

Ejirou Kirishima:

Finally! Your first semester of U.A High was complete! Today was a great day for you and your classmates to hang out. So, you and your friend group decided to go have lunch somewhere fun.

“Oye Bakugo, I don’t know If I’m comfortable with you driving. Especially considering you road rage something awful.” Denki intervened your thoughts.

“Oh yeah definitely. Do not let blasty over here behind the wheel.” You agreed.

Bakugo glared daggers at the two of you. “I’m a more than adEQUATE DRIVER THANK YOU!”

“You’re welcome! But you’re not driving.” You chimed in response, “Kirishima can”

“Hell yeah!” Kirishima beamed as he trudged to the driver’s seat of his Mustang.

Bakugo called shotgun first, so you were stuck in the backseat with Denki and Sero. Middle set between these two tricksters? Can’t be as innocent as it seems.

Nonetheless, Kirishima started up the car and put the top down. “We’re riding in style today my friends.”

You chuckled and relaxed in your seat. It would be about a 45 minute drive to go where you all agreed, but it would be a fun one. Kirishima turned on his spotify, letting it shuffle. Some slow song came on and you felt your eyes get heavy...

All of the sudden, you saw your eyelids again. You opened your eyes to see that you had fallen asleep on Kami’s shoulder, and that he had done the same.

“Long day at the mill I guess?” Kirishima asked, looking at you in the rear-view mirror with a grin.

You chuckled softly, he was right. You definitely needed that nap. At that moment, your favorite song played on Kirishima’s spotify, Fallen Angel by Poison.

“WAIT! You’re a poison fan too?!” You shot up, forgetting about poor Kaminari on your shoulder. The boy woke up upon impact with the seat, and you gave him an amused puff of air.

“Jeez (y/n) I let you sleep on my shoulder and tried not to move you. But all of the sudden the tables turn and you don’t do the same? Not cool.” Denki said with a pout.

“BUT LISTEN TO THE SONG!” You chimed.

“It’s just guitar right now.” Kaminari responded as he yawned.

“ITS SO MUCH BETTER THOUGH!” You cried, “She stepped off the bus and out into the city streets.” You began to sing.

Kirishima looked in the rear-view again. He saw you absolutely jamming as you sang. He smiled fondly and turned his attention back to the road.

“Just a step away from the edge of the fall. Sometimes you can’t choose-“

“It’s like a heads you win, tails you’re gonna lose!” Kirishima started to sing with you.

“WIN BIG, MAMA’S FALLEN ANGEL, LOSE BIG, LIVIN’ OUT HER LIES.” You both erupted in to song, causing an angry Bakugo to roll his eyes and let out a fond scoff.

You and Kirishima sang your hearts out until the song ended. You repeated this pattern with all of Kirishima’s other music. You and this boy shared such similar music taste.

Kaminari and Bakugo tried to be annoyed, but they couldn’t seem to find a reason to not be amused. When a song you all knew came on, everyone started singing, even Bakugo. Upon arrival at the restaurant, everyone was smiling and ready for a nice lunch.

“I never knew you had such a nice voice (y/n)!” Kirishima cooed, “you and Jirou should totally team up and make music together!”

Your face heated up. “Oh- uh! Heh, thanks Kiri! I’m happy to hear that you’re a man of culture as well. Not many people our age know about Poison.” You rubbed the back of your neck in embarrassment.

Kirishima’s eyebrows raised with excitement, “oh yeah! I love older music! There’s just something about it! I mean the backing music isn’t the main focus of the song, it’s like an accompaniment for the vocals and-“

“Jesus Christ Kirishima. Get a fucking room you two, you sound like Deku with all that rambling” Bakugo’s annoyed voice sounded. You both felt your faces heat up at the comment, walking into the restaurant with a new idea in both of your minds.

Shoto Todoroki: (got carried away here too uwu)

A lonely rainy day. The boys were all at the pool for some “extra training”. It was close to your birthday and the girls were out to find a present for you. You chuckled softly at the thought. You knew straight away what the girls were planning.

“(Y/n) Chan!” Uraraka’s voice echoed through your thoughts, “were going to the shop to get a-“ she cut herself off, “some snacks for you today! We want to get some (favorite chip flavor) chips!” She beamed.

You nodded in response with a goofy grin. They’re the best friends you could ask for. All of the girls took off in an instant, leaving you in the dorms by yourself.

“Waste not want not.” You hummed to yourself as you made your way into the common room. You prepared yourself a mug of (favorite warm drink) (hot choccy gang) and planted down by the large bay window.

The world was silent. Nothing daring to make a sound, but the pitter-patter of the rain outside of the window. You sighed with great satisfaction. How could this day possibly get better? You grabbed your phone and earbuds from the couch and turned on your Spotify.

“Well... it’s just me here. I can practice my audition music if I wanted.” You thought out loud. You clicked in the playlist containing all of the songs that suited your voice the most.

You instantly relaxed and prepared to start as the familiar tweets and twitters of Green Finch and Linnet Bird played through your earbuds.

“Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird, how is it you sing?” You began to softly sing, “how can you jubilate sitting in cages, never taking wing?”

You stared out the window, as if you were acting out the scene yourself, “Outside the sky waits beckoning, beckoning, just beyond the bars.” You stood to your feet and let the music run through you. No one was here to judge you, no one could laugh or glare or, in Bakugo’s case, sneer at you. “How can you remain, staring at the rain? Maddened by the stars?”

You were now in the center of the room, sitting on the couch. “How is it you sing? Anything?” The music crescendoed into a melodious break. You continued to the window, singing the song ever so softly, as if you were singing a lullaby. “Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird, teach me how to sing.”

The rain fell harder as you plopped down on the window ledge, “if I cannot fly... let me sing.” You stared out the window with a soft smile on your face. Yes... this is the best way to spend your birthday. Completely alone, cup of (drink) in hand, singing your heart out... Nothing could beat it.

You noticed that you were out of (drink) and returned to the kitchen to pour yourself some more. Upon exiting, the cord of your earbuds snagged along the handle of a drawer. Before you had time to react, a small beam of ice froze your drink, keeping you from burning yourself.

“Are you alright, Tamayaki?”

You stood dazed, unable to process everything. Your mouth sat agape as you tried to usher a sentence.

“(Y/N)? Everything’s fine, you didn’t fall, I caught you.”

That’s when you noticed the arm gripped around yours. You turned to meet the concerned eye of your best friend, Shoto Todoroki.

“A-Ah! Gomenasai Todoroki-San!” You stuttered as your face heated up, “gee how embarrassing.”

Todoroki simply grinned with an exhale of air. Your eyes widened and eyebrows furrowed as you swallowed, “that means you’ve been here the whole time... and you heard me-“

“Singing? Yes. Your voice is quite beautiful. It was a great accompaniment to my embroidering.” Todoroki admitted with a soft smile.

“-was gonna say talk to myself but...” you covered your face with your hands, “no one’s ever heard me sing before! I was always so careful!”

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed. You truly have a gift.” Todoroki said softly, “if you don’t mind, I would like to embroider while you sing to me.”

You pondered. “Well you’ve already heard me, so there’s no sense in hiding. But, I do need some more (drink), because you kinda like froze my original cup.” Shoto nodded with a chuckle and turned on his heel to grab his supplies.

You smiled and retreated to the kitchen for a new cup of (drink). You then sat down on the couch, scrolling through your playlist to find something slow and quiet. When you felt the ouch weigh down next to you, you absentmindedly rested your head on his shoulder.

“Happy birthday (Y/N). Such a peaceful afternoon must be a gift.”

“Hanging with you is a gift enough.” You muttered, hoping he wouldn’t hear you.

“I feel the same. Now, I want to hear your beautiful voice again. Hop to it.” Shoto gently commanded.

You obliged and spent your quiet time with him. Hours passed and still you both sat, attention on each of your hobbies. Nothing could ruin this incredible moment. Until Uraraka bursted through the door, causing you to spill an entire mug of scalding (drink) in your lap...

“Happy friggin birthday.” You cringed as Todoroki patted your lap with a cold dish towel.

#bnha #mha #deku #midoriya #my hero academia #Bakugo #Katsuki #mha Bakugo #bakugou katsuki #mha todoroki #shoto todoroki #todoroki #shouto todoroki #denki x you #denki kaminari #Kaminari #Kirishima #ejirou

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haravath0t · 3 years

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A Christmas Wish - Day 1

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Filipino!Reader

Warnings: fluff, an immense word count, a talk with the mom??

Hello, everyone! Finally, we have Day 1 of A Christmas Wish! I’m so happy I found a way to extend the Christmas Spirit well into the year through this request! We are uncovering a huge tradition that means a lot to me and my family as Filipinos! Many of the Filipino community are Christian/Catholic, so this particular tradition will be based on the Christian Christmas tradition for the sake of the plot and its personal meaning! I hope this is something that can be understood between author to reader! I promise, the religious aspect of this particular tradition will not be as emphasized as other parts of the culture that I will introduce! Happy readings my lovelies, and to all my Filipino readers, pasensya kung mali ng English translation ko. Ang hirap naman talaga mg translate eh 😅😅😅 huhuuuu

(italics indicate flashbacks! english translations are provided and the pictures of the foods are attached in the bottom!)

You opened your eyes excitedly, a big smile forming on your face as you remembered a particular memory from yesterday that really made you so happy:

You, Steve, and your family had finished putting your luggage in the trunk of the van, squeezing themselves in either of the two vans. The driver was now hours in on the road, the chaos had died down as your cousins who decided to join yours and Steve’s van were asleep. The city was long gone, as the buildings had now become hills and green fields, passing by small little towns and provinces. The once crowded and traffic highways turned into a wide empty road.

Contrary to your cousins who fell back asleep, you were wide awake, not only from the jet lag, but also from your excitement. You were sitting in the middle of the back row of the van, earphones plugged in your ears, listening to the familiar tracks of OPM (Original Pinoy Music) and 70s/80s hits that you were familiar with from your karaoke nights with your parents. Steve was seated on the window (something you recommended him to do), looking as the green grass and hills passed by. Steve couldn’t help but smile, this was something that was so new to him, but it was something you saw as a reminder that you were actually back with your family, back in your roots, back home. It was simple. That’s what he liked most.

“What do you think so far? We’re still a bit far from the hotel and their house, but we’re about more than halfway home,” you ask softly. Steve’s eyes left the window as he instead looks at your lovely sparkling eyes. He couldn’t help the smile that forms on his face as he easily recognizes the excitement on your face. “I already love it, doll. I really do. I can’t wait to have you and your family show us around.” He says softly yet with sincerity. You smiled excitedly and took an earbud out of your ear, kissing his cheek before you put the earbud in his ear, making him laugh. “Y/N, doll, what are you doing?” He asks softly as his eyebrows furrow. You giggle as you scroll through your list of songs that you had downloaded on your phone. “Oh, I figured… well.. If you want, we can listen to this playlist? We can try napping?” You offer, the excited smile turning in a shy one, tints of pink being apparent on your cheeks. Steve’s smile only grew as he kissed your forehead. “Yeah, I’d love that, sugar. What’s the type of music in this one?” He asks softly, securing the earbud into his ear further. “It has some Filipino music and some 70s and 80s songs that my parents love… I listened to them all the time growing up,” you reply with a smile, choosing the song “I Think I’m Falling in Love” by The Boyfriends, smiling as the familiar opening notes are being played into yours and Steve’s ear. Steve’s eyebrows raise in surprise when the music plays but smiles as he lets the tune settle into his ears. Steve subconsciously wraps his arm protectively around your body, “C’mon honey, get comfy, yeah?” You did not think twice as you lean against him, resting your head against the crook of his neck, a big smile on your face reappearing as his familiar scent fills your nostrils. A deep chuckle is felt underneath your body. “Feelin’ better?” He asks softly, resting his cheek against your head. “Mhm, much better.” You sigh happily, closing your eyes as you feel his fingers comb your hair. You smile as you drift off to sleep, hearing the lyrics “I think I’m falling in love, something’s telling me so”.

“You do realize wherever you’re goin’ I’m goin’ right?” He asks with a smile, as he swallows a piece of pandesal. “This is so good by the way,” he adds before you speak up. “I know, but this thing takes place at 4 AM in the Cathedral, Steve! That’s early! “Okay, but we go to different time zones for missions, sweetheart. This is not new, we’ll be fine, you know me,” he responds, chuckling, “besides, we can sleep in after everything.” “Fair point,” you giggle, finishing your milk and throwing the plastic cup away. You kiss Steve’s head and hug him from behind. “Well… I can’t thank you enough, honey. You are doing so much already. Thank you. My family likes you already, I’m sure” A comforting hand rubs your forearm up and down before a soft pair of lips meets the back of your hand. “I’d be very happy if your family does. Their opinion of us matters to me too.” “How’d you even know about us going to mass today?” “Your Tita Joy mentioned it actually last night over dinner, asked if we both were going to Simbang...Simbang Gabi?” Your heart leapt at the sound of Steve saying something in Tagalog, a giggle erupting from your lips. “Goodness, Steve, you’re so adorable. Come on, we gotta get ready if we’re going to the Cathedral by jeepney.” You say, kissing his head before you get your clothes from your suitcase to head to the bathroom.

“Yes, ma’am,” he chuckles, playfully saluting you before he follows suit.

Steve was quite happy he tagged along with you, for the town was wonderfully decorated with parols (Christmas lanterns) and a nativity scene in front of the Cathedral. Not only that, he loved seeing you focused throughout the service, watching as you were alongside your family and practicing your tradition. It was truly something beautiful to see in his eyes.

Now, you and your family and Steve were outside of the Cathedral alongside other churchgoers, the town now starting to busy itself as the dawn arrives. There were now many food stalls outside, serving coffee and tea as well as wonderful foods to pair with the Christmas season. These included, bibingka, puto (rice cakes), suman, pandesal, and so much more. “Teka lang, Nanay, kukuha ako lang pagkain para sa atin lahat,” (hold on, mom, I’m just going to get some food for all of us) you say to your mom, her nodding in response. “Oh sige, anak. Sama mo ng Tatay mo! May pera s’ya!” (Alright, take your father with you! He has money!) She responds as you disappear in the crowd to get your guys’ share of good food. Steve only smiles at the interaction, watching as you go ahead with your father to one of the food stalls. “She’s like a kid, isn’t she?” Your mom says to Steve causing him to jump a little and only nod in response. “Yes, ma’am.” She playfully groans and waves her hand to him dismissively. “Oh, please you’re gonna call me ma’am? No, Tita will do for now,” She chuckles, making Steve relax in relief, not realizing his body had been tense. “Oh, Okay Tita.” She smiles and gives Steve a thumbs up and a nod of approval, which makes Steve smile. “You know, Steve, this whole Simbang Gabi thing is something she always has done since she was a girl. She loved it very much.” Steve smiles at this, imagining a younger you holding your parents’ hands as you make your way in the church. “It makes sense why she was up earlier than me during the Christmas season. I always wake up for a morning jog. I normally hear or see her out and about back home.” Your mom only chuckles, watching you and your father order some bibingka first.

“Did she tell you what her motivation was as a kid?” She asks, seeing Steve shake his head. “No, I haven’t.” “Ahh, well, there’s this funny folk belief here, you see. If you attend all 9 masses, then you can make a wish and your wish will come true if that’s what God wills it to be.” Your mother explains, smiling when Steve has an “aha” moment and nods in understanding. “I think that’s beautiful,” he says, hands fumbling within the pockets of his jeans, eyes making contact with yours. He smiles even more when you show your beautiful smile before you go back to ordering from the stalls. “You really love my daughter, don’t you Steven?” She asls, looking up at the taller man. “With all of my heart, Tita,” he responds firmly and surely, which eases your mom.

“That’s good to hear. I love the certainty. She deserves that much you know. She’s been through a lot. And… I can see the way you two look at each other. It makes me happy,” She says, sighing in content. “We’re glad to be able to have you celebrate with us. Goodness, I cannot even thank you enough for letting us fly over with you two.” “It’s not a problem, Tita,” He starts. “Family is important to Y/N, and I hope you know that she talks about you guys constantly. I can’t blame her, you all are very kind and lovely to me. It’s been a wish for her to come here for the holidays.” “Her wish, huh?” Your mom smiles. “Yes, Tita.” “What about you? You’re joining us in these, so do you have a wish?” Your mother presses on, burning through Steve’s eyes with her eye contact. Steve however, was blushing for different reasons. “I do, Tita. It’s ambitious, so let’s see.” “Well don’t be shy, tell me!” Your mom squeals excitedly, motioning to Steve to whisper it into her ear. And so he does, your mom is smiling bigger and bigger and bigger as she hears.

“Oh, susmaryosep! (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!) That’s a nice wish, very ambitious, I like it! I’m sure it will come true. I’m sure.” Your mom exclaims clapping her hands together in pure excitement. “You...you think so?” Steve asks shyly, seeking for reassurance. “It’s a tough one, Tita. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “a man out of time” being used on me. It’s a very tough thing to do, you know, to adjust to current events and current society.” He comments, scratching the back of his head. “And you are doing good, Steve. You’re an honest hardworking guy. I promise. I think when the time is right, you’ll get what you wish for.” “Well let’s see, Tita, let’s see.”

FOODS MENTIONED BELOW!!!

Pandesal (bread rolls)

Puto (rice cakes)

Bibingka

Suman

Permanent Taglist: @world-of-aus @world-of-aus-reads @whew-oh-em-gee @tomholland-96 @lordyitsjordy @letstalkaboutsebbaby @thee-soom-soom @lookiamtrying @vesper852 @hailhydra920 @buckybarnesthehotshot @heyiamthatbitch @rodrikstark

A Christmas Wish Taglist: @faithtrustandrobbiekay

(If you would like to be included in a tag list let me know via ask! ❤️☺️)

#mcu #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x filipina!reader #steve rogers x filipino!reader #filipino marvel #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers oneshot #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fanfiction

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spn-rewrites · 5 years

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01x15 (part 1)

Season One Episode Fifteen: The Benders

A/N: hey guys, let me know if the tags are working or not. i have a hard time with them sometimes for reasons that I don’t know haha but please let me know! also, please REBLOG if you enjoy this so that i know :)

SYNOPSIS: Sam goes missing during a case

WORD COUNT: 3126

New cases were like an itch that you loved to scratch. You loved looking for them, deciding whether or not they were worth your time and debating with Sam the yes or no of if you take it or not.

This case, in particular, sparked both of your interests. The victim, Alvin Jenkins, was pulled under a car and completely disappeared. The only eyewitness, a young boy, claims it was a monster. So you strapped on your hideous polyester police uniform and headed to Hibbing, Minnesota.

The twelve-year-old boy, Evan, seems more relaxed than his mom, who had her hands on his shoulders and squeezed.“I appreciate that you’re just doing your job, but the police have been here all week already. I don’t see why we have to do this again. The more he tells the story, the more he believes it’s true.”

“Mrs. McKay,” Sam says as he takes off his hat. You and Dean follow his lead and you smooth out your hair, that you know is frizzy now. “We know you spoke with the local authorities.”

“This seems like a matter for the state police,” Dean clarifies. She looks over at him and narrows her eyes, almost like she doesn’t believe him and he shifts uncomfortably on his feet.

“Don’t worry about how crazy it sounds, Evan. You just tell us what you saw,” you tell the boy. He sighs, exhausted from telling the story over and over again and you would be too.

“I was up late watching TV when I heard this weird noise,” he says. “It sounded like a monster.” The word monster rang in your ears and the boys exchanged a look. Mrs. McKay clears her throat and you look over at her.

“Tell them what you were watching on TV,” she says. You look down at Evan, who suddenly looks awkward and embarrassed.

“Godzilla vs Mothra,” he admits.

Dean chuckles and points a finger at the boy. “That’s my favorite Godzilla movie. It’s so much better than the original.”

“Totally,” Evan agrees.

“Yeah, he likes the remake,” Dean snarls and points over at Sam and you can’t help but laugh under your breath. Sam glares at his brother and clears his throat, scolding him in the Winchester language that was silent to everyone else around them.

Dean looks at his brother apologetically and you know you should scold him too for messing around while you were trying to work, but you mouth to the boy that you agreed and he smiled at you.

“Evan, did you see what this thing was?” Sam asks, back to business as usual.

“No, but I saw it grab Mr. Jenkins,” he says. “It pulled him underneath the car.” His mom looks like she has heard enough. There was nothing in the world that could convince her that her son was telling the truth, that much was clear just based on the expression she wore on her face that only got worse with Sam’s probing. “Then, it took him away. I heard the monster leaving. It made a really scary sound.”

“What did it sound like?” You ask. You tap your pen against the empty notebook in your hand.

“This…..whining growl,” he says. You look up at Sam and he presses his lips together in a line.

“Thanks for your time.”

Sam is reading over police reports, a now warm beer in his hand and you’re sitting next to him sipping on your freshly opened one, watching Dean take his turn at darts. It was supposed to be a night off, but per usual, Sam started to work anyway.

“The local police have ruled out any foul play. Apparently, there were signs of a struggle,” he says. Dean points his dart at you, narrowing his eyes as he threatens your winning streak and then he looks at his brother.

“You know they could be right, could just be a kidnapping,” he suggests. He aims his dart. “Maybe this isn’t our kind of gig.” He throws it and gets a 20.

“Yeah, maybe not. Except for this,” Sam says. He tucks the police report under his pile of stuff and taps the open page of John’s journal. “Dad marked the area, guys. ‘Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker,’” He reads.

That gets both of your attention and Dean doesn’t play his second dart, he shoves it in his pocket and walks over to the table you’re sitting at. You grab the journal and look at John’s scribble and Dean reads it over your shoulder. “Why would he even do that?” Dean asks.

“He wrote down that he found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night, grabs people, then vanishes,” you read.

Sam nods and takes the corner of a page in his fingertips and turns the page in front of you. “He found this too,” he says and taps the list of numbers that John wrote down. “This county has more missing persons per capita than anywhere else in the state.”

You look up at Dean as he reads the numbers and purses his lips in a pout. “That is weird,” he says and walks back to the dartboard to throw his second dart.

“Don’t Phantom Attacker’s usually snatch people from their beds?” You ask. “Jenkins was taken from a parking lot,” you remind him. Dean aims his dart and throws it. You watch. 10.

“Well, there’s all kinds. Spring-heeled Jacks, Phantom Gassers. They take people anywhere, anytime.” Dean pulls his darts from the board and you stand up, wipe off the condensation from your hands and take the darts from him happily. “Look, guys, I don’t know if this is our kind of gig, either,” Sam says.

“Maybe we should ask around more tomorrow,” Dean says as he takes your chair and you stand up at the line and aim.

“Right, I saw a motel about 5 miles back.” Sam pulls out his wallet, ready to throw down the bill and you turn around so quickly you miss the board and hit the wall. Dean laughs.

“Can we have another round at least?” You ask.

“We should really get an early start,” Sam argues. Dean puts your beer at his lips and takes a sip.

“You really know how to have fun, don’t ya grandma?” Dean stands up and takes his jacket, surrendering to Sam’s boringhood. “Meet you outside, I gotta take a leak,” he says and takes off down the hall to the bathrooms.

“Yeah, go. I’ll wait for Dean,” you tell Sam. He nods at you and collects his things as you aim your second dart. You’re half tempted to pull the first one out and try again after all the board didn’t count it.

In the end, you don’t. You just finish up your beer and clean up your game until Dean comes back and adds change into the tip jar at the bar. “Wow, you really treat them well, huh?” You tease.

The air outside is cold in Minnesota and you wrap your jacket around you tighter. “Sam put a good $20 bill at our table, they'll be just fine,” he says.

When you don’t see Sam outside, you assume he went and sat down in the car so you make a beeline to it, but with all the papers and John’s journal sitting on the truck, you get suspicious. “Dean,” you say slowly, holding up the papers.

He grabs them out of your hands. Snatches them, really, and furrows his eyebrows. “Where is he?” He asks and you shrug. He shoves the papers back at your chest and you wrap your arms around them. “Sam!” He yells and turns back toward the bar. “Sam!” He tries one more time. He runs towards a group of people smoking a cigarette and asks if they’ve seen him, they shake their heads.

“Sam!” You yell, looking around the parked cars while Dean checks around the building but there’s nothing. No footprints, no trial, no Sam. Your eyes start to water and you feel your chest tightening. “Dean where is he?” You yell and Dean speedwalks back to where you stood in the parking lot.

“I don’t know!” he yells back at you and you flinch. He notices and puts his hand on your forearm. You don’t want to look at him. You want to look anywhere else just in case you see a glimpse of his stupid haircut or his lanky arms and as you look around, you see a security camera facing the road.

“Look,” you say and point up at it. Dean turns and follows your point and he sort of smiles. A barely-there one, but a smile nonetheless.

In the morning, bright and early, you go to the police station. Dean hands the officer on duty his fake badge and she takes it in her hands. “What can we do for you, Officer Washington?” She asks. Her badge reads Kathleen Hudak.

“I’m working missing persons,” he says.

“I didn’t know the Jenkins case was being covered by the state police,” she says. Of course, she didn’t because it wasn’t.

“No, it’s someone else,” he explains. “My cousin,” he says and points over to you. “Her husband. We were having a few last night at this bar down by the highway and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Does your cousin have a drinking problem?” Her tone is accusatory and you get defensive.

“No!” You snap. She looks over at you with icy eyes and you recoil back.

“No, ma’am.” Dean holds his hands up in surrender. “Two beers, and he’s doing karaoke. He wasn’t drunk. He was taken.”

Kathleen seems like she doesn’t really believe you but she asks for his name anyway and heads to her computer. You and Dean follow, sitting in the chairs across from her desk. She plugs in his name. “Samuel Winchester. So you know his brother, Dean Winchester, died in St. Louis. And, uh, was suspected of murder,” she reads.

You scoff and Dean shifts uncomfortably. “Yeah, Dean,” he chuckles, “kind of the black sheep of the family.”

“Yeah, I got the good brother,” you tease with a smile and Dean shoots you a glare.

“Handsome, though,” Dean comments. Kathleen mumbles and types some more stuff in her computer.

“He’s not showing up in any current field reports,” she reads but Dean stops her.

“I already have a lead,” he says. She nods for him to keep going. “I saw a surveillance camera out by the highway.”

“Yeah, county traffic cam.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking the camera picked up whatever took him.” Kathleen looks at Dean like he’s crazy. Whatever took him. The phrase clearly struck a nerve in her and Dean shakes his head like he’s made a mistake. “Whoever. Whoever took him.”

“I do have access to the traffic cam footage down at the County Works Department, but well, in the meantime, let’s do this the right way,” she says. She goes over to the bookcase behind her desk and grabs some papers. “Why don’t you two fill out a missing persons report and sit tight over here.” She points to the waiting area and hands you a clipboard with a report on it. You look down at it and Dean clears his throat.

“Officer, look,” he starts and takes the clipboard from you. “He’s family. And I kind of lookout for the kid. You gotta let me go with you,” Dean pleads. You look up at her with doe eyes. “We both gotta go with you.”

“I can’t do that,” she says. Certain in her answer.

“Tell me something. Your county has its fair share of missing persons, right?” He asks. He looks down at you and then up at Kathleen. “How many of them have you found?” She doesn’t answer. She gives Dean a tight lip smile like she knows he’s right and she looks down at her feet. “Sam is my responsibility and he’s coming back. I’m bringing him back.”

Surprisingly, Kathleen agrees to let Dean help her find Sam and even more surprisingly, she agrees to let you tag along so long you don’t get in the way. Which, you agreed to no questions asked.

You wait with Dean outside of the County Works Department on a bench. He taps his fingers on his knee as he absentmindedly watches the people walk through the park. It was a nice day out, too bad you were spending it worrying about Sam. To steady him, you put your hand on top of Dean’s.

“Greg,” Kathleen calls out his fake name. He almost doesn’t look but you nudge him. “I think we got something.” She hands Dean the photographs that were printed out and you look over his shoulder as he flips through them. “These traffic cams take a photo every three seconds as part of the amber alert program. These images were all taken around the time that Sam disappeared.”

The photos showed nothing. No cars. No traffic. No Sam. “There’s nothing here,” you tell her. She nods and tells you to keep going so Dean flips one more photo over. She taps on the page. An old truck with a trailer attached the end is photographed leaving the parking lot.

“This one was taken right after Sam left the bar. Look at the back end of that thing.” You look at Dean and he looks at you. You both were under the impression that this was your kind of gig. That a truck is certainly not what you were looking for but she tells you to look at the plates, so you look at the next photo, which is a zoomed-in version of the first. The plate numbers crystal clear.

“The plates look new. It was probably stolen,” Dean says.

“So whoever’s driving that rust bucket must be involved,” she suggests. You take the photos from Dean’s hands and you look closer. Try to find eyes that may be hidden in the dark, a figure that is lurking around. Something supernatural to explain where Sam went and not just a beat-up truck.

You’re so focused that you don’t hear the engine whining from a car driving by until Dean nudges you. “Even said he heard a whining growl, right?” He asks you. You nod your head and look in the direction of Dean’s gaze. An old van with rusted bumpers and tinted windows. “Sounds like a whining growl to me.”

“I’ll be damned,” you say.

It’s nearly dark by the time you’re on the road and actually looking for where this beat-up truck would have taken Sam. You’re following the traffic cams until the truck disappears, hoping that’ll bring you somewhere close. “Okay, that traffic cam is 50 miles from here, and your pickup didn’t pass that one, so,” she explains as she drives.

You’re in the backseat of her cruiser, a place you never wanted to be. “So they must have pulled off somewhere,” Dean mumbles as he continues to stare at the photos as if something will pop out and tell him where Sam is. “I don’t see any other roads here.”

“Well a lot of these backwoods properties have their own private roads,” she says.

“Great,” Dean mumbles as a beep comes from the little computer screen in the front of the car. You can’t help but be curious, so you look as close as you can. There’s a message on the screen about a request for information about a badge number. A badge number that you assume is Dean’s fake badge number and you start to panic but it’s too late because Kathleen is already asking questions.

“So Gregory, I ran your badge number,” she says. “It’s routine when we’re working a case with state police, for accounting purposes and what have you,” Dean mumbles as if he’s unphased but he’s watching her closely. “And, they just got back to me.” Kathleen pulls off to the side of the road, parks and clicks a button on her screen. A photo of a man that looks nothing like Dean pops up on the screen. Dean can’t see it yet but you can and you know you’re screwed. “It says here your badge was stolen. And there’s a picture of you.” She turns the monitor for Dean to look at and he chuckles.

Dean looks at the photo and thinks for a minute. Not too long, just enough to come up with a dumb excuse. “I lost some weight. And I’ve got that Michael Jackson skin disease,” he says.

Kathleen rolls her eyes and unbuckles her seatbelt. “Okay, would you both please step out of the car,” she orders.

“Wait, wait,” you say, stopping her. She looks back at you and you have to be quick because you had nothing planned. “If you wanna arrest him, fine,” you say, gaining a glare from Dean that you ignore. “But we really need to find Sam. Please,” you plead.

“I don’t even know who you two are,” Kathleen says. “Or even if Sam is missing.”

“Look into my eyes and tell me if I’m lying about this,” Dean says. She looks back at Dean and his eyes are so watery, he’s about to cry.

“Identity theft? You’re impersonating an officer,” she tells him. Dean was so screwed and he knows it because he snaps his mouth shut, refusing to make a snappy comment that would usually come naturally to him.

“Here’s the thing,” Dean starts. “When we were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire and ever since then I felt responsible for him. It’s my job to keep him safe,” Dean says. You know all this to be true but hearing him say it hit you differently. “And she,” he nods back to you, “is like my sister. My best friend, truly and if I don’t bring home her husband. She’ll kill me.” Kathleen looks back at you and you nod in agreement. “I’m just afraid if we don’t find him fast…..” He trails off.

“Please,” you plead.

“You’ve given me no choice. I’m sorry. I have to take you in,” she says to Dean. You rarely have ever seen Dean look that scared in his life and you know it’s because of Sam and not his impending jail time.

Kathleen looks ahead out the front window of her car and her eyes catch on something. You follow her gaze to a photo attached to her visor. Her and a young boy. It makes her sigh and you can see the internal debate in her head but eventually, she puts her seatbelt back on. “After we find Sam Winchester.”

tagged: @matchamendes @stuckupstucky @sillydecoy @kaelyn-lobrutto24@liztorr1212 @icanreadbookstoo @rachael-mae @jessewa26 @sundownridge @givemebooksorgivemedeath @alienemilyyyy @teenwaywardasgardian

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atc74 · 5 years

Text

Anything You Can Do

Square(s) Filled: Girl Power for @spnfluffbingo2019

Warnings: playground antics, flirting, fluff, ahhh, IDK, it’s fun! Implied sex as payment (it’s REALLY not what you think)

Summary: Jared opens his man-child mouth and it’s on! It’s a karaoke battle for the ages and the ladies are in it to win it! But, when this crew shows up, there are no losers!

Pairing: Reader x past OC, Rob x Reader, Jensen x Briana

Word Count: 4455

Written for: @spnfluffbingo2019

Beta’d by: @alleiradayne who was crazy enough to support this idea from the beginning and my dear @amanda-teaches, whom I would be lost without.

A/N: I wanted to do something really fun and who of us wouldn’t be up for some of this on a Friday night???!!!! All the songs were painstakingly chosen for reasons. There are also some shameless plugs for my boys Louden Swain.

Also a shout out to my friend Beth @brooksba, who took all the amazing photos found in the graphic below!

It was a rare convention weekend when all the guests showed up on a Friday. The green room was fuller than normal as Jensen, Jared, Rob, Rich, Briana, Kim, Y/N, Ruth and the boys from the band sat around shooting the breeze. The green room always had a relaxed and playful atmosphere and this time was no different.

“Oh come on! You cannot burp the alphabet!” Jared scoffed as Briana picked up a warm soda from the table and opened it.

“Why, cause I’m a girl?” she challenged him and the room exploded with the disbelief of all those in attendance that Jared dare say such a thing to her, or any of the women on the convention circuit.

“Well,” Jared looked around sheepishly, waiting for someone to help him.

“Nope. You’re on your own with this one pal!” Rich slapped him on the back. “You have awakened the beast.”

“I just mean, you’re little and…” Jared tried to come up with another reason. Christ, Gen was going to kill him when he got home.

“I may be little but I am fierce, Jarpad,” Briana grinned and chugged the soda. It wasn’t long before a symphony of belches in the form of the alphabet song erupted from her. “Anything you can do I can do better. I can do anything better than you.” She sang as she high fived Kim and Y/N.

“No, no, no. Not this again,” Jensen chuckled, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah! I am so down for this. And this time, a wager perhaps?” Rich went into full on emcee mode. “What do y’all say about a battle for the ages? A karaoke battle, if you will. It is Friday after all.”

“Yesss!” The women shouted.

“Winner picks the losers costume for the next convention?” Rich continued, knowing he had the ladies all in for this. “Fellas? You gonna back down from a challenge?”

“Hell no! I’m in!” Matt Cohen raised his hand.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. I mean, I am a professional,” Rob joined him, making eye contact with Y/N shyly across the room.

“Can’t leave my fearless leader in the wind. I’ll do it,” Mike Borja threw his proverbial hat in the ring, looking at the last three.

“Don’t look at me! I don’t sing!” Jared backed away slowly.

Jensen glanced to Jason, then back to the women, all with shit eating grins on their faces. “I’m probably gonna regret this, but okay. Jason and I are in.”

“Wait, how did I get wrapped into this? I’m not an idiot like Jared!” Jason defended.

“No, but you are a team player buddy and we need you if we’re going to stand a chance,” Jensen replied, looking to Briana with a wink.

“Splendid! The rules are simple. I, and only I, will pick your songs. No one else will know what you are singing but me. Now, go. Be gone. Out damn spot!” Rich grinned ear to ear as he pulled out his phone, making the most epic list of his convention career.

~*~

“Y/N, girl, are you gonna tell him or not?” Briana asked her pointedly when they got to Briana’s room to get ready for the Karaoke Party.

“Yeah, did you see the way he was looking at you?” Kim chimed in.

“You guys, I just ended a really bad relationship and he’s my friend,” Y/N said. “I don’t want to ruin what we have.”

“Then don’t. Just ruin him for all other women!” Ruth giggled.

“Oh my god Ruthie!” Y/N hid her flushed face behind her hands.

“And may I point out that you didn’t ‘just’ end that relationship. It’s been over for weeks officially,” Kim reminded her.

“And you gotta get back on that horse sometime. No time like the present I say!” Briana laughed.

“Come on, Y/N. You’re an overachiever! Just go out there tonight and be amazing; sing your rock song. This is real life, babe and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a leg up on him and he won’t know what hit him!” Kim encouraged.

“All’s fair in love and war and karaoke battles,” Ruth chirped. “This is how you’ll win the big one, Y/N, ready steady.”

“Okay, okay okay! I get it. Gosh, you all sure know a lot of their songs,” Y/N rolled her eyes as Briana dragged her in the bathroom to curl her hair.

“Aha! You know all the songs, too!” Kim shouted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Y/N smiled at Briana in the mirror.

“You’re gonna knock his socks off,” she smiled back.

~*~

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Karaoke! Boy oh boy, do we have a special treat for y’all tonight! During some green room antics earlier, a challenge has been issued,” Rich paused, waiting for the audience to quiet some and let him finish his intro. “Tonight, with you good people as witnesses, will be a battle to battle all battles! The ladies versus the men

of Supernatural will battle it out for bragging rights right here on this stage!!”

The crowd exploded in cheers and applause. Rich drew a slip of paper from the bowl and the first few fans sang their songs to roaring applause. Briana, Kim, Rich, Rob and Matt all joined in on stage for the fun.

“Please may I get a warm welcome for Miss Y/N Y/L/N!” Rich announced.

Y/N walked through the curtain, kissing him lightly on the cheek and whispering in his ear. “I know what you’re doing Rich. I’ll get you back for this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about darlin’. Now go, sing!” Rich shooed her from his side.

The beat started and Y/N started rocking her body with its rhythm. “Yeah!”

“I’m coming up so you better get this party started!

I’m coming up so you better get this party started!

Get this party started on a Friday night

Everybody’s waiting for me to arrive

Sending out the message to all of my friends…”

The crowd was going wild, bouncing and singing along as Y/N worked them into a frenzy with her first song of the evening. If this was any indication of how the night would go, she didn’t care who won, she was having a damn good time, and she made sure the crowd was too as she finished her song.

“Well, well, well, I guess we really got this party started now!” Rich laughed, pulling another name from the bowl.

“Please give it up for Miss Briana Buckmaster!” Rich shouted as Briana walked forward.

Briana took center stage in front of the screen. She was holding her breath, praying Rich didn’t pick something lame. When the screen lit up and the music started, she gave it everything, knowing they had this shit in the bag.

“Step back gonna come at ya fast

I’m driving out of control

And getting ready to crash

Won’t stop shaking up what I can

I serve it up in a shot

So suck it down like a man

So baby yes I know what I am

And no I don’t give a damn

And you’ll be loving it up

Some days I’m a super bitch

Up to my old tricks

But it won’t last forever

Next day I’m your supergirl

Out to save the world

And it keeps gettin’ better…”

From the first word, the crowd was loving it and singing along with her. Jensen watched discreetly from the side of the stage, cursing Jared for opening his gigantic mouth, but loving the view. Man that girl could sing! And the way she moved…mesmerizing, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. It definitely keeps getting better.

Briana finished off her song and Rich stepped up to announce the next name. “You know, Robby, we’ve been doing this for how long? Four, five, sixty years?”

“Oh about sixty I think, from how old I feel at the end of a convention weekend,” Rob quipped, the audience breaking out in laughter.

“And never, in all that time, has this next person ever, ever, graced us with his presence on a Friday night. Did you know that?” Rich asked Rob.

“Never, ever?” Rob repeated.

“Never. So without further ado, please welcome to the karaoke stage for the first time EVER, Mr. Jensen Ackles!” Rich stepped away, letting Jensen saunter on the stage. The crowd was deafening and could not believe that Jensen would not only attend the Karaoke party, but actually participate!

“Thanks buddy. Don’t make me make you regret this,” he chuckled as the music started and he shook his head. He looked to the side and made eye contact with Briana, a knowing grin on her face.

“Revvin’ up your engine

Listen to her howlin’ roar

Metal under tension

Beggin’ you to touch and go

Highway to the danger zone

Ride into the danger zone

Headin’ into twilight

Spreadin’ out her wings tonight

She got you jumpin’ off the track

And shovin’ into overdrive…”

Jensen was never one for karaoke, but loved to sing and did so with everything he had. The song, while not special to him in any way, held a new meaning after tonight. He looked out among the crowd and was energized by them.

“Out along the edges

Always where I burn to be

The further on the edge

The hotter the intensity…”

Jensen closed out his song with vigor, feeding off the fans, much like he does at a Saturday Night Special Concert. He tossed Rich his microphone and practically bounced off backstage.

“Robby, I think you know what I’m going to say,” Rich paused for dramatic effect.

“Rich, I might play God on television, but I don’t know what you’re going to say. I might actually be afraid of what you’re going to say,” Rob turned to face the audience, a knowing look on his face.

“Well Bobbo, we’re gonna turn it up a notch. Please put your dirty little hands together for the one, the only, Miss Kim Rhodes!” Rich roared and the crowd went nuts. Kim ran out onto the stage, a smile splitting her face from ear to ear. She was always a fan favorite at karaoke and Rich knew with the song he picked, this would be no different.

As soon as the music started, Kim threw her arms in the air and started stomping her feet along with the beat.

“County road two thirty-three under my feet

Nothin’ on this white rock but little ol’ me

I’ve got two miles till he makes bail

And if I’m right, we’re headed straight for hell

I’m goin’ home, gonna load my shotgun

Wait by the door, and light a cigarette

If he wants a fight, well, now he’s got one

And he ain’t seen me crazy yet

He slapped my face, and he shook me like a rag doll

Don’t that sound like a real man?

I’m going to show him what little girls are made of

Gunpowder and lead…”

“Come on! I can’t hear you!” Kim screamed. “Let’s make sure everyone knows we’re having a fucking good time tonight!”

“Well, it’s half past ten, another six-pack in

And I can feel the rumble like the cold black wind

He pulls in the drive, the gravel flies

He don’t know what’s waiting here this time

I’m goin’ home, gonna load my shotgun

Wait by the door, and light a cigarette

If he wants a fight, well, now he’s got one

And he ain’t seen me crazy yet

He slapped my face, and he shook me like a rag doll

Don’t that sound like a real man?

I’m going to show him what little girls are made of

Gunpowder and lead…”

The decibels were so high, it was a miracle anyone could hear anything after Kim finished, whipping the crowd into an even higher gear.

“Well, Kim really knows how to put on a show doesn’t she? You think she gets that from Zach and Cody?” Rich turned to Rob, who could only shake his head at his friend.

“I will end you Speight,” Kim’s voice carried through the PA system.

“Well Bobbo, I guess it’s your turn!” Rich quickly got back to business.

“Well this should be fun,” Rob commented, waiting somewhat awkwardly for the music to queue.

Now, the Black Crowes were a good band, a great band, but Rob wasn’t sure if this was the kind of message he wanted to send. But he undoubtedly knew it was exactly the message Rich wanted him to send.

“Baby here I am

I’m the man on the scene

I can give you what you want

But you gotta’ come home with me

“Girl, you have no idea how into you he is,” Briana cooed, her red lips just inches from Y/N’s flushed cheeks. “I couldn’t have picked a better song myself.” She just smiled, throwing her arm over her friend’s shoulders as she watched Rob work his magic on the crowd, and Y/N.

I have got some good old lovin’

And I got some more in store

When I get through throwin’ it on

You gotta’ come back for more

Boys will come along a dime by the dozen

That ain’t nothing but ten cent lovin’

Pretty little thing, let me light your candle

‘Cause mama I’m sure hard to handle now, yessir'am

Action speaks louder than words

And I’m a man of great experience

I know you’ve got another man

But I can love you better than him

At first Rob felt dirty singing this, knowing Richard’s intent behind it, but by the end, stealing glances at Y/N throughout the song, Rob threw caution to the wind. He ran to the side of the stage and sang directly to her. It was no secret to everyone that Rob had a giant crush on her. It was only lost on her. Maybe he could get her to notice.

Take my hand don’t be afraid

I’m gonna prove every word I say

I’m advertising love for free

So you can place your ad with me

Boys will come along a dime by the dozen

That ain’t nothing but ten cent lovin’

Pretty little thing, let me light your candle

'Cause mama I’m sure hard to handle now, yessir'am…”

Y/N was blushing furiously, her mouth agape as Kim and Bri led her backstage for her next song. She looked like she could use a stiff drink. Or two. Ruthie was headed out just as they walked in. She winked at Y/N and skipped behind the curtain as Rich called her name.

Ruth was a great entertainer and sang a fun filled rendition of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, getting the whole crowd involved, even pulling a few fans up on the stage. Mike Borja even joined the fun, then followed it up with ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man. The crowd went wild for Matt Cohen as usual when he came out rapping Macklemore’s Can’t Hold Us like a beast and Jason slowed it down a bit with Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.

“We’ve got a few more songs for you good people tonight and I know I appreciate you letting these fools take over your karaoke party. Whaddya say we get Jensen back out here?” Rich addressed the screaming fans and it got even louder when Jensen made his way back through the curtain. “Oh Ackles, you’re gonna love this one!”

Jensen gave everybody the most epic bitch face that ever bitched when he realized what song was playing. But, ever the consummate performer, he rolled with it and knocked it out of the park in a way that only Jensen can do.

This hit, that ice cold

Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold

This one for them hood girls

Them good girls straight masterpieces

Stylin’, wilin’, livin’ it up in the city

Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent

Gotta kiss myself, I’m so pretty

I’m too hot (hot damn)

Called a police and a fireman

I’m too hot (hot damn)

Make a dragon wanna retire man

I’m too hot (hot damn)

Say my name you know who I am

I’m too hot (hot damn)

And my band 'bout that money, break it down

Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)

'Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you

Saturday night and we in the spot

Don’t believe me just watch (come on)

Briana watched from the wings, her skin heating up as she watched Jensen dance his dorky self across the stage, high-fiving fans, slapping Rich on the ass and stealing Borja’s hat. He could never pretend to be grumpy for long, and she got the feeling he was loving the whole experience and getting closer to the fans that the normal concert allows.

Before we leave

Lemme tell y'all a lil’ something

Uptown funk you up

Uptown funk you up uh

I said uptown funk you up

Uptown funk you up

“You better go jump on that!” Kim pushed her out onto the stage just as Jensen made his way over to where they were standing. Briana stumbled right into Jensen, but he easily caught her with one strong arm and pulled her with him to center stage. Briana was never a shy one and she wasted no time doing her worst as Jensen finished the song out, his eyes never leaving her grinding body on the stage next to him.

Come on, dance, jump on it

If you sexy then flaunt it

If you freaky then own it

Don’t brag about it, come show me

Come on, dance

Jump on it

If you sexy then flaunt it

Well it’s Saturday night and we in the spot

Don’t believe me just watch come on!

“Well that was incredible wasn’t it? Watching two of the world’s most beautiful people get their freak on in front of a couple hundred people? But damn if it wasn’t a good time!” Rich laughed, his body rolling forward as Jensen and Briana made their way off stage. “Oh no Miss Buckmaster! You get that fine ass back here! Might as well bring him with.”

“Richie, can I at least pick?” Briana pouted, standing close enough so only RIch could hear her.

“Oh no sweet cheeks! The whole idea was for me to pick the songs!” Rich reminded her. “Besides, the ladies are totally killing it!”

“Yeah, we are!” she smiled. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

Briana killed Whitney’s I’m Every Woman, all the ladies coming out to join her, as they tormented the men, Jason even pulling Jared on stage, so he could see how they were getting beat down by a bunch of girls.

“Brother, it doesn’t matter the competition, women will win every day of the week and twice on Sundays,” Jason slapped him on the shoulder as he headed off stage. “I need a drink.”

“So Rich tells me I’m up for another one. Hit it Maestro,” Y/N smiled. The music started and she knew she had Rich to thank. This song had become her anthem. He had been a good friend and better listener over the last several months and she was grateful for him, grateful for all of them. She could never picture her life without the crazy family she had found.

“This is for every single one of you that has been through hell and came out the other side…like a Winchester,” she grabbed the microphone and readied herself.

“You know the bed feels warmer

Sleeping here alone

You know I dream in color

And do the things I want

You think you got the best of me

Think you had the last laugh

Bet you think that everything good is gone

Think you left me broken down

Think that I’d come running back

Baby you don’t know me, 'cause you’re dead wrong

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

Stand a little taller

Doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone

What doesn’t kill you makes a fighter

Footsteps even lighter

Doesn’t mean I’m over 'cause you’re gone…”

Y/N laughed as she danced around the stage, much like she did alone in her apartment or trailer. She finally felt like herself again.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, stronger

Just me, myself and I

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

Stand a little taller

Doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone

Thanks to you I got a new thing started

Thanks to you I’m not the broken-hearted

Thanks to you I’m finally thinking 'bout me

You know in the end the day I left was just my beginning

In the end

Bouncing around the stage, Y/N closed out the song to a standing ovation and ringing ears. She had never felt lighter. She hugged Rich, giving back the microphone. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but I ain’t done yet,” he winked at her. “Robbie, you’re up buddy!”

As soon as the title card hit the screen on stage, Rob groaned internally. The audience picked up the whistling for the first 45 seconds as Rob gave his best friend a piece of his mind, a smile on his face all the while.

“Rich! What are you doing? You totally set me up for this. I’m going to kill you in your sleep, just so you know!”

“Ohhh Bobbo, you’ll thank me in the morning and we both know it. Everyone knows it. Now focus and sing Axl!” Rich slapped Rob’s ass before ducking off stage. Rob looked around and caught Ruth and Y/N off to the side, slowly swaying to the tune.

“Shed a tear 'cause I’m missin’ you

I’m still alright to smile

Girl, I think about you every day now

Was a time when I wasn’t sure

But you set my mind at ease

There is no doubt you’re in my heart now

Said “woman take it slow, and it’ll work itself out fine”

All we need is just a little patience

Said “sugar make it slow and we’ll come together fine”

All we need is just a little patience (Patience)

Mm, yeah

I sit here on the stairs

'Cause I’d rather be alone

If I can’t have you right now, I’ll wait dear

Sometimes I get so tense but I can’t speed up the time

But you know love there’s one more thing to consider

Said “woman take it slow and things will be just fine”

You and I’ll just use a little patience

Said “sugar take the time 'cause the lights are shining bright”

You and I’ve got what it takes to make it

We won’t fake it, I’ll never break it

'Cause I can’t take it…”

Y/N left Ruth’s side and strolled to where Rob stood center stage, his hand wrapped tightly around the microphone, his eyes closed as he whistled the quick few notes. When he opened his eyes, he found her right beside him.

Little patience, mm yeah, mm yeah

Need a little patience, yeah

Just a little patience, yeah

Some more patience, yeah

I’ve been walking the streets at night

Just trying to get it right

It’s hard to see with so many around

You know I don’t like being stuck in the crowd

And the streets don’t change but maybe the names

I ain’t got time for the game 'cause I need you

Yeah, yeah, yeah but I need you

Oh, I need you

Ooh this time

Rob looked down at the end of the song, the ballroom booming with cheers and applause, to find Y/N’s hand clasped tightly in his.

“All you needed was a little patience,” she smiled up at him.

“If I can’t have you right now, I’ll wait dear,” Rob admitted, a blush creeping up his cheeks.

“Take it slow and things will be just fine,” she squeezed his hand and they rushed off the stage, only to be besieged by their friends.

“I knew it!” Kim threw her hands up in victory.

“Well that took longer than it should have,” Ruth giggled, sashaying back to the refreshments.

Y/N watched as Jared and Matt both slapped twenties in Jason’s hand.

“You bet on us?” Y/N asked, a mix of outrage and amusement as she looked among her friends, her hand still in Rob’s. His face was somewhere between pride, joy and shame.

“Hell yeah we did,” Jensen chimed in. “Now pay up Buckmaster!”

“I’m fresh out of cash, Ackles. Sorry,” she swayed towards him.

He grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her to him. “ I can think of plenty of ways you can work it off.” His deep timbre practically a growl before he kissed her.

Catcalls could be heard out on the stage no doubt. Rich poked his head through the curtain. “I missed it?”

“Told ya you would!” Kim hollered, holding out her hand. Rich, Mike, Y/N and Ruth all slipped her their payment. “Jas and I cleaned up. Come on folks, first rounds on us!”

“I guess it was a wager in more ways than one tonight, huh?” Rob chuckled, turning to face Y/N, a smile lighting up his face.

“Our friends may have bet on us, but I’m still a winner,” she grinned, lifting her chin to meet his baby blues.

“Yeah? How so?” he asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I got the guy, but I am still missing my winnings,” she stepped closer, mere inches separated them and she could feel the heat emanating from his lean body.

“What winnings are those?” he whispered, closing the distance even more.

“I still need your payment on the Buckles bet,” she reminded him.

“Oh yeah, what do I owe you again?” he feigned innocence.

“Let me think,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his in a sweet and slightly heated first kiss. “I think about a thousand more of those would be a good start.”

“Seems like a steep wager, Miss Y/L/N,” Rob quipped. “But I think I’d like to up the ante.”

“You’re on. Just remember, anything you can do, I can do better,” she giggled under his steady gaze.

“It’s going to be a fun weekend,.” Rob mumbled, grabbing her by the neck and kissed her harder this time, leaving her breathless and wanting more. He pulled away, her lips chasing his. “Patience, my dear. Just a little patience.”

Did you like it? The nicest thing you can do for a writer is reblog their work and tell them, and others, how much you like it!

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p-artsypants · 6 years

Text

Arcadia or Bust (4)

Thank you all for such wonderful, kind, and lengthy reviews. They all inspire me to do my best!

This chapter is a little short, but it’s because the next chapter is going to be a lot longer. Hope you guys can be patient!

FF.net | AO3

—

“And four years later, we’re finally back.” Jim announced, coming into the cave.

“Ah, Master Jim. It’s was only over the day. Were you successful?”

He and Claire held up their grocery bags. “Well, I think the truck outside the sewer tunnel in the woods should be a good answer.”

“Ah! Splendid!”

The assembled trolls sighed in relief, glad that they wouldn’t be carrying the stone back on their own.

Jim started to unpack the items that others had requested from the surface. Some store bought, and others picked from the garbage.

He handed Blinky a can of whipped cream. “Did you guys figure out who’s coming with us in the truck and who’s walking?”

“I will be coming, as well as Merlin and NotEnrique. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I want to see to that the Heartstone is properly cared for. And I would like to be able to make sure the stone is placed as soon as possible.”

“That’s fair,” Answered Claire.

“Why NotEnrique and Merlin?”

“Merlin is still a human,” said Merlin, coming into view. “And Merlin wants food and a soft bed.”

NotEnrique joined the group. “I’m coming because I don’t take up space, but I walk really slow.” Then he glared at Jim, “and someone’s gotta play chaperone on this love boat.”

Nomura, who was in her human form, approached the group. “I will stay behind. I can go to the surface in this form and get any supplies we may need.”

Jim looked at her, perplexed. “I thought you couldn’t shape shift into a human if your familiar was out of the dark lands.”

Nomura smiled. “You misunderstand. Our familiar just has to remain safe and unharmed. My familiar is currently being cared for by your mother, and as so, she should remain safe enough for me to keep up appearances.”

“Wow, you guys really have this all planned out.” Jim noted.

“Trolls don’t sleep,” Merlin said, matter-of-factly. Rifling through the groceries. “So while you were napping peacefully in your hotel room, we were talking for hours.”

Claire was beginning to suspect that Merlin was easily jealous.

“Well, the truck should be able to fit all of us. It has a back seat.” Jim pondered a moment. “With gloves and a hoodie, I should be able to drive all day and night.”

“Are you okay with that?” Asked Claire. “I’m not that good at driving, but I could take over when you need me to.”

“It’s alright,” he assured. “We’ll take breaks for food and stuff.”

“So I suppose the only thing left to take care of is putting the Heartstone on the truck,” Pondered Blinky.

“And that’s going to take all the help we can get.” Jim turned to the Trolls in the cavern, “alright, I need help from the strongest trolls to move the new Heartstone!”

“Carefully!!!”

—

Once the Stone was loaded on the truck bed, with only a few bumps, the group discovered a new problem.

“Who on Earth do you expect to fit back there?!” Blinky asked, looking at the club seating.

The seat was a bit smaller than Jim had initially thought.

“Well, you were the one that wanted to come along.” Jim shrugged. “Look, we put a UV protector on the windows in the back, but in some states, it’s illegal to have them in the front.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that no sunlight should come in the backseat.”

“I have an idea,” said Claire. “During the night, Blinky can sit up front, then during the day, I’ll sit up there.”

“And what about me?” Merlin asked, crossing his arms.

Claire huffed. “Fine, we’ll just all take turns.”

“In that case,” said Blinky, “I would like a turn at driving.”

“Absolutely not.” Everyone else said in unison.

So Blinky rode shotgun first, being that it was still nighttime. While Claire and Merlin sat in the backseat. NotEnrique curled up on Claire’s lap, to nap. Jim plugged his phone in to charge, and turned on his GPS.

Then they were off.

For a while, they travelled in silence, just listening to the hum of the engine, as Jim navigated his way to the highway. From there, it was silent in the car as Siri gave lane switches and proper exits to take. It was a wild ride of weaving concrete and Jim was doing everything possible to avoid any kind of collision.

“Fascinating, do all carriages go this fast?” Merlin asked.

Claire answered. “Mostly, they can go faster, but there’s a legal limit.”

“Limit! We want to get back to Arcadia, don’t we? I say we punch it!”

Jim frowned, his eyes glued ahead. “But that could potentially get us in trouble with the police, and I’d like to avoid them as much as we can in this trip, hmm?”

“Police? Oh, your law enforcers. Do their carriages also move quickly?”

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”

The first tollbooth was passed, and everyone fished around for enough coins to feed the machine. Getting more coins would be a necessity down the road.

At around 3 am, the road was wide open and straight. The only light came from the headlights, buildings dotting the distance, and the soft glow of the heartstone in the truck bed.

“For 252 miles, Use the left 2 lanes to stay on I-76 West toward Harrisburg.”

Jim groaned.

“252 miles? Why, that’s not that far.” Merlin placed his feet on the seat, against Claire’s legs and reclined.

Claire shoved him away, jostling NotEnrique in the meantime, and glanced at the map. “Yeah, but that’s just until our next turn. Our total trip is going to be 2,771 miles, according to the map.”

“Oh.” Merlin noted, with an unhappy tone.

“We have driven quite far already. I venture this was more that a few days travel on foot.”

Jim nodded. “And after all that, I’m glad we’re sitting and driving back. I’m exhausted.”

“You never really got to rest after the final fight,” Blinky observed. “How is your wound?”

“Mostly the same.” Jim admitted. “It looks okay, but it still stings.”

Back when they were at the hotel, Jim had come out of the shower in only his sweatpants. Claire had seen the mark on his chest, a shallow crater with cracks coming off of it like lightning. It looked like a scar, but she knew it had to still be bothering him. Even then, she was exhausted, and the moment wasn’t right, so she hadn’t mentioned it.

“Do Trolls scar?” She asked, as the conversation lulled.

Blinky seemed to think. “Suppose you hit a stone and it leaves a mark. Does that ever heal?”

“Um, not that I’ve ever seen.”

“Trolls are living stone. That is why our tattoos, as you call them, are created with a chisel, and not a needle and ink. But, as I have said before countless times, this may not be the case with Master Jim. If he is wounded, who’s to say it will or will not scar? Only time will tell.”

Claire took this answer with a shrug.

They had been driving for hours now. Conversation popped up here and there. But Blinky wanted Jim to concentrate on driving, and Merlin had a tendency to kill a conversation prematurely.

If only the radio worked.

Claire pondered this as Merlin drawled on and on about a battle waged in 1500 that he played a role in. The others in the car doubted his honesty, but stayed quiet, with nothing better to do.

“Incudo.” Claire whispered under her breath.

Suddenly, the sound system came to life, the speakers blasting electric guitar.

Merlin stopped talking as everyone stared at the radio.

“Peculiar,” Blinky said simply.

Jim smiled, “Hey! I know this song!” He started bobbing his to the tune, an 80’s rock anthem. Then he started singing, with gusto.

“Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel,

My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel.”

Jim sat up in his seat, trying to match the falsetto of the singer. “Touching yooooOOOOoooooOOOOOu, touching meeeeEEEEEEeeeeee!

Touching you, God you're touching meeeeEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Jim wasn’t really ever the musical type. It wasn’t that his singing was bad...it just wasn’t great.

But here, stuck in a truck with his beloved, his dad, and an asshole for hours on end, halfway asleep, he just decided to belt out the words and notes, glad to be a little goofy.

“I believe in a thing called love,

Just listen to the rhythm of my heart!

There's a chance we could make it now,

We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down!

I believe in a thing called loooooooooooove!”

Oof, that high note was killer, and Jim’s voice cracked as he tried to reach it. For the next verse, he reached behind him, trying to touch Claire.

“I want to kiss you every minute, every hour, every day!

You got me in a spin but everything is A.OK!”

He growled, in an attempt to be sexy.

Claire laughed, and sang along with him, just as badly, since she didn’t know the lyrics.

“Touching yoooOOOOoooou, touching meeeeEEEEeeeeee,

Touching you, God you're touching meeeeeEEEEEEEE!”

Merlin covered his ears.

“I believe in a thing called love,

Just listen to the rhythm of my heart.

There's a chance we could make it now,

We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down.

I believe in a thing called looooooooooove!

AAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

As the guitar solo broke out, Claire asked, “how do you know this?”

“My mom used to listen to it all the time! And we’d always sing along to it. How can you not!?”

The vocals came back in, with just clapping. “I believe in a thing called love,

Just listen to the rhythm of my heart.

There's a chance we could make it now,

We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down.

I believe in a thing called looooooOOOOOOOoooove,

YEAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

At the trash can ending, Jim drummed his hands on the steering wheel dramatically.

Blinky smiled. “It’s always so fun to listen to traditional human ballads.”

Merlin removed his hands. “Is it over?”

NotEnrique laughed. “I didn’t realize we were doing karaoke!”

Jim focused back on driving, panting slightly, though it didn’t matter too much, they were the only ones on the road. “I don’t know, I just really like that song.”

The next song started with a strike of cords on a piano, a bit of salsa thrown into the mix.

“Oh no…” Jim moaned.

“What?”

“I know this one too!”

“It’s Señorita!” Claire clapped cheerfully.

It was then that the group realized that they were listening to a CD, and even if they didn’t know the song at first, they would by the end of the trip.

—

Around dawn, Jim pulled off at an exit that sported a pair of yellow arches.

“It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you

But when we are apart, I feel it too

And no matter what I do, I feel the pain

With or without you

And no matter what I do, I feel the pain

With or without you!”

Jim pulled into the parking lot, parking under a tree, and shut off the truck.

“Thank God,” Merlin muttered in the backseat.

“Alright, Claire and Merlin get to go in and have breakfast, while Blinky and I figure out how to get him in the backseat.”

Merlin hopped from the truck gratefully, stretching and popping his spine. “And whilst you figure that out, Claire and I will decide who gets to ride in the front. I delegate myself, because I have longer legs.”

Claire huffed. “And I delegate myself because I didn’t turn Jim into a Troll.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “I suppose you’re not going to let this go anytime soon, are you?”

Claire just smiled at him. “Take a guess.”

As they walked into the McDonalds, Jim climbed out of the truck as well, looking under the seats while Blinky inspected the Heartstone.

“Is everything alright, Master Jim?”

“Yeah, I’m just looking to see if there’s a way to bring the seat up a little.”

“It’s alright. I have become used to sitting in tight, enclosed spaces. Just be glad we are not traveling with Arrrgh.”

“There’s no way he’d fit in here.” Jim chuckled. There was no way to move the seat forward, but he did find a level that allowed the back of the seat to flip up, so Blinky could get in better.

Blinky climbed in, and Jim closed the door and the seat around him. “Comfy?”

Blinky returned a blank look while Jim just snickered. “I only wish I had brought a book or two with me to read.”

“Well, if we pass a book store, we can send Claire in to find something.” Jim climbed into the driver’s seat once again, just in time to dodge the sunlight that peaked through the tree branches. He relaxed, closing his eyes, and getting some rest.

But then, there was a knock on the window.

Jim jolted a bit, and swiveled his head over.

A police officer was staring at him.

Jim put both hands on the wheel. “Stay statue still,” he muttered to Blinky.

“Not going to be a problem.”

Carefully, Jim moved one hand and opened the door a crack. “Can I help you, officer?”

The policeman opened the door all the way, leaning against the frame. “What’s with the get up, son?”

“It’s a costume, sir.”

“And that?” He pointed at the large, unblinking Troll crammed in the backseat.

“Uh…my girlfriend’s costume.”

“Do you have your driver’s license with you?”

Jim nodded, ready to cooperate with the officer. “And I just bought this truck used, so I don’t have my insurance papers, but I can call my mom—“

“That won’t be necessary…” He peered at the license, “…Jim Lake Jr. Do you know why I’m here?”

Come to think of it, he wasn’t even driving. Why was he being questioned? “Uh…I can’t park here?”

He officer huffed, looking stern. “Last night, there was a break in at the Mineral Museum. Someone stole a very large and very valuable gem. One very much like the one in the back of your truck.”

He could have laughed if it wasn’t so totally unfair. Of course. Of course someone stole a giant rock that looked like the Heartstone. Why not? This trip couldn’t just be a simple drive back to Arcadia. Not after the mostly smooth hike. No sir, it had to be filled with drama.

Jim smiled awkwardly. “Uh…you probably wouldn’t believe me if I said that we just happened to find it, would you?”

“Son, I’m going to need you to step out of the vehicle.”

With a defeated sigh, Jim slid out of the seat.

The officer had to look up to meet his eyes. “How old are you?”

“16, sir.”

“Biggest 16-year-old I’ve ever seen.” He muttered, turning Jim around.

“I recently had a growth spurt.” He tried to keep a casual voice as he made eye contact with Blinky in the back seat. “I’ll be fine.” He mouthed.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court. You can decide at any time from this moment on to terminate the interview and exercise these rights. Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you?”

“Yes sir, I have nothing to hide.” That wasn’t exactly true, but his secrets weren’t exactly illegal.

“Alright. I’m calling a tow truck. We’ll be going down to the station, and the director of the museum will be called to identify your rock. If you truly did ‘just find it’, you’ll be free to go.” And with a stern hand, he was guided to the awaiting squad car and locked in the back seat.

Jim looked into the restaurant, hoping that Claire and Merlin would see him in distress. But instead, he saw them in a deep conversation as they ate breakfast.

All too soon, the tow truck came, and Blinky and the Heartstone were also on their way to the station.

A few minutes after they left, Claire and Merlin came out to a empty parking lot.

“Where the bloody hell is the Trollhunter?!”

NotEnrique, who had craftily snuck out of the truck while Jim was being ushered into the squad car, laughed by the door. “Ole Jimbo was arrested, for theft of a huge, precious gemstone.”

“Oh, is that all?” Merlin snorted. “Then I’ll be here, having another coffee.”

—

The song they sing in the car is ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness. It is the ultimate sing along song.

#trollhunters #troll!jim #jim lake jr #clairenuñez #blinkous galadrigal #merlin #fanfiction #fanfic

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twistednuns · 6 years

Text

September 2018

I spent the first week of September in Bali. I got my advanced diver's license and did my navigation dive with David in PadangBai. For the night and wreck dive I went up to Tulamben (and had the driver teach me how to open my chakras and read someone's aura - he even made me connect with my mother who wrote me an e-mail a few hours later asking if something was wrong because she had felt me very strongly) where I ate the very best tempeh satay skewers and fried eggplant at Warung Rusti (with a 90s playlist in the background - "Shalalalala!").

That night dive deserves it's own bullet point: It was the first time for me, I had never been under water at night before. After saying that I met real-life Gary (Spongebob's pet snail) I'll just include the message I wrote to a friend that night: Das war gerade so bombastisch. Mein erster Nachttauchgang, ich wusste überhaupt nicht was mich erwartet, und dann war das gleichzeitig noch ein Wracktauchgang - ich hatte das Wrack vorher noch nicht gesehen. Wow. Du steigst einfach nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit direkt am Strand ins Wasser und tauchst ab. Nach ein paar Minuten taucht plötzlich ein riesiger Schatten vor dir auf - die USAT Liberty. Könnte auf den ersten Blick allerdings auch ein Blauwal sein... Ich kann's gar nicht beschreiben. Du hast nur eine Taschenlampe dabei, auf einer Seite siehst du vage Schemen vom Boot das von hinten manchmal von anderen Tauchern angeleuchtet wird, auf der anderen Seite nur Dunkelheit, schwarze Tiefe. Das Allerbeste ist allerdings, die Taschenlampe auszumachen. Wenn man im stockfinsteren Wasser mit den Armen wirbelt, erzeugt man hunderte kleine Luftbläschen, die wie leuchtende Funken aussehen. Magisch! Hat das was mit Biolumineszenz zu tun? Muss recherchieren. Das ist so ein geiles Gefühl. Mitten im Nichts, in der Dunkelheit, um dich rum nur Wasser. Ständig am Überlegen, ob man nicht doch noch spontan Panik kriegen soll. Beim Auftauchen siehst du die Sterne über dir, den Mars, die Milchstraße. Vom Ufer siehst du das Meer an manchen Stellen milchig türkis aufblitzen - wo die Taucher tief unter der Wasseroberfläche das Wrack anleuchten.

Climbing a fucking volcano in the middle of the night. Seriously, climbing Mount Batur must be one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I wasn't ready for this. Getting up at 1am, only a weak flashlight against the darkness, shorts and a thin jacket against the cold. I got scratches, killed my knees, my lungs were angry as well. I fell. And I still don't know how but somehow I made it to the top. So I sat there, shivering, wet, in the thin air surrounded by clouds. Listening to Krishna Das because that's what I kept doing in quiet moments during my trip. So I witnessed the moon and the stars vanishing, the night growing fainter, the sunrise behind Mount Agung. Walking downhill wasn't any easier (I'll never be able to get the black earth stains out of my jeans) but I managed. My reward: an organic tomato for breakfast, straight from the field. And soaking in hot spring water at Toya Devasya. They had an infinity pool right in front of Lake Batur, just what I needed - even though I only started to notice how many of my muscles were mad at me.

Later, I went to Ubud where I took part in a cleansing/blessing ceremony at the Holy Spring Water Temple, Pura Tirta Empul. We got green bathing sarongs and made an offering before we got cleansed and "talked" to the spirits in the pool. In the afternoon we met a Balinese healer who basically only confirmed what I already knew. I must be on the right track, I suppose. Later I talked to Alex from the UK on the backseat of our car while the others had coffee. We were born one day apart and felt that there were a lot of similarities in our biographies. He asked me for advice on his panic attacks and what he could do about the mask he keeps wearing so that nobody gets to know the real Alex. It felt like a therapy session but I loved how open you can be around a total stranger.

Ubud treats: daily massages, affordable lash extensions, health food everywhere (Smoothie bowls! Veggie wraps! Goddess bowls! Oh, and Gelato Secrets, not healthy at all but delicious), a successful ring quest (good luck trying to find gold jewellery in Bali... but in the end I managed to find a gorgeous ring with a bluish green stone) and a whole day in a batik workshop where I learned the traditional technique from locals. Worth mentioning: the little girls dancing for us at the healer's place - especially the goofy, chubby one with her puppy and the girl in pink who would exaggerate the traditional eye movements and made me laugh / Riding a scooter - this time as a passenger on the back. The gorgeous view of the countryside north of Ubud. / Talking to the Canadian newlyweds about the NHL while having lunch with a view over the rice terraces. /

Magic for Humans

The stories Richard and Star Wars in Benedict Wells' new short story collection Die Wahrheit über das Lügen.

Silence. Thank you, ear plugs. I don't leave the house without Ohropax and a good book.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. More or less the first science fiction book I've ever read but MAN that one is SMART. It's a take on human culture, mirrored by a tribe of very unexpected sentient animals. Worth mentioning: my new Kobo e-reader and OnLeihe (where you can get e-books from the library).

So I'm officially an adult now. Every single thing on this list is true for me. I don't really know why I'm putting this on my Things I Love list since it is pretty scary but at the same time I feel weirdly good about it.

Seeberger's trail mix salty/fruity with rhubarb, banana chips, almonds, peanuts, cranberries and physalis.

Celebrating autumn - even though I had a beautiful summer I'm kinda looking forward to sweater weather, crinkly leaves, gothic novels and pumpkin soup.

George Harrison with a beard and long hair was such a gorgeous human being. Listening to his songs on repeat at the moment.

Spending a day at the Isar with my students. We made a fire, they tought me how to skip stones (no talent) and after a while we couldn't bear the sun anymore so we just hopped into the river in our underwear. We walked along the gravel bank and allowed the water to carry us back to the others. I had such a good time.

What a musical conductor actually does on stage - such an interesting video, especially after many seasons of Mozart in the Jungle.

I know I've probably already said it but this recipe is absolutely delicious. Perfect for autumn. Not bad either: spelt crepes with a creamy chanterelle/champignon filling.

Finally finding a way to do a shoulder stand in yoga class even though my stomach muscles aren't strong enough.

Spending the evening with Manu. Who thinks I'm prettier without make-up. Who played with my hair. Who cooked for me. Who looked gorgeous that night. I mean, come on, open denim shirt over a hairy chest, wavy hair in a man bun with loose strands - that's just unfair. He played the guitar and we sang together. Trying to find a good duet to perform on Thursday (karaoke night!), ending up singing along to every weird song we could think of.

Nursing a yellow bell pepper plant back to health.

Sitting under a blanket outside, a captivating book on my lap, Dunkelgrün fast schwarz, watching the clouds being blown away by the warm autumn winds, flying leaves, deep in thoughts. The smell of family dinner in the air, the light fading away. A sense of longing in combination with melancholia and thoughts occuring on a meta-level, probably the result of too much writing, reading, dreaming, spending time alone.

A matte top coat turns Essie's Bahama Mama nail polish into pure velvet. I love the look and feel of it. So much more elegant and understated than shiny polish.

Give up comfort

My first karaoke night in Munich at Keg with Manu and Bibi. Performing together - my favourite was Because of You by Kelly Clarkson even though we were really bad. The atmosphere was pretty great. There were a lot of Brits around, probably because of the Oktoberfest. Folks were swinging a huge double-ended dildo around, we all danced with each other and I taught everyone German swear words. The good kind. After a few beers I just walked up to Manu (and Bibi!) and we started kissing. I kissed a GIRL and I liked it! Being thirty and somewhat confident is such a blessing. A lot of people kept saying that Manu and I should be a couple. Promising! Especially the girl who sang the Adele songs (and nailed it - voice twins!) was shipping us. Daw.

Dinner at Lena and Obi's wedding location. The waitress showed us around. I feld very grown-up asking questions and acting all responsible and busy.

Going shopping with Lena, trying to find a wedding dress for her. Falling in love with the coats at Zara. Unfortunately I still need to lose some weight in order to buy my clothes there.

Wondering how people actually perceive me. Sometimes I get the feeling that they see me as an angry feminist. But while being a feminist is totally fine with my - I guess I gotta work on my anger issues.

AnderART festival at Odeonsplatz - singing Wonderful Life with Ian, Jens and the GoSingChoir!

Meeting Manu L. at the Alcest concert. I liked talking to him that night. It was only the two of us and I liked how honest he was. And that he gave me a new, less emotional perspective on the whole deal with Frank.

Wearing black jeans, my new checked shirt, dark-rimmed glasses, a huge, soft grey scarf. Doc Martens. A headband.

Treating myself to a 100ml bottle of Byredo's Super Cedar perfume. I smell damn fine now.

On a Friday morning there was a cat downstairs in the subway station. She hung around at a corner and permitted me to pet her. She even jumped a little to meet my hand halfway. Very good start into the day.

#things i love #personal #present perfect #september #2018 #september 2018

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karaokeadvice · 4 years

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Meaningless Time

It’s a...Tuesday? I think? In the summer? I do know that it’s August, because I moved back to the States on August 1st. So I’m also completely jet lagged and I don’t have any sense of the time of day. To add to my confusion/displacement, I’m staying in my childhood bedroom at my mom’s house which has remained relatively unchanged since the mid-90s. (Case in point, my sister and I still refer to one of the bathrooms as “the new bathroom” although it was renovated in 1995.) So every day I wake up at about 5am craving enchiladas, and unsure about what decade it is, and where I am in my life. But I don’t think this is a unique problem. I assume that most of you are feeling aimless, unsure of the day of the week, and perhaps craving enchiladas at whatever hour you awaken. All of the “normal” markers of life are gone. Seems like a good moment to do a deep (medium?) dive into songs about time.

Time (Clock of the Heart) - Culture Club

[This is Karen’s only entry because not only is time meaningless, but I can’t remember any songs I have ever heard at all over the last 44 years.]

I go through periods every few years where all I want to do is listen to this song on repeat and start crying a little bit when actual chiming reminiscent of a beautiful yet merciless clock gently starts up during the chorus, and if that’s not something you can relate to, I guess you probably didn’t grow up waiting to just get to the part when you’re an older yet wiser divorcee in a peignoir with a high rise apartment featuring large windows to knowingly gaze out of over a twinkling cityscape as a saxophone solo wails in the background.

Well, some of that has come true for me, but not most of it, but luckily there’s always SOPHISTI-POP to help me cut to that feeling. According to Wikipedia, this is a term applied retrospectively to music “that emerged during the mid-1980s in the UK which incorporated elements of jazz, soul, and pop.” To me it’s songs that came on Top 40 radio after my mid-1980s bedtime of 8:00 pm so I had to listen to them on my clock radio stashed under my pillow and fantasize as detailed above and also something about impatiently taking off a large clip-on earring to answer the phone.

This feels like a love song but it’s actually a giant dis and a meditation on the sunk-cost fallacy of long-term relationships that are dead in the water. “Time won’t give me time / And time makes lovers feel / like they got something real / but you and me we know we got nothiiiiiiiiiiin’ but time.” At first it feels romantic--we’ve got nothing but time, baby, time to spend together in this beautiful partnership. But wait a minute. Time makes lovers feel like they have something real, but in this case the lovers have...nothing but time. That’s it. Time and nothing else is what’s keeping them together. The charming chiming is actually signalling the death knell of a relationship. “Time won’t give me time.” Isn’t that the truth? Also: an excellent saxophone solo.

Time Passages - Al Stewart

I always get Al Stewart and Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics mixed up. (I know, I know.) This song is actually pretty boring: a perfect fit for this period of ongoing malaise. The experience of listening to it is the equivalent of not listening to anything. It also seems to go on forever, clocking in at 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

There’s a seemingly endless youtube video someone made which pairs the song with just pictures of sunsets and skies. It’s exhausting and somehow irritating to watch. I think it’s supposed to be relaxing?

youtube

There’s also a weird screaming instrument (or person) at just about the halfway point. So, it turns out I hate this song. I didn’t know until I started this entry. I learned something new about myself today. If you want everyone to die of boredom, you could sing this at karaoke. Actually, that would be a great idea for a room full of drunk kickball players. Please someone take me up on this challenge when and if we can ever safely gather again.

Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick

I don’t know where Anna Nalick came from or where she went after she wisely cautioned us all to “just breathe” at 2am when we are waking up in a cold sweat and calling her for advice. Actually, at 2am I haven’t gone to sleep yet. I’m likely doing one of the following: having a debate with myself in my head about whether or not I should just give up sleeping and start a movie; deciding if it actually matters if I brush my teeth; wondering what things are plugged in that shouldn’t be; and/or mentally cataloging every boy I ever kissed. Also if someone called me at 2am I would scream. I’m calling BS on Anna Nalick actually picking up. At any rate, she is a really good friend to even consider answering the phone at that hour. Also maybe put your phone on vibrate?

Chicago - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

This is truly the question for RIGHT NOW. It’s also a really really dumb song. It seems like a filler song, like truly stream-of-consciousness writing (no shade; I’m doing the same thing right now!). But I’m envisioning the producer of Chicago’s album saying kind of last minute, “guys, we need one more song on this record. Literally anything.” I mean, look at the lyrics:

As I was walking down the street one day / A man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch / And I said / Does anybody really know what time it is

I mean, maybe I’m not giving the songwriter (Robert Lamm!) enough credit. I guess he’s having the same existential crisis that we all are? But I just find the whole thing so irritating. Who wants to listen to a play-by-play of his day and the people he encounters while on his ambling stroll? TL/dr: one guy wants to know what time it is, some lady feels the need to inform him that her watch has stopped, and then there’s a lot of pushing and shoving (?!) as people are going to and from work. But not our narrator! He’s just walking around, waiting to be approached, so he can NOT ANSWER the question he is asked, and instead ponder the meaning of life. It’s so annoying! And also completely confusing how this was a HIT SINGLE?!! The 70’s, man. (More about this soon.)

Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce

When I lived in England (the first time, as a kid) I had my first BEST best friend, Judith. (Hi Pudes, if you’re reading this.) Like the first person outside my family who actually totally *got* me. I guess we got each other? It was actually how I always imagined friendship to be, but it had never happened like that for me before.

We hung out every day after school and spent most weekends together. We’d stay up late listening to music in her room and just talking, talking, talking deep into the night. It was just before either of us had discovered boys, so all the energy that would later be used for crushes and romance was channeled into this amazing friendship.

When we moved back to the US, I was devastated.

We wrote long, newsy letters to each other faithfully for years. We saw each other every summer. I think it was the first summer we were reunited (her family came to the US to visit) that we sunk a lot of hours listening to “Time in a Bottle” and feeling sad about our fleeting moments together. We took the unusual step of writing the lyrics out on belts (?!!) for each other, and that belt with her handwriting and Jim’s lyrics hung on my closet door for all of high school.

But there never seems to be enough time / To do the things you want to do / Once you find them / I've looked around enough to know / That you're the one I want to go / Through time with.

The bitter irony here, of course, is I lived in England again until last Saturday, and there still wasn’t enough time to see her. Not that we were allowed to for much of the past several months, anyway. But regardless, we have families and busy lives of our own now, and that brief fleeting moment when friendship is your only responsibility has long passed.

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

I get a Strong Emotional Reaction from the opening chords of this song; do you? Flashback, warm nights!

This is one of three CL songs that I mix up. I always wonder, is this the one that makes me sad and I also think might be good to sing at karaoke? So I start here. Then, I realize, no, the one I’m thinking of has a longer title and something to do with night.

Oh! It must be “I Drove All Night.” So I move on to that one but it’s too upbeat.

Finally, I realize I must be thinking about “All Through the Night” and get the gut-punch nostalgia hit I was seeking from the opening keyboard twinkle. (Twinkle?!) Hope you enjoyed this tour of my brain.

Anyway, back to this song. Time after time, Cyndi helps me sift through the suitcase of memories, dreaming about my bright future as Mrs. Corey Feldman. Like Karen’s SOPHISTI-POP entry, this is another ten-year-old under-the-covers listening experience. With no baseline for actual relationships, I pictured this as a treatise on Adult Love. A series of gauzy-hued Missed Connections, punctuated by consent issues (you say, go slow).

Upon grown-up relistening, it is a strikingly accurate portrayal of Relationships. She’ll be waiting for her lover, time after time, no matter what; but also literally waiting--what with the clock ticking and the second hand unwinding. I’ll wait for you forever but also it’s 7:35 WHERE ARE YOU.

(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley / Jennifer Warren

This is not the best song on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. That honor OBVIOUSLY belongs to “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen. I don’t think you need to hear any more details about my ten-year old fantasies though, so I will spare you.

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” made a recent reappearance in my life when it was played at a Halloween party. I had a drunken miscommunication with my friend Nelson where I stood at one end of the dance floor and ran towards him at full speed, thinking he would somehow instinctively do “the lift”. But instead I just crashed into him and almost broke his glasses and nose. So, this is really just a word of warning.

Also, Patrick Swayze is SO MUCH OLDER then Jennifer Grey; how did we not notice/care? Just so busy stanning Baby and Johnny Castle. Better or worse than the glaring age gap between David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly in Labyrinth? EVERYTHING IS RUINED.

All My Life - K-Ci & JoJo

Luckily, the YouTube comments have written this entry for us.

Y.N. 2 months ago

Who’s listening during quarantine? 😁

O.S. 3 weeks ago

If you are also randomly playing old music. Hit like

JO 1 month ago (edited) 0% Butt shaking 0% Drugs 0% Lambos 0% Strippers 0% Cursing 100% TALENT

J.C. 2 weeks ago (edited)

TIMELESS!!!

#time has no meaning

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a----wilson · 7 years

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Erratic pt ໑ (C)

The auditorium was just as amazing, if not more, than the first time I was in it. Tall ceiling, bright stage lights, huge audience, or at least, space for an audience. Right now the only occupied space was the stage.

All three of the competing teams, including us, were gathered in a wide circle. It was a little odd how similar everything was from last year. Same spot, same time, same teams. Hell, on first glance, I only see two new people in all three of our teams.

“So, who’s going first?” A bored looking girl on the team from New Jersey asked. I could tell she didn’t really want to be here.

Tayla stepped forward and shot a glance toward our team. “We have two new members, but they’re not exactly new to glee,” she replied. “Elle, do you and Natalie want to go?”

This tradition of ours, letting new members show their skills, used to be for each of the teams to see what they were up against. Now it just turned into a little karaoke night before the competition the next day.

I saw Natalie smirk at the Cali team as her and Elle made their way to center stage.

“For those of you who aren’t aware of the rules, anyone can join in at anytime,” Nat explained as Elle chose a song off of her phone. Everyone that wanted to sing had to connect a device to the auditorium’s Bluetooth speakers, since we didn’t have a band at our beck and call.

Once the music started, a cheer of approval rang through the crowd. It was a pop song, which besides Broadway, was the only thing they ever sang. A few of the kids from California joined in dancing when the chorus started.

Bang, bang into the room

I let you have it

Besides Hayden, Elle and Nat were by far our best dancers. Seeing the kids from their old school dancing made me understand where it came from.

One of the newer girls from their team jumped in during the rapping part of the song. I’m pretty sure it surprised everyone how well she did. All in all, it was a great kickoff performance. I was constantly awed by the talent from the Cali team.

“Shit, you’re pretty damn good at that,” Nat commented toward the new rapper once the song ended.

“Merci,” the girl replied. I guess she was French. The guy that we met in the lobby, Daniel, came up behind her and swooped her into a hug. Elle noticeably shrunk back at how close he was. I was still confused as to what exactly happened between them. “Putain, ne pas faire!” she squealed.

“So, uh, what’s your name?” Nat asked, eyeing Daniel a bit.

“My name is Chantalle, and you are?” I felt Porter nudge me from my left side.

“Multilingual, you got a crush yet?” I glared at him, elbowing him in the ribs.

“I’m Natalie, this is Elle,” Nat replied, gesturing to Elle, who had inched backwards a few steps. Chantalle’s face lit up when she heard their names, and she turned to Daniel.

“Ce sont les filles que vous parlez toujours de?” I had to admit, the accent was pretty hot, even if I had no idea what she was saying.

“Ouais, elles ont transféré plus tôt cette année,” Daniel responded.

“Bien, pas étonnant qu’elles semblant si peur de toi tu as été un connard pour eux.”

Daniel rolled his eyes at whatever she had just said. As he did, he probably noticed the lost looks on most of our faces. “Um… sorry, she doesn’t know English that well.” He got a fist to the stomach for that.

“Je speak anglais fine, fuckface,” Chantalle replied. “Dites que vous êtes désolé.”

“Look, Elle,” Daniel began, looking over at Elle, but keeping his distance. “I’m really-”

“Okay, I’m sure this is some amazing psychological healing going on here, but some of us don’t want to be here all night.” All focus turned to the captain of the New Jersey team. I hadn’t liked her last year, even before she was captain.

“Yeah, sorry for the hold up,” Daniel replied, his voice getting angry. Chantalle whispered something in his ear, which made him smile and continue with “Tallie wants to go next, if that’s alright.”

When no one objected, she whipped out her phone and started a song almost everyone in the room had to know.

Let’s go to beach, each

Let’s go get away

“Is she addicted to Nicki Minaj?” Porter whispered to me. I chuckle.

“Maybe it’s the first American artist she heard,” I replied.

Daniel joined in for the chorus. They both looked like they were having a lot of fun. When the song ended, everyone cheered.

“You guys have anyone?” Tay asked the New Jerseyans after compliments were given to Chantalle and Daniel.

Wordlessly, the captain shoved a scrawny little girl forward. She had a guitar strapped to her back and earbuds stuck in both ears. Looking at her fingers, they were almost all bandaged. “Uh, hi, I’m Nash,” she muttered, turning to walk back into the crowd.

“No, sing something, Ash,” another girl from her team spat out.

“Like what?” She looked nervously around the stage.

“I don’t know, one of your cult songs or whatever.”

“O-okay.” Slowly unstrapping her guitar, she plugged the cord from it into her phone and strapped that to her leg. Taking a deep breath she started banging out chords viciously. It was obviously a rock song, but I’d never heard it before.

The volume of the music was excruciating and wonderful at the same time. But God! When she started singing it blew me away.

Father, did you miss me?

I’ve been locked up a while.

She seemed to gain confidence from the music. It gave her a new spirit, as she jumped around, almost flirtingly to the people closest to her. I was entranced by her.

Porter chuckled beside me and nudged me forward when she came closer. Our eyes met and she winked at me before pounding out the chorus of the song yet again.

I was almost sad when it ended, wanting nothing more at that moment than to keep listening to her mesmerizing voice. Someone yelled ‘encore’ and I seconded it. Pretty soon we were basically chanting.

Nash smiled wide as she nodded and dragged her fingers along the guitar strings yet again. I smiled too as she sang.

Do you have the time

To listen to me whine

My eyes widened as I recognized the song. It was one of the weird pop rock songs that mom used to sing all the time. Glancing over at Tayla, she seemed to notice too.

When the chorus came around, I jumped in and started singing with her. A few more people might’ve joined us, but I wouldn’t have noticed. I was too busy studying Nash’s smile, committing it to memory.

The ending of the song barely registered in my head until Nash leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “Do you know the song Holiday?” Because I didn’t trust my mouth anymore, I simply nodded like an idiot.

She began to play the opening notes of another song, this time she was staring at me just as much as I was staring at her.

Hear the sound of the falling rain

Coming down like an Armageddon flame

As we sang together, I couldn’t help but get lost in her deep blue eyes. I’d never felt as at peace as I was just singing and staring into Nash’s beautiful eyes.

#Erratic #original story #my ocs #idk #stories #excerpt from a book i hope to write

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teachingoutsidethebinary · 7 years

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Dive Bar

Prompt request: hello how r u?? could you do an avengers x teen!stark!reader?? tony's angsty teen (18 y/o) daughter listens to the same music as him but in modern bands like "the pretty reckless" and she performs "going to hell" at some old bar not knowing it's where the whole team goes sometimes and they see her perform?? maybe some pietro x reader during most of it as well?? thanks so much!! <3

Characters: Tony Stark, Pietro Maximoff, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, Reader

Warnings: couple of curse words

A/N: Thanks for the request! I hope I did it justice. Feel free to send more, and comments are always appreciated. As always, thanks for reading!

One Shot Masterlist

It was rare to have a moment of peace and quiet in the Avenger Tower. So, when everyone else was out on missions or errands, you took advantage of the empty common room. You snuggled closer to your boyfriend as you sipped hot chocolate and watched your favorite Netflix show.

“I still do not understand what is so special about this Flash character,” Pietro grumbled.

“Um, he’s super fast and saves the world,” you replied, as if it was obvious.

“I do those things too!” he exclaimed.

“You can run fast,” you admitted, “but you like to cause a lot of mischief too.”

“That makes life more fun, prinţesă.” He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and pulled you in for a sweet kiss. “I bet you didn’t see that coming,” he whispered as he nuzzled your neck.

You pulled away and laughed. “You really need a new pick up line, Piet.”

Before he could say anything else, a door slammed down the hall. You could hear voices getting louder and louder as they approached the common room.

“And there goes our peace and quiet,” Pietro sighed, leaning back against the couch.

You paused the TV and turned around to greet the intruders. A small smile curved your lips as you spotted Tony Stark and his daughter, Aria.

Aria was the spitting image of Tony. She kept her brown hair short and straight, with one side hanging like a curtain over her right eye. She had similar tastes in music and could often be spotted wearing t-shirts with the latest rock bands. While Tony loved Black Sabbath and AC/DC, Aria was more into The Pretty Reckless and the 1975. Currently, she was sporting a pair of ripped jeans and a Halestorm t-shirt. A large pair of headphones covered her ears, and a neon pink cord ran down to the phone in her pocket.

“Sweetheart, as much as I appreciate your argument, you can’t say that stuff to your principal!” Aria just shrugged and paused behind the couch.

“Hey Aria,” you said. “How was school?”

“My principal is an idiot,” she replied.

Tony raised his hands in exasperation. “Not again!”

“Why?” Pietro asked. He loved egging Tony on, and right now, Tony looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

“He told me my jeans were inappropriate because my legs were distracting to boys. I told him he needed to stop sexualzing my body and teach the other boys to keep it in their pants.”

“You’re right, he is an idiot,” you replied.

Tony glared at you. “I completely agree that he was out of line, but there are more appropriate ways to say it. And you left out a few key curse words, by the way.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “I’m going to my room. Am I grounded?”

“Well...uh, I mean…” Tony stuttered. “I mean, technically, you weren’t wrong...but...no more cursing out your principal please!”

Aria gave a curt nod and headed to her room. A few moments later, you could feel the bass from her music reverberate through the compound. Thankfully, Tony had gotten her room soundproofed, so at least you couldn’t hear the music.

Tony sighed and plopped on the couch right between you and Pietro.

“Why, yes, join us,” Pietro mumbled.

You glared at him over Tony’s head. “She’s 18, Tony,” you reassured Tony. “She’s feeling very passionate about certain issues.”

“I have no ideas where she gets it from!” he exclaimed. “I mean, who disrespects authority like that?”

You patted his shoulder sympathetically and decided not to mention the family resemblance. “Listen, she could be doing worse things.” You shuddered, thinking about all of the shenanigans you got into at her age. “Just be thankful she wasn’t like me.”

Pietro raised his eyebrows. “And what, exactly, did you do?” he asked.

“Oh you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. A few interesting encounters.” They both stared at you. “What?” you asked. “I really cleaned up my act before I got here.”

“I need a drink,” Tony groaned.

“Yes! That is a perfect idea!” Pietro cheered. “Drinks, tonight!”

“Dive bar?” you asked, your heart racing with excitement. You were never one to turn down a good dive bar experience.

“Dive bar,” Tony and Pietro said in unison.

“Aria is going out with some friends tonight, so she won’t be here anyway,” Tony added.

“Did someone say dive bar?” a voice asked from behind you.

You all turned around to find Steve and Nat walking into the room. “Yeah, you in?” you asked.

“Absolutely,” Steve replied with a grin. “Bucky and Sam will probably want to come too.”

“And Wanda,” Nat added.

After some debate, you all decided to meet back up at 9 to leave. Everyone filtered out of the room, leaving you and Pietro alone once again. Once he was sure everyone was gone, he had you pinned to the couch, and a mischievous smile danced on his lips.

“So tell me more about what you were like as a teenager,” he whispered. He peppered kisses down your throat.

“I was so bad,” you giggled, as you cupped his cheeks and leaned in for a searing kiss.

“How bad?”

You smirked. “You’re going to have to work a little harder than that to get my secrets from me.”

Pietro sat up and pulled you with him. “Challenge accepted.” You barely had time to think before he raced back to his room in the blink of an eye to work on his interrogation methods.

One might have many questions as to why Earth’s Mightiest Heroes choose a crappy, dirty dive bar as their destination to unwind. Truthfully, you all loved dive bars because no one ever gave you a second look. The drinks were cheap and strong, and the music was always perfect. It was hysterical watching Steve and Bucky try and adapt to these bizarre surroundings the first few times, but by now, they were naturals.

You walked into Big Dan’s ready to have a good time. By dive bar standards, Big Dan’s certainly wasn’t the best, but it definitely wasn’t the worst place you’d been. The floor had seen better days, but thankfully, the lights were almost always off. Instead, blacklights bathed everything in a cool, purple glow. There were a few ratty pool tables in the back, and the dartboard area had more holes in the wall than the actual dartboard. The Pac Man machine hadn’t worked in years, but Big Dan kept it there for sentimentality. A cramped stage took up the front of the bar, and it was fairly common for a karaoke session to take place when it wasn’t being used for open mic nights.

Of course, the most important part of Big Dan’s was the bar. He always kept it stocked with an interesting variety of bottom and top shelf liquors as well as cheap beer. Hey, you all came for the experience, not the quality.

Tony immediately sidled up to the bar and slapped a $100 bill on the counter, ensuring your group would get drinks as fast as you wanted them. He downed a shot of tequila while you nursed a Long Island Iced Tea. In the time it took you to sip a quarter of your drink, Pietro had finished three beers and was itching to get to the dance floor. He loved holding you close and swaying to the beat.

You spotted the rest of your friends as you and Pietro danced. Bucky and Sam were chatting up two gorgeous women at the pool tables. Bucky accidentally underestimated his strength and jammed the pool stick right through the white ball trying to impress the ladies. He looked at the mess sheepishly while the girls hid their giggles behind their drinks. The blonde girl gave him a kiss on the cheek and Bucky turned crimson. Sam merely rolled his eyes and guided the brunette over to the other pool table to try another game.

Steve and Tony were perched at the bar talking about god knows what. It was always business with those two. Thankfully, Nat and Wanda pulled them out to the dance floor, and soon, everyone was letting the stress of the day burn off.

After a while, you all made your way back to the bar for a refill on drinks. Big Dan walked on stage, and you hadn’t even noticed that a band had set up while you were out on the dance floor. He tapped the microphone a few times, and you all turned to face the stage.

“Ugh, I hate open mic night!” Sam groaned, banging his head against the bar.

“Why?” Wanda asked. “Sometimes the bands are really good!” Sam just gulped down half a beer in response.

Tony looked at Steve through narrowed eyes. “Captain America!” he shouted. “You’re my friend!” He stumbled over and wrapped Steve in an alcohol-induced hug. Steve just quirked his eyebrows and lightly patted Tony on the back.

“Shh!” you hissed. “I’m trying to listen to Big Dan!”

“And now,” Big Dan announced, “please welcome to the mic Aria’s Angels!” A ragtag group of teens shuffled out on stage, and plugged in their instruments. The singer stood with her back to the audience. The drummer tapped his sticks together three times, then slammed down. The lead guitar player started jamming out to an intense beat, and the singer jumped around as she began to sing.

Father did you miss me?

I've been locked up a while.

I got caught for what I did but took it all in style.

Laid to rest all my confessions I gave way back when.

“Huh, that’s funny,” Bucky observed. “The lead singer kind of looks like…”

“ARIA?!” you all shouted. Sure enough, it was Tony Stark’s daughter standing on stage. Her brown hair bounced violently as she sang the rock lyrics from her favorite song “Going to Hell” by the Pretty Reckless.

“Did you know she was in a band?” you asked Tony. He just stared at the stage, completely dumbfounded. You waved a hand in front of his eyes, but he barely even blinked as Aria continued to sing.

For the lines that I take, I'm going to hell!

For the love that I make, I'm going to hell!

Gettin' heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.

“She’s pretty good,” Nat complimented. Her head was bobbing back and forth to the beat, and soon, she pulled Wanda out to the dance floor. A sort of mosh pit had formed in the center, and people were jumping up and down. Pietro tried to pull you out to dance, but you waved him away so you could stay with Tony.

Aria looked encouraged by the response, and she smiled as she belted out the rest of the song. She even sauntered over to the guitar player and leaned against her back-to-back. When Aria slid down and gave the audience a sexy wink, Tony finally snapped out of his funk.

“What the hell?!” he yelped. “Did you just see that?!”

“I mean, lead singers do that stuff all the time,” you reasoned. Tony jumped up, but you held him back. “Wait to yell at her until after she’s done. Let her enjoy this.”

Tony opened and closed his mouth but finally relented and sat back down. He carefully watched as Aria moved about the stage. She seemed so confident, so sure of herself. She definitely wasn’t the same person he interacted with on a daily basis. He tried to rack his brain to remember if she had ever mentioned being in a band before, but he was drawing a blank.

The song finally ended, and the entire bar thundered with applause. Aria blushed and gave a small bow. She scanned the crowd and her eyes widened when she recognized Nat and Wanda. Her stomach dropped as she continued to spot the other Avengers, and eventually, her gaze landed on her father. She whispered something to her bandmates and hopped off the stage.

“Did you follow me here?!” she accused once she reached the bar.

Tony stared at her incredulously. “Follow you? I got here first!”

“You did such an amazing job!” you interrupted. “How long have you been in a band?”

Aria blushed. “Thanks. And just a few months. This was our first show.”

“Your first show?” Tony asked. “Honey, that was really good.” His anger seemed to dissipate as he saw his daughter in a new light. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Aria gave her signature shrug. “I dunno. I thought you’d be mad.”

Instead of answering, Tony pulled his daughter in for a tight hug. She reciprocated and buried her face in his shoulder. Eventually, she pulled away and rolled her eyes, but a huge smile took over her face.

“I’m going back to my friends,” she said.

“Fine, but get out of here soon, please,” Tony replied, crossing his arms. “You’re not old enough to be here.”

Aria shrugged and rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement. Tony stared at her proudly as she hopped back on stage to help the band pack up.

“C’mon, Tony,” you said, tugging on his arm. “Let’s dance.”

Tony grinned as he let you pull him out to the dance floor where he spent the rest of the night doing just that.

TAGS: @buckyappreciationsociety @iamwarrenspeace @theassetseyeliner @melconnor2007

#pietro x reader #tony stark #sassy Tony stark #dad tony stark #Tony Stark is a father #dive bar #avengers fic #Steve Rogers #james bucky barnes #Bucky Barnes #sam wilson #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #drunk tony stark #fluff #fluffy avengers

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drsilverwoman · 5 years

Text

Firkytoodle

2017

At my annual national academic conference in November, I met Kris – a professor of advertising at a small school in a small northeastern state and a friend of my graduate school friend Emma. I arrived late to the panel to see Emma present her work on bullying and girl culture and once I settled into my seat and was able to look up at the panelists and begin to listen, I saw Kris. Gorgeous. Totally my type. She was wearing a button down shirt with a bow tie, a suit vest and old ripped jeans. Her hair was cut in a mohawk and the tips were died a bluish color. She was just beginning her presentation as I found an outlet to plug my phone in to charge. I could not keep my eyes off of during her presentation on Teen Beat magazine. I loved that Teen Beat was her subject and the more words like hegemony, imperialism, post-feminism fell out of her mouth, the more attracted to her I became. The way her hands moved when she spoke, the strong line of her jaw, and her warm engaging smile pulled me in. I was in love. I couldn’t stop staring at her, watching her move throughout the space, watching her hands enact the ideas she had on paper. I thought about Abby, telling me that sometimes my stare is creepy and sometimes sexy, I consciously worked on making it my sexy stare, hoping she would notice me in the audience. I’d been working on my sex eyes since I could use them again.

During the panel and each of the presenters, I didn’t know she and Emma were friends and already had plans to meet up later in the week for drinks. I was excited about the chance to try and speak with her after the panel, but I was also worried because I needed to be somewhere. When the last round of applause happened and everyone started getting out of their chairs, I unplugged my phone and made my way to Emma. She was chatting with Kris and another woman and I could hear them discuss plans to meet up. I held back and let them finish. With the knowledge I would probably see her again I grew excited. Excited me in a way I love to be excited; the anticipation of something new, the potential push-pull between women, the lovely game of flirting that ensues, those first few touches and that eager anticipation of what might or will happen.

Moving through the crowd, I congratulated Emma on her work and I ran off to my next panel. That night was our annual graduate school happy hour and Emma said Kris may attend. She had been invited and I spent the evening eagerly waiting. She never showed.

The next day was a big workday for me. Meetings from 8-4 and a doctor’s appointment suck in the middle. An HSG test to see if everything in my uterus is working so that we can begin IUI when I return to Florida. I was meeting my parents for the appointment and hoping to have time to see one of my oldest friends who had set the appointment up for me. The day was exhausting and after dinner with some colleagues I was happy to call it an early night. Besides, the next day was the presentation I was most excited and nervous for – my piece on femme invisibility.

When she came to my presentation about femme invisibility I couldn’t even look at her in the audience. When she was the first person to raise her hand after the presentations were complete, and ask me a question about my paper, I got giddy. I did my best to play it cool, making eye contact with her as she spoke to me. After the panel ended, Emma reminded me to join her and Kris at Kris’ friends panel about meditation. Happily I obliged. Kris and I didn’t talk much on the way over, but I could feel both of us wanting to. I could feel that I was not the only one interested. Whether Emma had said something or not, I didn’t know, but I knew Kris was checking me out. We were both checking each other out and I could feel it.

Spacing, timing, and other people – they can be everything, frustrating, anticipating, exciting, and exhilarating. I was happy Emma filled the space between us during the yoga nidra session (I knew I would fall asleep. I always do. And I did). I was even happier when at the bar a few hours later, the shuffle of the crowd made it so that Emma could not fill the space between Kris and me.

Talking to her friend Shar about school and yoga and life was a nice way for me to be near Kris without quite engaging her. Not yet I thought, it’s nice to feel things build, to feel our legs bump into each other under the bar, to feel the energy and excitement grow between us. Once Shar left and I turned my bar stool towards Emma and Kris. I invited myself into their conversation and the real fun of flirting began. Subtle and friendly touches on the arm or shoulder, more bumping of our legs, my foot on her bar stool, her knee between my thighs, and finally, a hand on my lower back. Right in that space where we’re still friendly and also clearly wanting more.

By the time we left the bar and began making our way to another place, we were holding hands, showing off both the strength and sensuality of our touch. Having sex with your hands makes the foreplay of handholding powerful. I get to envision how she will make me orgasm as we walk down the street. By the time 50 Cent came on the screen and Des, my conference roomie who loves karaoke, pulled me to the mic to sing, Kris and I had already kissed. In the corner of the bar near the jackets and bags she pulled me to her mouth.

I hate making out in public. I’m too old for it and I’ve done too much of it. But I love that first kiss. I love when you’ve been flirting and circling all night, and then you get home and there is more circling, more flirting and the anticipation builds. Who is going to make the first move? When will we make the first move? How many moves will there be?

Our first kiss was at the bar and I am not complaining. Our second, third, fourth and so on kisses were there as well. And then I had enough kissing at the bar and I wanted to kiss at home. We both did.

Stumbling out of the bar we called an Uber and wait outside. My longtime friend from Philly, Donovan, follows us out. With me no longer at the bar, he doesn’t care to hang out with people he doesn’t know. In that moment, he revels at me and my ability to attract people. He admits to always having had a crush on me and at the same time wishes Kristin all the best. They share a moment; a nod of recognition and the car pulls up. We climb in, stumbling on each other, on the curb and into the car.

Back at her AirBnB rental, she laughs as she points to the loft where we will soon be heading. She tries not to make any assumptions and instead sits on the couch and offers me a seat. I don’t want to sit there. I want to kiss her and climb the ladder up to the bed. I take her hand, pull her off the sofa and we begin to kiss. I can tell that she is shy and I will need to take the lead. I don’t doubt her desire for me, just her understanding of how far to go and how fast to move. I push myself closer to her and our kiss grows harder. She begins to unbutton my shirt and I push her hand away.

“Get us some waters,” I tell her. I take my shoes off and climb the ladder. The space in the loft is small. Just a mattress on the floor, a few shelves, and a slanted ceiling making the space feel enclosed and limiting. I pull my pants off – keeping my socks on. Always keeping my socks on when I can. I take my shirt and bar off and lay back on the bed. When Kristin arrives with the water she moans as she sees my almost naked body.

With the waters carefully placed on one of the small shelves, Kristin unbuttons her own shirt to reveal a worn-in white men’s A-shirt. I love the look of a woman in wife-beaters. It’s so wrong the name but the way it looks is so right. Her small breasts, which are almost just nipples, are erect showing her excitement. I grab the shirt, in the middle of her chest and pull her down towards me, on top of me. The passion of the kissing that began downstairs, that began at the bar picks back up. I love the feel of her tongue inside of my mouth, her lips hard against mine, and her hand gripping tightly around my chin. Her belt buckle feels cold and digs into my belly and she deftly moves between my legs, wraps one around back and allows the weight of her body to move against mine. We stay like this for some time, letting the excitement build more and more. Moving with each other, pushing against one another and find out rhythm. When I can’t take it any longer I grab her hand, the one gripping the sheets by my ear, and move it down to my inner thigh, the closest she can get to being inside me with our bodies so tightly entwined. She grabs the flesh of my leg and I can feel her smile as her mouth pulls away from mine. At the same moment her leg pulls away from my leg to make room for her hand.

Slowly, she uses her elbow to push my knee, widening my legs. With her arm still holding my leg down, her fingers move towards my panty line. Just ever so slightly, she moves the fabric over, skimming my clit with her knuckle. I can feel the edges of her skin against the wetness and I like the contrasting textures. I arch my back towards her and she pulls her hand away. She fully pulls away from my mouth, looks at me, then down between our legs, and back at me. She smiles with knowing anticipation. I arch my back even further, showing her that I need her inside of me and that I cannot wait any longer. She happily obliges.

Gentle at first, she slides two fingers inside of me. Again I notice the texture of her hands. While an academic yes, a woman who spends much of her time at a keyboard, she’s told me her love for labor. She recently sold an old barn house in upstate New York she shared with her ex. Years she has spent fixing the place into something livable and I feel the strength of that work now inside of me.

I can’t stand how soft she is being. I need more. She is hesitant, taking time to figure out what my body likes and not rushing. But I am rushing. I need the release of the first orgasm. I know many more will come after and I will let her take it slower, but for now, everything inside of me is screaming for more. I grab her wrist and pull her inside of me whispering in her ear “No need to be gentle.” My warm breath against her ear is a huge turn on for both of us and I bite the soft skin where her ear meets her jaw line. With that, her hand moves deeper. I feel her begin to fill me up and begin to move.

“I promise you wont hurt me.” I encourage her hoping she will fuck me harder. I’m so close to orgasm and I need her deep inside of me. As she rocks my body closer and closer to orgasm, my head pulls away from her and finds the pillow lifting my neck towards her mouth. I grab her shoulder as my body begins to shake and just as I reach that final moment before I cum, I dig my nails into her back and whisper “fuck.” With that, she holds still as the walls of my vagina harden and then release. The wetness my body produces turns her on and with a gentle nod of my head, I encourage her to keep going. She happily obliges and we fuck.

She fucks me over and over again. The combination of booze and sex is making me lightheaded. I know that if I don’t get off my back soon, I won’t be able to. And so as she begins to make me cum again I pull her out of me.

“It’s your turn.”

I realize at this point I’m still wearing my underwear and it is soaked. I climb towards the foot of the bed take it off and then take hers off as well. With her shirt still on, she lays on her back. With my knees on the ground by the side of the bed, I move between her legs and rest my left hand on her belly. With my right, I begin to touch her. Her wetness invites me inside. But I am not gentle. I never am. I should be. She cums quickly and then tells me stop. She wants to fuck again when we’re sober and it’s been a while since she’s been fucked. I crawl back onto the mattress beside her and we kiss.

Waking up the next morning, naked, with Kristin’s hands roaming all over me is lovely. It is warm and sexy and the perfect way to start the day. Her hand slowly moves down my stomach and towards my clit. Again I am enamored by the roughness of her hands. My clit responds to her touch and soon enough she is back inside of me. This time I enter her as well. We cum easily and together.

“I could do this all day,” she says. “Do we really need to go to our panels? Let’s just blow them off and stay here for a few more hours and then get breakfast.”

“I wish.” And with that I check the time. Just before my alarm is set to go off. Reluctantly I begin to dress. I put my still wet panties in my purse and after climbing down the ladder, on go my shoes and jacket. We kiss a few more times and then I leave.

Kris’ AirBnB is two blocks from my old apartment. As I walk back to the convention hotel, my mid-twenties come flashing back to me. This is not the first time I have walked these exact streets at this time of day, looking just like this. Hung-over, make-up everywhere, sore, and wet. The cold air wakes me up in the best way possible and I laugh at myself. I’m 38, I’m married and I am a professor, but shit hasn’t changed much in ten years.

Back in Orlando, I am in a state of limbo, with a new word. Firkytoodle. Firktoodly is about the process and not the end result; it’s about not just enjoying the process but rather, relishing in the process. In firkytoodle, teasing and playing become the ultimate reward.

The weeks leading up to the conference have been rough and with something, someone new on the horizon, I am looking forward to experimentation. Constant negotiating and renegotiating secondary relationships have strained my primary relationship with Abby. We came to the point that we decided to eliminate them all together and just have the freedom to be with other people when time allows. Time allowed this weekend and now I wonder what time allows for in regards to my connection this weekend. Will I see Kris again? Will the flirtation “accompanied by leisurely experiments in…sweet dirty talk” create a “favorable phase for record levels of orgasmic release”? Is asking that question negating firkytoodle for what it is?

I’m hopeful that firkytoodle is the answer and that I don’t need to worry, that I can simply enjoy the process. If nothing else, haven’t I learned that in opening our marriage, everything is fucking process?

#lesbian #femme #poly #open relationship

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jackthebard · 7 years

Text

Ultimate Opera Singer

Name: Kaneshiro Marié

Age: 24

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 133

Blood Type: A+

Hair: Black

Eyes: White

Likes: Good acoustics, laughter, commentary

Dislikes: People being too quiet when they approach, losing her cane

Before Tragedy: Blind from birth, Kaneshiro Marié seemed to be a lost cause to her French father and Japanese mother. However, she quickly showed that she had ears that made up for what her eyes lacked. Because her sense of hearing was so well-developed, she could discern even the subtlest differences in sounds (though not to Daredevil extents of using it for echolocation), and replicate them perfectly. This caused her to become one of the premier sopranos in the Japanese Opera by age thirteen, as well as allowing her to become fluent not only in French and Japanese, but also in Spanish, Italian, English, Russian, and German. Her skill in multiple languages and her amazing memory allowed her to memorize almost all of the operatic canon by the age of fifteen. In truth, Hope’s Peak had been scouting her despite her young age, only waiting for a chance to give her an acceptance letter.

During Tragedy: One of the first things that Marié lost was her cane. Her father went not long after. Stumbling around in the ruins of Tokyo, she had to forage for food using a half-bent piece of rebar, not knowing how long she would survive. Eventually, she was discovered by the Future Foundation, where one of the scouts that had been monitoring her recognized her and the clear tone of her voice. They took her in, nursed her back to health, and eventually convinced her to sing again, allowing her to raise her voice in operas of hope, encouraging her saviors and their soldiers with songs of joy and justice. After Tragedy: Incredibly grateful to attend Hope’s Peak, Marié felt a little out of place, spending a few days pacing around the entirety of the massive school until her instructor requested that a GPS be placed in her E-Handbook, allowing her to navigate the school with ease, using the familiar measurement of “Steps” in order to help her get around. Even so, she prefers to keep her cane around for old time’s sake, and because it feels better in her hands than nothing. Naturally, she associates more with the more talkative members of her class, being comfortable around sound, and isn’t afraid to join them for a night of hanging out and karaoke.

Notable Features: Marié always carries a cane with her, for obvious reasons, and also wears a hoop skirt for a similar issue, generally in a solid, bright pastel color. If someone/something bumps the skirt, she can move out of the way. She almost always has one of her E-Handbook’s headphones plugged in because it keeps track of her steps.

Interview 79.01 – Open

Interviewer: Yamada Jiro, Psy.D

Subject: Kaneshiro Marié – “The Ultimate Opera Singer”

Interview Date: April 30th, 8 AT (after Tragedy)

Observation

[The individual in question is a young lady in a pale green dress, almost the color of mint toothpaste. Her black hair is curly, and bound tightly back in a ponytail at the base of her skull. Her skin is pale, belying her French heritage, and her eyes are a milky white, which gives away her blindness, if the cane in her hand did not. She takes her seat cautiously, sweeping the cushion in order to ensure that there is nothing on it that she could potentially sit on. Her gaze is unseeing, vacant, yet directed in the interviewer’s general direction, and she offers a polite smile.]

Discussion

Interviewer: Please state your name and age for the record.

Marié: My name is Kaneshiro Marié, and I’m going to be turning 24 on May 2nd.

Interviewer: That’s only two days off. Happy birthday in advance.

Marié: [She gives a broad smile, one that causes her eyes to close. It’s genuine.] Thank you so much! It’s been a long time since I could celebrate it properly.

Interviewer: Thank you for coming in today, Marié. So, before the terrorist event known as “The Tragedy” occurred, you were being scouted by Hope’s Peak Academy. Do you know why?

Marié: I assume that it’s because of my voice. I managed to become the first soprano in the Tokyo Opera by the age of thirteen, and I know that Hope’s Peak representatives had approached me long before that.

Interviewer: Your memory serves you well. So the purpose of this interview is that we would like to extend that opportunity to you once again. We are opening up Hope’s Peak Academy once again, and we would like to offer our previous prospects the opportunity to study and improve their skills around people of their same level of ability once again. Before we begin, should we find your answers satisfactory, would you accept the offer?

Marié: [She pauses for a moment, her hands wringing slightly against one another. Her head bows, and she speaks clearly though her nose is pointed at her knees.] I would take the chance, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate. Is it truly safe to put “hope” out there once again?

Interviewer: We’re opening up Hope’s Peak again in order to show the world that there is still hope to be found among the ashes of despair. We would like you to be part of that hope.

Marié: Then I accept.

Interviewer: Very good. Now, we’ll stay away from the things that occurred during the tragedy, since I know that was a difficult time for you more than any of our other potential students.

Marié: Thank you.

Interviewer: What can you tell us about your hobbies?

Marié: Odd. I was half expecting you to ask me about my voice, and how I came to develop it.

Interviewer: We will ask those questions in due time, particularly during your annual assessments, when we are in a much more formal setting. This is mainly meant to be a bit of a more relaxed interview. Just getting to know you and see if you would be an appropriate addition to the 79th class of Hope’s Peak.

Marié: Oh! [She suddenly straightens up, a bit more attentive. Despite the fact that this is an informal interview, she seems to be taking it rather seriously] With regards to my interests, I like to read in my spare time. It’s very difficult to find books in Braille, but I love each and every one of them. I’ve also taken to listening to books on tape.

Interviewer: I see. Do you have any favorites that you enjoy listening to?

Marié: Oh yes! I particularly enjoy the Harry Potter series, especially the versions read by Stephen Fry. Another one that I like to read is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

Interviewer: Those two are on very different ends of the spectrum. Any particular reason why the discrepancy?

Marié: I like how Sun Tzu’s work on war can be translated into philosophy that can be used in everyday life, and how J.K. Rowling’s work can be shown to induce love and compassion in even the bleakest of souls, and how a life without either is devoid of any worth. In the end, Voldemort, who only cared about power, died hopeless and final, surrounded by nobody that cared for him.

Interviewer: That’s very deep. Do you often seek the broader meanings of works in such a way?

Marié: I feel that I have to. Singing opera requires an implicit understanding of the text, not only of the action and emotion that goes into it, but also the story. It’s one thing to have a story described to you, but another to actually read it for yourself.

Interviewer: If memory serves, you have performed operas such as Stravinsky’s take on Oedipus Rex, as well as Weber’s Der Freischütz. Are you saying that you are fluent in languages other than Japanese?

Marié: Yes.

Interviewer: Which ones?

Marié: In addition to Japanese and my father’s native French, I am also fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, German, and Russian.

Interviewer: That’s a rather impressive résumé. And you did that just to learn the stories of the various operas?

Marié: More or less, yes. It also allowed me to communicate more effectively with my fans.

Interviewer: I take it that you had a few fans outside the country?

Marié: Oh, absolutely! They were mostly young girls, much as I was, some of them disabled. They saw me as an inspiration, and my success as a reason for them to strive to be better. If I had to be true with myself, I don’t enjoy the roses being thrown on the stage as much as I enjoy finding letters with foreign postage in my mail

Interviewer: That’s a very positive way to look at it. Do you see your blindness as a disability?

Marié: I feel like… [She pauses, idly tucking a strand of her hair back behind her ear and tilts her head up once again, face set in grim determination. She’s looking a little to the left of the interviewer, but the intent is the same.] Being able to see would be nice. But I also think that not being able to see is a huge part of who I am. I have learned to experience the world in such a way without sight from birth, and I don’t want to muddle my perception and my art by literally altering the way I view the world.

Interviewer: That’s a very nice way to look at it. I only have one other question for you, if you’re alright with that?

Marié: Of course. Ask away.

Interviewer: What was the most embarrassing moment you ever had on the stage?

Marié: Oh goodness… [Her face is dusted with blush, presumably from the memory, and she speaks slowly when she opens her mouth again] I have to say… the most embarrassing moment was either when I inhaled too deeply and the stitches on my costume came undone as I breathed in, resulting in a wardrobe malfunction later in the scene… or when I forgot the words during Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Interviewer: [It should be noted that the interviewer is trying to contain a laugh and almost failing] I see. And how did you overcome each of those?

Marié: The wardrobe malfunction was easy. I was lucky in that I was wearing a shift underneath it, instead of just underwear, and it was at a moment when the character was supposed to be vulnerable, so I felt the dress fall to the ground around me, stepped out of it, and kept singing. The director of the opera said it was overwhelmingly powerful, and that he’s ashamed he didn’t think of it himself.

Interviewer: Good improvisation on your part. And the time when you forgot the words?

Marié: That was a little bit more difficult to recover from. I forgot the words, and I just started singing the names of every kind of pasta that I could remember in place of the words. “Barilla, Linguini, Tortellini”, etc. Even afterwards, the critics claimed that I “had a wonderful understanding of the text and excellent diction”.

Interviewer: [He can’t contain his laugh anymore. He just bursts out laughing] Right. Right… So, thank you, Kaneshiro Marié. It is my pleasure to admit you to Hope’s Peak Academy.

Marié: Thank you! [She’s bouncing in her chair and fumbling with her cane] I can’t wait to tell my mother! Thank you so much!

[She leaves, tapping her cane excitedly along the floor until she leaves the room, then skips down the hallway, clicking her heels together as she jumps up in excitement.]

End Transcript

#79th class #dangan ronpa #dangit ronbur #i do the thing with the words #my writing

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defunctblogtobedeleted · 5 years

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9/15/19 11:35pm - Never Forget Your First lol

Ah another week of work almost done. This one felt pretty fucking nice since I only had the two days from switching. After that post on sunday night at work, I had a pretty stellar week.

Monday I played a DnD one shot where I rp’d Finn the Human in an investigative mystery story. Tuesday I hung out with the gang and played waifus and melee. My Supreme jacket came in and unfortunately it was just a little too big to be comfy. The sleeves came down a little low and they were really stretchy, so I had to return it. By the time I got credit for it being returned (today) size Small is the only one out of stock, so I had to buy the jacket Again from a private seller, so I had to buy for $100 over retail, plus mailing mine back for 20 and the original shipping cost being lost means I’m basically taking a $150 bath on buying a small instead of a medium. Sucks, but whatever. Fine. It’s fine. It makes me a little salty that now I’m committed to spending Another $500 on supreme shit since I could only get store credit lol. But I’ll get the hat I was planning on buying, and maybe get some gifts for maya and manu or save it for stuff coming out this year or maybe get a tracksuit or something. All good ideas. I’ll be content with getting more cool stuff eventually lol. It’s just initial salt. AND on the plus side the fucking weird lewd Rita Ackermann Supreme dress shirt I got looks brillllliant. I love it to death. It’s so funky and fits great. So not all is terrible. Whatevz.

I’m feeling kinda broke because I paid for another 2 grand in stocks too. So I’m at about $500 in the bank. LMAO. What a dream. I’m so happy that I can be so fucking wild and have a cushion. I’ve gotta...pay rent and shit next month. But that’s a paycheck away lol. Idk I’ve still gotta go buy pants for the wedding, and I saw this vinyl copy of rocky horror at a thrift shop that I went to with Jill last week. And I bought a spare laptop charger and some cds for my car and I got a bunch of snow leopard print stuff for reasons and idk maybe NOW i’ll stop spending a bunch of money and shit and chill for a sec lmao.

Or maybe i’ll just buy more kink shit. Who knows.

But anyway back to Tuesday, got to chill with Jimmy for a while too, we were watching Konosuba and I love it. Gotta watch more.

Went to karaoke and hung out with that girl! It went pretty well I thought, she was laughing her ass off at like everything I had to say. We drank and I sang and I introduced her to all my karaoke peeps and Skylar came to hang, and we popped over to circa to chill for a sec. It was a nice night. When we said goodbye I kissed her and then we got cheered on by a homeless dude. But she wouldn’t come home with me. :/ She said she had to study and shit.

But wednesday.

Oh, wednesday.

Man first off I mailed that jacket back and UPS worker cracks some jokes about 9/11 to me and that was a fucking riotttt. It wasn’t anything bad but like I was like “goddamn air fare is too much” and he’s like “yeah but it’s not a good day to complain about the inferiority of air travel.” then he looks at my package “especially when you’re mailing something to New York.” lmfao.

But I was super happy. My supreme boxers came in that afternoon, which gave me plenty of time to cut a slit just big enough for my tail to get through. And I went running, because I needed to feel as fit as possible for that night lmfao.

I went to Spice at Legends, and it really was my first time going in. It felt like a wonderland, I swear to god lmfao. People on crosses getting flogged, people wearing next to nothing at all. Beautiful women and people dressed up as kids and cats and leather and oh my GODDDDDD. I drank a beer and watched a girl cum on stage to some impact play she was receiving. I stepped outside to smoke and watched a girl get whipped with flames for a half hour.

I actually ran into one of the other girls I met from Night Rider, Brie, and she was so happy to see me. She apologized for being standoffish which I thought was cute, but she was crazy impressed that I came out in my getup not knowing that it was a pet play night. Everyone made me feel so happy and welcomed and they were all so pleasant to talk to.

Terri showed up and after a while she encouraged me to go in the pet play area. I got to hang out with these two other kittens Neko (m) and Lux (f) and we had a bunch of people like my new furry friend Wolfy tossing strings and whatnot at us, and I got REALLY into it. We’d like rub up on each other and purr once in a while. We just played with people and would giggle at EVERYTHING and it felt so. fucking. good. I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like... Acting? but like... Relaxing. If I got bored of playing with people I’d ignore them on purpose and watch the shibari going on in the background because it was more interesting and that’s my fucking right as a cat lmao. I knocked over an empty cup with some used up limes off the counter onto the ground and everyone thought it was hilarious. Everything WAS hilarious. I don’t even know how to describe it but it was like... very not sexual but had the potential to be, but it just felt like a fun acting exercise that you were a little more committed to the bit. But it felt so naturallll and freeing kind of too. I hung out in there for like an hour with them, and got compliments from people all night for it. Not just for how I looked playing, but people liked my look, my tail, my ears, everything about me. Except I got dissed on by this 18yo who said I needed to do my eye makeup better lmfao. True though, I was like scribbling on myself with this new eyeliner that I couldn’t get right.

Anyway, Terri and I hung out with this married couple and talked for a while, we watched some more scenes. Eventually Terri dipped out though because she had to study. I implored her to come home with me instead but she wasn’t about it. So Idk where I stand with her, but I’m not too concerned. She’s fun to chill with, and I’m not really trying to force anything and hooking up is cool and all but I’m not really prioritizing it or anything lol.

So she left, and I went around trying to meet more people, and my eye got caught to where these two cute girls were giving a few guys lap dances and rotating around. One guy got up after his was done, so I asked if I could take his seat and everyone was like yeah of course.

The cuter of the two girls, skinny, short, very young looking, said she loved my ears and asked if I wanted a lap dance. I said of course, I just need to sit weird for my tail plug if that’s okay. She said oh man I love those, I had one in last week it’s so much fun swooshing them around lol. Got a lap dance, asked her if I could touch during it, everyone laughed their ass off at me. This gay guy I met later named Robin said “do you know where we are?” and I’m like Idk better safe than sorry and they’re all like yeah true but lol. So I started rubbing her back, and her tits, and kissed her a little, and sucked on her tits (all nips have to be covered, but she had just a bit of tape over hers) and motor boated her while I’m getting a lap dance with my tail plug in and I have to say it was exhilarating lmao. She hopped up and danced with some other guys. I started sucking on the other girls neck while she was dancing on another guy. The place was fucking crazy. I feel like I’ve literally entered a whole new world. It was incredible. I’m in love with it. When the girl who danced with me started putting on clothes to leave, and I asked if I could get another lap dance with her in sweat pants which she obliged too. Idk why I wanted a sweat pants lapdance I just thought it looked great. She was SO hot. She kissed me goodbye and gave me her fet name and said I was fun.

I’m not gonna lie I kinda creeped overhearing that they were going to boxcar afterward, and I wanted another drink before I went home. So I took my tail out in the bathroom and got changed and headed out. As an aside, Kinda funny, my first experience of the night was trying to put my tail in in the bathroom and getting walked in on by this ~40 y.o blonde woman, luckily I was in the process of pulling my pants up by that point. Ended up seeing her getting fingered on the porch by her girlfriend while she made out with an older guy. I was never really embarrassed but I’m glad I had no reason to be, either. Everything is just like.. .right lol. Anyway so i got to boxcar, ran into the girl who danced with me and the guy and another guy who was complimenting my shoes and clothes, and he wanted to play some guitar hero. I wasn’t as good as the guy which was kind of a bummer, but I played it up and powerslid and shit instead of tryharding lmfao. Roan thought it was hilarious, and she had to leave during our second song and kissed me a few times goodbye. like 4 or 5? idk. We talked BRIEFLY on fet since but maybe one day I’ll get to have some group sex with her or something. She’s got a lot of content on there I love it. Deffffinitely fapped to her later -_- hahahhaha.

So I’m sitting there at boxcar, and I go outside to smoke and start talking to this girl Jessica who had complimented the cat ears I was still wearing. We’re talking about breath of the wild and this other girl slides over to us to join in on the conversation. Jessica dips and I end up talking to this girl Alexandra until the bar closes about how she’s got a lvl 120 wow character and is into star trek and we’re just nerding out about shit and ragging on furries (LOL, I’m Furry Adjacent, thank you very much). She walks me back to my car and we didn’t kiss or anything but I added her on FB and we’re gonna talk about hanging out sometime. She seems a little shut-in-ey, and she doesn’t like karaoke so Idk how compatible we are, but idk I’ll hit her up to do Something.

And then I went home and got a lettuce wrap burger from cookout and fapped and passed out.

The next day I went running Again (twice in one week even in WoW season POGGERS), and I hit a new benchmark of 165.6.

Unfortunately Immediately after I went out to dinner with Skylar to where he works, and it was so fucking fancy and beautiful that I had to just devour everything. I had foie gras, and crabcake, and split a little bit of key lime pie with him. and it was some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life. I honestly can’t think of anything that compares except for the MGM casino food I got with dad and tessa. It was so fucking incredible.

And then I headed into work after having one of the best 24 hour stretches of my life. Everything start to finish was just... so. amazing. I don’t know. I got invited to start doing dinners with some of these Littles and so I want to meet a bunch more kink people. I even got invited to her birthday party, but unfortunately it’s on a friday so I’ll be working.

I know it was recent, but I just had to write about all this. I loved it so much. Asked my coworker to trade shifts next week, and if she doesn’t want to I’m gonna use PTO. I feel like I’ve gotten a taste of something beautiful and I can’t wait to have another bite lmao

Love ya <3

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 6 years

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Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo, Google Home and more: We put 7 speakers to the test

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/apple-homepod-amazon-echo-google-home-and-more-we-put-7-speakers-to-the-test/

Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo, Google Home and more: We put 7 speakers to the test

Image caption Amazon’s Alexa director Daren Gill has called voice “the next great interface”

For the last four weeks, I’ve been living in an Orwellian nightmare. One in which I have to watch every word I say because “they” are always listening. And by “they”, I mean Alexa, Siri and Google.

It seemed like a good idea – get seven smart speakers and test them in a real house to see how they affected our listening habits and daily routine.

At times, they’ve been pretty helpful. If we’re running low on biscuits, one of us can bark, “Hey Siri, add Hob Nobs to the shopping list” and a reminder appears on our phones.

During Storm Emma, Google kept me up-to-date on train cancellations, while our kids amused themselves for hours by asking Alexa what noise a cat makes.

Thankfully, none of the devices started spontaneously laughing in the middle of the night – but they were all prone to bouts of madness.

I once asked Alexa “what’s the weather in Yemen” and got the reply: “‘Das wetter’ is German for ‘the weather’.”

And when I told Google to “play music in the kitchen”, it responded by streaming Lee Brice’s Songs In The Kitchen to a speaker in the dining room (congratulations, Lee, on your new royalty stream).

To find out which smart assistant was the smartest, I put each of the speakers to the test – posing 50 random questions on music, sport and general knowledge. Like all good quiz show hosts, I only accepted their first answer.

Alexa fared best, with 37 correct answers, followed by Google on 32, and Siri, which scored a lowly 27.

Apple’s assistant was hobbled by its lack of integration with other apps – meaning it couldn’t read my calendar or look up recipes.

When it came to music-related queries, however, Siri had more success.

For instance, the HomePod was the only speaker that could parse the command “play the James Bond theme next”. Its competitors all tried to find a song called “James Bond Theme Next”, failed, and gave up.

You can find the full list of questions, and how the speakers responded, here.

As you’ll see, none of them are perfect (never ask for music by Haim in an Northern Irish accent) but smart speakers look set to replace the smartphone as the tech giants’ biggest growth products.

Choosing the right one can be tricky. So here’s our guide to the speakers, and how they might fit into your lifestyle.

Apple HomePod (£319)

Image copyright Apple

Apple has arrived late to the smart speaker market, but not through laziness.

The HomePod has been in development since 2012, and boasts a unconventional design – with seven tweeters (the speakers that produce treble) arranged in a circle to project music into every nook and cranny of your house. The bass is also punchy and well-balanced, even at low volumes.

I found it worked better with acoustic, singer-songwriter material. Playing Regina Spektor’s Samson, the HomePod championed the singer’s vocals without losing the detail in her piano work. On a busier song like Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, however, it struggled to pick out the star’s intricate drumming.

It’s also an incredibly insistent speaker – demanding your attention with a very “forward” soundstage. We found that was great in the hustle and bustle of a family kitchen, but less attractive when listening to music in bed at night.

One important note: You can’t set up the HomePod unless you have an iPhone or an iPad. The speaker is then tethered to that device and certain functions, like updating your shopping list, only work when they can “see” each other.

HomePod is also completely loyal to Apple Music. You can’t ask Siri to stream from Spotify or Deezer – although you can access them on your phone and beam them to the speaker.

Best for: Apple enthusiasts; audiophiles

Amazon Echo Plus (£139)

Image copyright Amazon

If you want a speaker that comes with a free light bulb, then Amazon’s Echo Plus is your only choice.

The speaker aims to be a “home hub”, controlling all sorts of connected devices, from your lights to your kettle. I wasn’t able to test those abilities, though, as the BBC budget didn’t stretch to buying me remote control curtains.

As a music player, the Echo Plus is competent but unspectacular – but it’d make an ideal replacement for a kitchen radio.

Alexa will happily stream from Spotify and Deezer, as well as Amazon’s own Music Unlimited service – which you get at a discount if you purchase an Echo device.

It’s particularly good at finding the music you want, even if you have a terrible memory. I managed to get Alexa to cue up Girls Aloud’s Love Machine by asking, “What’s the song that goes, ‘Let’s go, Eskimo?'”

One word of warning: Amazon’s streaming service doesn’t have a parental filter, so you’re stuck with the explicit versions of the songs in their catalogue.

And now that Amazon has leased Alexa to other speaker manufacturers, there are better devices in a similar price range.

Best for: Casual listening, smart assistant abilities

Ultimate Ears Megablast (£199)

Image copyright Ultimate Ears

The Megablast is a long, tall cylinder of fun, available in a range of colours (our review unit was a lurid yellow, which I became weirdly fond of).

It gives out a bassy, fulsome sound; which goes up really, really loud without losing any finesse. You can use Alexa to play songs from Amazon Music Unlimited (but not Spotify yet), or simply use it as a bluetooth speaker to stream music directly from your phone.

Best of all, you can unplug it and take it to a party, with a generous battery life that means you won’t be left tuneless when the clock strikes midnight. And it’s waterproof, so it won’t go kaput if you spill your drink.

On the downside, the microphone is poor at picking up your voice commands – especially when music is playing. And the charging port is awkwardly placed at the bottom of the speaker, meaning it has to be laid on its side when its plugged in, ruining the sound. (Ultimate Ears sells a separate charging dock, pictured above, for £35 if this is a deal-breaker).

Best for: Portability, volume

Sonos: One (£199)

Image copyright Sonos

Sonos are masters of multi-room audio, but the One is their first foray into smart speaker territory.

There’s an intriguing set-up, where you’re asked to wave your phone around the room while the unit emits a series of sci-fi bleeps and bloops.

This helps the speaker adapt to its environment and, to be fair, it performed admirably in our cluttered bedroom, with a weighty, dynamic delivery that belied its tiny size.

Superstition, which confounded Apple’s HomePod, sounded bright and lively, with a deep, funky bass and plenty of breathing room for Stevie Wonder’s vocals.

Best of all, Sonos welcomes all music streaming services – with 49 currently available in the UK, including Apple Music (not all of them can be controlled by Alexa, though).

You can also chain two Sonos speakers together to get stereo, while the Sonos app is the only one that allows you to tweak settings like treble and bass to tailor the music to your tastes. And if you buy multiple units, you can scare your family by playing ghost noises in the attic while you’re in the kitchen.

One small niggle: Sonos has programmed Alexa to speak over the start of your music, so you constantly miss the first five seconds your favourite album.

Best for: Stereo, choice of streaming services, multi-room audio

Google Home (£129)

Image copyright Google

It looks like an air freshener. An air freshener on the Starship Enterprise, but an air freshener nonetheless.

Still, I was quite enamoured with the Home’s sleek, matte white finish and the easygoing, friendly voice of its virtual assistant.

It transpires that her dialogue was written by Emma Coats, a former Pixar employee who drew up the film studio’s 22 rules of storytelling – which explains why Google feels more engaging than its competitors.

There are a few neat touches to the AI, too. When you ask Google to “flip a coin”, for example, you hear the sound of a coin being tossed before learning the result. Even better, the Google Home enables you to make voice calls to any UK landline or mobile number – for free.

Sadly, though, the device isn’t up to much as an actual speaker. It had the worst sound of all the units we tested, and was prone to distorted bass even at low volumes.

Best for: Personality, design

JBL Link 300 (£249)

Image copyright Harmon Kardon

Luckily, fans of Google’s voice assistant have some alternatives. Sonos are promising a Google-enabled speaker later this year and JBL will release their Link 300 in the next couple of weeks.

It’s a chunky little device that works best on pop and hip-hop, with an eloquent sound that emphasises the low end thanks to a circular resonator on the back that pumps out the bass.

One neat feature is a wi-fi light that shows the strength of your internet connection (something I’d like to see on more devices, given the patchy wi-fi in our house).

In the end, this became our go-to speaker in the living room and kitchen, despite an infuriating five-minute fight to make it play the Hamilton soundtrack.

It turns out you had to say “OK Google, play ‘Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording'” – a command that’s as intuitive as a lead wetsuit.

Best for: Google smarts with better sound.

Amazon Echo Show (£199)

Image copyright Amazon

The Echo Show has a 7-inch screen, which displays song lyrics while you listen. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but it was a big hit with our kids.

The device also came in handy in the kitchen, where we used it to display recipes and set timers without having to touch the screen with our sticky fingers.

All this functionality comes at the cost of sound quality, though. Don’t expect anything beyond your average clock radio.

Best for: Karaoke night

Secret option eight: Don’t buy any of them

Image copyright Getty Images

Here’s the thing: With the possible exception of Sonos: One, you’re not getting true hi-fi sound with any of these devices.

If you’ve already got a good home stereo, it’s much cheaper to buy an Amazon Echo Dot (currently £39) and hook it up to your existing set-up with a simple cable.

Similarly, if you’ve got £300 to spend, you can get a decent hi-fi system and an Echo Dot with money to spare.

That way, you get all the benefits of voice control and music streaming without breaking the bank.

Best for: People who’ve already got speakers and have privacy concerns about this whole thing.

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