#no matter how short lived my fame is gonna be I had fun the whole time!😄

[greykolla-art]

I just wanna say I love the way you handle your fan base! Btw you’re my favorite artist 🤩

Oh thank you!

That’s so sweet to hear, cause I’m always trying to put my best foot forward with you little creatures.💖💖💖

I know most of you guys are here for my Hazbin fan art, so I’m just hoping to entertain as much as I can until I move on. 😜

Im a big fandom nomad, but all you little hype goblins have made me stay in one place for the first time in a long time. 💖

[spinster-sisters]

ohh okay! so to kick it off, can we get ateez members’ reactions to their very successful partner taking them to a company party like their trophy wife/husband/partner — not in a derogatory way tho!! but just like,, flaunting the members around and going on about how handsome and hardworking and amazing they are, even though everyone’s attention should be on their partner in that big event?

This is very different from the stuff I normally write but honestly I had so much fucking fun doing it. Like genuinely this made me smile like an idiot the whole time.

-

Hongjoong:

It's ur birthday or sum shit, but here's the dealio, he had some big work promotion at some smaller company. Most people haven't heard of it and it's nothing like the major corporation you work for so most people there just think of him as your trophy husband cuz he's so good-looking. while the party and presents were for you, you just could stop bring up how proud you were of him. He would immediately shut it down every time you brought it up, "yeah thank baby, I appreciate it. Hey, guys don't you think my baby is beautiful tonight?" Just won't let it distract from your attention no matter how much you bring it up. He doesn't think that he should be praised for doing what he should be doing. It's a nice sentiment and it makes him giggle but he wishes you would just let the guests congratulate you.

Seonghwa:

It's some work party on your behalf at your home. And Seonghwa planned the whole thing. Your not gonna deny you were just looking for a hot husband with social perks (read: rich parents and rich friends) but after meeting Seonghwa you genuinely fell so hard and so fast for how humble he was despite his wealthy upbringing, and you wanted to work even harder to provide him with the lifestyle he had always had at home. And he is happy to fulfill his house husband role for his doting partner. So yall are just happy and in love. Everyone at the party is your coworker and honestly, he would probably have just been your arm candy under any other circumstances, except you keep reminding people how great of a job he did getting everything set up. From a 5-star catering company to a live band, to imported wine from somewhere fancy, the whole thing took him weeks to put together and you will be dammed if he doesn't get the recognition for a job well done. He takes the praise blushing and mumbles quiet thank yous to all you and all guests who praise him, but he leaves it at that. If they ask him questions about the things around him he will keep his answers short and minimal yet polite before slipping away. Despite planning it, it isn't his party and he wants to keep it that way.

Yunho:

it's actually your friend's launch party for something or other. But you had a fair amount to do with the starting of the company as an investor and your friend had wanted to honor you as much as her. But here's the thing. Yunho's also pretty fucking cool, he doesn't have a permanent job, instead, he bounces around to all kinds of random things to keep himself entertained instead of just being at home all the time. the entire fucking time you're like "oh but have you heard what Yunho's been up to lately." He tries to one-up you with praise. Every time you say something cool he does, he brings up something cool you have done. And it just gets more and more intense as the night goes on to the point where the other giggles just fucking giggle cuz yall are so obvious in love.

Yeosang:

Yalls wedding is gonna be the social event of the year. You both come from very prominent families, but Yeosangs family got their money from fame not business. So when yall got engaged there was quite a bit of gossip about how "real" the relationship even was. Who the "throphy" was would change based on who you asked and it was getting annoying reading all the headlines. It was your wedding shower, and it was no secret that most of the people there were there for you and not him, but he couldn't care less. People kept coming up to you trying to talk business, and you were endlessly shutting them down because this was a day for both you and your soon to be husband, not for social climbers to try and get on your good side. The wonderful thing about Yeosang however is how much he can read you emotions even when you are trying to hide them. His course of action was simple. You both just fucking leave. You both had already talked to your actual friends and at a certain point you couldn't be bothered to keep up appearances with people who didn't respect both of you equally. So you left. Probably went and got some food in your cocktail attire. Much better use of time anyway.

San:

You're some kind of model or something. So it's like fashion week. So the whole time u have cameras shoved in your face and are being followed everywhere you go. But ur mans San is also incredibly beautiful, so you play a little game where whenever you go out all you do is put on sweats and a hoodie and you bring him out with him dressed in full fashion week regalia so the photographers are fucking confused who they are supposed to be taking pictures of. He thinks it's funny ao he plays along, wearing whatever you put him in and posing dramatically for literally every photo he can. You two go through the posted photos absolutely howling at them all night.

Mingi:

Your some big-time producer and Mingi is this like an underground rapper. Yall have been together long before you ever made it big and back before you got the job you lived almost exclusively off Mingi's part-timejob. But now the turntables have flipped and he can live mostly of your income allowing him to focus on his music and yall wouldn't have it any other way. But here's the shit. Some dopey fucking pop star you produce for comes over for dinner and makes a "joke" about mingi being a freeloader and you get so fucking petty. Especially after seeing Mingi's dejected face. So basically you help mingi produce a professional track and release it legitimately and not just on SoundCloud or in some shitty nightclub, and it fucking blows up way more than the other person music ever did and you just do nothing but talk up how amazingly talented Mingi is to your boss and he gets signed after the other person is dropped from the label. It's a great time.

Wooyoung:

Allow me to paint you a picture(this is a pun just wait for it.) Your an artist 😃 and Wooyoung is your husband and your muse. Almost everything you paint is either of him or reminds you of him. And your opening this big art exhibit and it's just this super fancy cocktail party with all the art snobs in the city and of course you bring him. As soon as yall walk in people immediately notice he's the guy in all the paintings and you're just like "yes isn't he stunning" and he's like "yes I am stunning" he's only half kidding. Whenever you go on and on to some art blogger about your muse he just sits there drinking it in with a smirk on his face, occasionally adding things like how you owe your success to his beautiful face. In that case, he's completely kidding cuz he knows damn well your talented enough to make anything beautiful with or without him.

Jongho:

ima say you married rich. You didn't have much growing up but Jongho has done nothing but spoil you. Despite the fact he came from a big business family, singing has always been his passion. When you begin to work in his father's company you rise through the ranks alarmingly quick due to your skill. It's some party for your father in laws retirement and everyone coming up to you betting your gonna be the next CEO. Here the thing though, Jongho left the company not long after you joined, so he could pursue singing and most people there haven't seen him since then and they keep giving him side-eyes, clearly thinking he threw his life away and he's just gonna be your "trophy husband" for the rest of his life. Not on your watch homie. You expected this so you and your supper supportive father-in-law set aside time for him to perform to the whole room and you're standing there all proud and satisfied as all your coworkers are dumbfounded at his amazing talent.

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 43 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters here on AQ or here if you’d rather read on AO3. xoxo!

And thank you again to our wonderful betas: @saiphl, @sillylittlecandycane

Chapter Summary: It’s finally the night of senior prom!! It starts out great...but will it end in disaster? (Spoiler alert: yes)

Chapter 43: I Just Wanna Dance

There were a million things Courtney loved about being in the The Scarlet Pimpernel--finally getting a chance to play a lead role in a musical, the songs themselves, the beautiful costumes they’d borrowed from a nearby university’s theatre company, the warm encouragement from Mrs. Maguire, watching her friends and castmates shine, when her dad surprised her by showing up for one of the weekend shows with a bouquet of pink roses…

But her favorite thing of all was being onstage with Adore. It was the first time they’d had multiple scenes together since playing Annie and Miss Hannigan in 5th grade, and for Courtney, it made the experience a million times better.

Closing night was bittersweet. In some ways, Courtney wished that it would never end. But she was excited for prom and graduation, their Mexico road trip and their first apartment. So even though it was a little bit sad, she didn’t cling to it. Instead, she focused on the excitement she felt about everything to come, and really tried to live in the moment, committing every single second to memory.

In the garden scene with Adore, she noticed the little wisps of hair around her face that were lit up by the bright stage lights, the way her hazel eyes gleamed, and when she leaned toward her, it was the closest they’d ever come to actually kissing in this scene. All Courtney wanted was to surrender, to just close her eyes, let their lips touch, but she fought it, finally pushing Adore away like she was supposed to at the last possible second, heart pounding, feeling a bit light-headed while she watched her sing. Really listening to the lyrics for what felt like the first time.

“Marguerite, don't forget I know who you are. We were cut from the same surly star, like two jewels in the sky, sharing fire. Where's the girl, so alive and still aching for more? We had dreams that were worth dying for. We were caught in the eye of a storm! Come again!”

Adore grabbed her hands, spinning her in a circle, and a lump formed in Courtney’s throat.

“Let the girl in your heart tumble free. Bring your renegade heart home to me. In the dark of the morning, I'll warm you, I'll rouse you . . .”

As they slowly stopped turning in a circle, Courtney swallowed hard, the dizziness getting to her, stomach in knots, and it was if Adore could sense it. She pulled her in by the waist, singing the last verse softly, directly to her. And something happened for the first time that Courtney couldn’t explain--a single tear began to slip down her cheek.

“Where's the girl? Is she gazing at me with surprise? Do I still see that blaze in her eyes? Am I dreaming or is she beside me . . . now . . .?”

The music slowly faded out, and Courtney knew that Adore was waiting for her next line, her eyes soft and expectant. She knew that she had to get it out; this was the script, and she couldn’t change it no matter how much she wanted to. So she mustered up all of her strength, squaring her shoulders and speaking, firmly and hoarsely.

“No. Get out.”

Adore’s eyes went cold as she turned and left the stage, and for a second Courtney really did think that she was going to fall, to faint or throw up or something else entirely unexpected. She knew she only had about three seconds before Willam and Gia entered, so she quickly swiped the tear from her cheek and took a deep breath, pushing down the terrible feeling that something had broken inside of her, something she wouldn’t ever be able to fix.

-

“Hey…”

Courtney whirled around as Adore touched her shoulder, a startled look on her face that softened when she saw Adore.

“Oh, hi.”

“Are you alright?” Adore asked. She’d noticed the tears while they were onstage, and had a feeling that it was more than just acting.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s...I guess just that this is the last time we’re gonna be doing the show. Kinda silly.” She wiped her eyes, looking a bit embarrassed.

Adore smiled softly, pulling her in for a hug. “Nah, I know how you feel.”

Courtney squeezed her back tightly. “Thanks, Dory. I love you.”

“Me too, babe.”

-

“You girls are just so gorgeous and grown-up,” Bonnie said, sniffling a little as she snapped photo after photo.

It was finally the night of their senior prom, and as a treat, Bonnie and Karen had gotten together and treated the girls to a little spa day: mani pedis - the fancy kind with paraffin wax and massages and rhinestone embellishments, lunch at their favorite café, and professional hair styling. Courtney had gone for a glamorous updo studded with tiny red roses, Adore for a half-up style with criss-crossing fishtail braids, and Tati for smooth finger-waves that made her look like an old-time movie star. Afterwards, they’d all headed back to Adore’s house to do their makeup and get dressed.

To Adore’s relief, Courtney hadn’t brought up her weird objections to Tati being her date, and she was friendly as can be to Tati just like usual, gossiping about their classmates, giggling, having a grand old time.

Adore was very pleased with the outfit she’d ended up with: an amazing thrift store find, a short, square-necked black lace dress, very bruja, and she’d paired it with studded black boots, fishnets, and the leather choker that Courtney’d gotten her for her birthday last year. Tati looked amazing as always, her skin-tight hot pink minidress really pushing the dress code limits, but the color so fun that she’d probably be fine.

And then there was Courtney. Adore was surprised when she’d chosen it, the sleek white two-piece so unlike her: no sparkly embellishments or flouncy girliness--just a simple, spaghetti-strapped, open-backed top and long slitted skirt that made her early summer tan glow. When she first put it on, Adore had to look away for a moment, so as not to get choked up about how beautiful she was. Then of course, she completed the look with sparkly silver star accessories, red stones in her necklace matching the roses in her hair. Before they’d headed downstairs for photos, Adore gestured to her charm bracelet, the rose-gold obviously not fitting the color theme of her ensemble.

“That doesn’t really match,” she noted, and Courtney bit her lip, meeting Adore’s eyes with a look that made her insides twist.

“I don’t care.”

Now, in Courtney’s backyard, they posed for the dozens of pictures that Karen and Bonnie insisted on. First all the girls separately, then together, then Adore and Tati, who were still posing when Roy finally rounded the corner in his white tux. The second Adore caught sight of his red pocket square she burst out laughing, unable to help herself.

“Thanks, Delano, exactly the reaction I was hoping for,” he said.

“No, it’s cause your pocket square is...Courtney, I fucking knew that you’d do that shit again!” Adore laughed, and Courtney just shrugged, accepting first a kiss on the cheek and then the wrist corsage with the requested red roses.

“I never denied it!” Courtney said. She reached out and adjusted Roy’s lapels, grinning. “I think he looks perfect.”

“Thank you, babe, and you’re beautiful,” Roy said, before ruining the moment by turning and blowing a raspberry in Adore’s direction.

“That’s mature.”

“Adore, please pull it together for two more shots!” Bonnie interrupted, and Adore put her arm back around Tati’s waist.

Courtney and Roy were next, followed by group shots, and then Karen insisted on a couple with Courtney and Adore.

Adore swallowed, letting Courtney take her hand and lean a head on her shoulder, feeling slightly awkward.

“It’s kind of funny, don’t you think?” Courtney asked, between shots.

“What?”

Courtney gestured to their outfits. “Black and white.”

“Oh yeah. Very fitting, huh?” Adore said.

Courtney gazed up at her, a starry-eyed smile on her face, and Adore could feel herself melting right back to the place she’d insisted she’d never go again as the camera flashed.

“Mom! I wasn’t ready!”

“It was cute!” Karen defended herself.

“Do you think we should call Pearl and ask when-”

“Limo has arrived, bitcheeeeeees!” screeched a voice, and everyone turned to see Willam at the gate, along with Trinity, Pearl, Fame and Violet, who all came bounding in, dressed to the nines.

Courtney squealed happily, clapping her hands. After about ten or twenty more pictures of the whole group, Bonnie and Karen finally dismissed them, letting them pile into the limo, laughing and screaming happily, music blasting.

Adore was the last one to go, turning to give her mother one last little wave, pretending not to notice the tears shining in her eyes as she called, “Bye Ma! Don’t wait up!”

-

The hotel ballroom where their prom was held was the fanciest place Adore had ever been. After looking up at the huge crystal chandelier over the dance floor, Adore turned to Tati with a look of confusion and asked, “Oh my god...is our school bougie?”

Tati laughed, pulling her onto the dance floor with the rest of their group. The DJ was surprisingly good, and they twirled and laughed, dancing for hours before Tati finally admitted that her feet were killing her and she needed a break.

“Ugh, same,” said Pearl.

“This is why you wusses should have worn more comfortable shoes,” Adore proclaimed, modeling her combat boots as they trooped over to grab some punch and sit down.

“Not everyone can pull that off, dear,” Tati told her.

“Or you can just do what Trinity did,” Pearl said, gesturing to her prom date, platform sandals kicked off to the side of the dance floor, her bright yellow dress hiked up with her hands as she, Courtney and Willam shook it to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie,’ Roy awkwardly joining in with decidedly less enthusiasm than the others.

“Still think my solution’s better,” said Adore, settling down at the table with a glass of sugary punch.

They relaxed for a few minutes, chatting and giggling, before they were joined by first Violet, then Fame, then Bob, who came bounding over with April to hype up the afterparty.

“You guys are going, right? It’s gonna be amazing!” he exclaimed, and Violet shook her head in disbelief.

“You really think a school-sanctioned afterparty will be that much fun?” she asked.

“I’m telling you! Everyone says it’s the best part of the night.”

“Really? I would think the best part of the night is how sexy your girlfriend looks,” said Pearl, sending a wink in April’s direction, making her giggle and preen.

“Okay, yes, she does, but also...after the afterparty, there’s a pancake breakfast. So, come on...”

“Robert! Hello young man! Lookin’ slick!” Roy called, walking over to give Bob a hug and slap on the back. He looked a bit sweaty and disheveled, and it made Adore chuckle.

“Courtney’s giving you a real workout, huh?” she teased.

“That girl wouldn’t leave a dance floor if you paid her,” Roy answered with a sigh, dragging a chair over from a nearby table to sit heavily. “Luckily, Willam and Trinity have much higher endurance than me, so-”

“Guess again!” Trinity exclaimed, as she flopped into Pearl’s lap. “I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Aww, you guys all abandoned the blue-eyed devils,” Bob said, gesturing to Courtney and Willam on the dance floor, making April crack up.

“They’re fine,” Roy said, leaning back in the chair, eyes closing.

Adore looked over at the dance floor, watching them while everyone chatted. When the song ended, to her surprise, Courtney made her way over to the group too.

“Whoa, maybe she’s actually tired! Did someone slip you some Benadryl, Court?”

Turned out, she was only there to ask Adore to come back onto the dance floor.

“Will you come dance with me?” she cajoled, reaching out her hand, a soft and hopeful look in her eyes.

“Uh…” Adore knew this was a bad idea. As much as she tried not to, told herself not to, she’d already spent too much of the evening with one eye on Courtney with Roy, fixated on the way they laughed and flirted and touched each other--it was like regressing two years, and she just wasn’t in the right headspace to confront her feelings.

“Please?” Courtney touched Adore’s lace-covered wrist, adding with a twinkle, “I’ll be your best friend...”

Adore had to chuckle at that, standing up with a resigned sigh. “Good one, bitch.”

Courtney beamed at her, leading her to the dance floor. Of course, it was some slow, schmaltzy pop ballad. And of course, Courtney’s arms immediately went around her neck, pulling her close. Head resting on her shoulder.

Adore didn’t know where to put her hands. Courtney’s skimpy top left so much of her back exposed, she could feel herself panicking before finally letting them settle on her hips. Even then, it was impossible to avoid her waist, her thumbs grazing the soft bare skin a few times before she tried tucking them into her palms.

“I love you, Dory,” Courtney murmured, and Adore gulped.

“Love you too.”

Adore tried to get her heart to settle, tried to stop the churning in her stomach, the song dragging on for what felt like an eternity while she sweated and held back her tears. When it finally ended, she broke away immediately, mumbling about how she needed a cigarette, and bolted from the dance floor.

-

Courtney watched Adore go, misty-eyed, wondering why she always ran away just when it felt like they were getting closer, and couldn’t help the dejected feeling inside, stomach twisting with regret.

“Punch?”

Courtney turned around to see Roy, holding out a cup of red punch for her. Of course he was. He was always there: dependent, steadfast, the one person in her life that she could always count on. The guilt Courtney felt would be crushing if she didn’t love him so much.

She slid her arms around his waist, pulling him close, asking, “How did I end up with the best boyfriend in the world?”

Roy sighed, setting the cup on a nearby table and wrapping her into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head.

“Just lucky, I guess.” After a few moments, he ventured softly, “Do you wanna dance some more?”

“Yes,” Courtney said, arms tightening around him even more. “Yes, I really fucking do.”

-

“There you are…” Tati said, when she finally found Adore in the hotel courtyard, sitting against a stucco wall, smoking a cigarette. “You alright?”

She settled in beside her, maneuvering the best she could so as not to let her dress ride up around her hips. This didn’t feel like a conversation where it would be productive to have her underwear showing.

“Just fucking peachy.” Adore took a long drag.

“Yeah. Listen, I-”

“I really don’t want any advice right now,” Adore said, and Tati immediately closed her mouth.

“Ooookay,” she breathed, realizing that now wasn’t the right time to say what she had to say.

“Sorry. It’s just, my head is all-”

“Nah, I get it.” Tati patted her fishnet-covered thigh.

“Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, Adore’s head leaning back on the wall, Tati watching the smoke curling up into the midnight sky.

“Can I ask you a question, though?”

“I guess.” Adore’s voice was tired and hoarse, so Tati tried to phrase it as gently and tactfully as possible.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen? If you, like, told her?”

Adore took a long drag of her cigarette, pondering the answer before saying, “I could die. I could literally die.”

“Alright.” Tati said, stretching her legs out in front of her. She wasn’t inclined to push it, adding a simple, “Just seems like something to think about.”

After a few more moments of tense silence, Adore sniffled, and Tati realized that she was crying.

“I should get out of here,” she said, stabbing the cigarette out on the pavement, using her lacy sleeve to wipe her eyes.

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No. It’s prom. Stay and have fun,” Adore said, and Tati was overcome with sympathy, wished there was something she could do to make her feel better--or at least, enough better to have a carefree and fun night like they all deserved. It had started out so well, and Tati still wasn’t sure where it’d gone wrong.

“Adore, come on, you can-”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Tati said, staying on the ground while Adore got up, resigned to just let her have her feelings, realizing that there really was nothing she could do in that moment.

-

“Yeah, I know! There’s just something off about his face!” Violet laughed, following Trinity out of the bathroom, still talking about an idiot jock who’d tried to feel her up on the dance floor.

“I think it would be an okay face if he wasn't such a jerk,” Trinity said.

“Okay face is probably the best he can hope for,” Violet agreed. “But don’t you think he-”

Violet stopped short, abdomen twisting when she spotted Fame, in the same location they’d left her outside the restrooms, looking beautiful as ever in her full, floor-length gown covered in a large-scale blue flower print. Only she wasn’t alone. There was a blonde girl chatting with her...a blonde girl in a short, sparkly pink dress who was acting awfully familiar, a hand on Fame’s bare upper arm, flashing a bright white smile.

“Who the hell are you?” Violet asked, and the girl turned to her, blinking her brown eyes slowly.

“Excuse me?”

“I said-” Violet began, but Fame jumped in.

“You know what? We should talk later,” she told the girl, mouthing ‘sorry’ in an annoyingly obvious way, clearly not caring that Violet could see her. Or maybe doing it specifically for Violet’s benefit. Violet’s nails dug into her palms at the thought.

“Alright. Later then. Can’t wait to hang out again,” the girl said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Fame’s cheek before sauntering away with a victorious smirk.

“Who the fuck was that?” Violet asked, and Fame turned to her with crossed arms and a crosser expression.

“Hey, I think I hear...something...uh…” Trinity stammered out, backing away so as not to get caught up in the drama, calling out to an imaginary person, “What? Oh, you need-okay, coming!”

She turned and ran back towards the ballroom, leaving Fame and Violet alone.

“Well?” Violet asked, her tone still hostile, but how else was she supposed to be right now?

Fame let out a long sigh, asking, “Why are you so difficult?” She began to walk away, but Violet reached for her, fingers closing around her wrist and tugging her back.

“Fame. Who was that?”

“She’s just a girl I know from working at the bakery,” Fame said, eyes closing as if the conversation was too exhausting for words. “She graduated last year, but I guess she’s here with a friend, so-”

“No. I mean, why were you flirting with her? I thought tonight was about us.”

“Vi…” Fame finally looked into her eyes, blue eyes a bit sad, shaking her head. “Why do you always have to do this?”

“Do what?” Violet could feel herself growing more and more agitated, more and more uneasy, the ground shifting beneath her.

“Talk about us, like that. You’re my best friend. You know how much I love you. But not...not like that.”

Violet didn’t like where this conversation was going, not one bit. She bit back her anger, her impatience, her jealousy, and made her voice as soft and calm as possible.

“But you agreed to be my date. You came here with me-”

“As friends.”

“I don’t get it!” Violet exploded. “You finally broke up with Patrick, officially, and-”

“This is not about Patrick!” Fame exclaimed, exasperation all over her face. “It never was. I guess it was easy to use him as an excuse, but...I just don’t think of you that way.”

Bitterness swirled in Violet’s chest, and before she could stop herself, she spit out, “But you think of that random slut that way?” She gestured angrly in the direction of the blonde, the girl who it seemed had single-handedly managed to ruin her night. “And what did she mean by ‘again’?”

“I...we kind of...hooked up last year,” Fame admitted. “When Patrick and I were on a break, after-”

“You hooked up with a girl and you didn’t tell me? What the fuck?” Violet said, anger and confusion combining, the whole thing like hands wrapped around her throat, making her eyes water and her chest constrict.

“Well, I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I guess I was wrong, since you’re being so understanding.”

“Fuck you,” Violet spat out, turning and walking away.

“Violet, wait!”

Violet stopped walking, but she didn’t turn. She couldn’t bear to look at Fame’s face right now, not when tears were burning in her eyes, threatening to spill over any second.

“Look, I’m sorry! Okay? I guess I just...I didn’t want to say anything that would risk hurting you. Because I don’t want to lose you as a friend. I do love you-”

At that, Violet whirled back around, those angry tears streaking hotly down her cheeks.

“No you don’t,” she said. “You never have. God, I’m so stupid.”

“Vi-”

“Enjoy your prom,” she choked out, before breaking away and rushing towards the lobby. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that she couldn’t go back into that ballroom, with those people. Not like this.

-

Adore trudged slowly through the parking lot, wondering where she should even go. This part of town was mostly new--lots of pointless high-end stores, yuppie restaurants, hipster bars.

“Hey! Where the fuck are you going?” demanded a voice, and Adore smiled to herself, turning around to find Violet, face streaked in tears, stomping from the hotel angrily.

Adore chuckled sadly. “You look like I feel.”

“Well you look like shit,” Violet countered.

“Okay, so I guess I look like I feel too.”

“God fucking damn it, why can’t we just have one night where we’re like, normal teenagers?” Violet exclaimed, face turned upwards, and Adore shook her head.

“I dunno.”

“Where were you going, anyway?”

“I honestly don’t know. Just...anywhere but here.”

“Same.” Violet took her hand. “I think there’s a diner a few blocks away that’ll be open. Come on.”

[ilooklikeaburntchickenugget]

Only Mine Pt. 5

A/N: THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SWEET MESSAGES ABOUT THIS SERIES! It’s honestly so fun to write about so I’m glad all of you like it as much as I do. Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Pop Star!Reader Word count: 2,337 Warnings: Some swearing, mentions of anxiety and stress

You were humming an idea you had, your phone sitting out and playing one of the hundreds recordings you had for songs. Sweatpants and a large hoodie with fuzzy socks were the only appropriate attire for the recording studio, your hair carelessly held up by a scrunchie in a bun on the top of your head, glasses slightly crooked on your face.

“You get it, right?” You asked from the couch, where your legs were propped up against your chest.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I do.” Ray smiled, turning back to the computer and putting in a few various sounds.

“I’m thinking of putting in these ‘Oh’ sounds over and over, as background, pre-verse and then in the chorus.” You included.

“That would be cool.” Gerard laid back in the chair in between you and Ray, “Make them lower though, they’ll contrast your voice.” You nodded, agreeing.

“I want to make it sound frantic, almost anxious, right? That’s kind of the feeling of the song.” “Well, yeah, that makes sense with the meaning and lyrics.” Ray added on and you nodded. “I think it sounds sick.” “Thanks man.” You smiled lightly, “I have like 20 of these. Not the same song, but for the new album.” “Already?” He asked, shocked.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Gerard looked over at him, arms crossed and slouching back, “Give her five minutes and she’ll have an entire fucking song conducted.” You nodded.

“Maybe not five, but something along those lines.”

“Have you made a title for the record?” Ray asked next and you shook your head.

“I have most of it composed, I don’t have a title though.” You said, “It’s a concept album, so as you guys know, it’s written like a book. But there’s this whole plot and everything. So it’s not like I can name it after someone or something, like I did with the last one, I have to find something.” “What about a song name?” Gerard looked up at you, “Name it after a song, maybe. One that you feel embodies the record as a whole.” “I don’t know,” You sighed out of partial frustration, “I’m not good at naming albums. I almost named the last one Gerard, but Ray told me no.” You could hear Ray lightly snicker remembering that.

“Really?” Gerard asked, a look of slight shock on his face.

“What?” You asked, “You act like you don’t know that entire record is about you.” He shrugged.

“It still flatters me.” “Well this one is kinda about you,” You admitted, “More about the picture the media has painted us out to be.” “You mean bad boy makes innocent girl bad?” He asked and you nodded.

“It’s almost set out as a character v. self, character v. character, and character v. society album.” You explained, “She’s frustrated with herself because she knows he’s bad but she loves him, she’s mad at him because he’s that way but she also loves him for it, and she’s mad at everyone who’s telling her he’s bad, because she knows it, but she can’t help it.” “So like an addiction?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“That’s why Clean is on there. It’s the last track, it’s her almost cleansing herself from everything.” “That makes sense.” Gerard nodded.

“I mean, I think it’s brilliant.” Ray began playing with a few more sounds while talking, “I hope people take it as it is, AKA it’s very ironic, but addressing that by making an entire record is pretty bad ass.” You lightly laughed.

“Thanks,” You smiled, “Maybe Gerard is making me corrupt, making me a badass and all.” You winked playfully at him.

“Ah yes, I’m going to make you my emo queen.” The three of you began laughing.

“I am thinking about changing my look to take on this alter ego,” You began, “You cut off all your hair and bleached it to be a representation of The Patient.” You looked to Gerard, “I don’t think I would do anything to my hair, but I would change up my wardrobe and makeup look.” “Like start off as you are and gradually get more rebellious looking?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“The paparazzi will love that.” You lightly smiled sarcastically, a few moments of silence at the end. “Thank you guys, by the way, for taking time off to help me make this.” “No problem,” Ray smiled and nodded, “Besides, everyone loves you and we’ve been having some writing block lately.” “And I didn’t have a choice.” Gerard said. You eyed him, throwing a pen which hit his head and he very lightly flinched at the impact.

“Oh stop it.” You rolled your eyes.

“Ready to go in?” Ray asked, motioning to the recording booth. You nodded getting up and grabbing a pair of headphones. You put them on, beginning to do some short vocal warm ups. Ray was sitting right outside through the glass window at the panel, Gerard leaning over and playing with a few things on the sound board.

“Ready?” Ray asked into the mic and you nodded, pulling out notes on your phone to read lyrics.

“We’re just doing verse and chorus, right? No belts or high notes or anything?” He shook his head.

“That’ll be next.” He responded and you nodded. The music started up, giving you a few seconds to prepare before you began singing the lyrics, both Gerard and Ray actively adjusting various switches and such. Finally, when the song wrapped up, you took a few steps back from the mic as they stopped the recording.

“How was that?” You asked.

“Incredible as always.” Ray smiled and you smiled back, “Now we have to work on high notes and belting for the bridge and final chorus, then we can do background vocals.” You nodded, “Let me just edit a bit of the track.” It only took him a matter of minutes before replaying the track, a huge smile plastered on your face the entire time.

“It’s sick!” You smiled and clapped, jumping a bit.

“It’s honestly incredible.” Gerard smiled too.

“Thank you.” You smiled back.

“Ready for everything else?” Ray asked and you nodded.

It took you another hour of recording and getting everything before you could finally retire the recording and production process for the song, getting out of the booth and grabbing a water.

The finished product was incredible, it had the perfect amount of everything from base to drums with a little bit of synth and a light echo attached to your voice.

“Do you think this new record’s gonna be as big as the last?” Ray asked you, all three of you now on various pieces of furniture in the studio and eating burritos, which had been jointly decided upon pretty quickly when you all grew hungry. “Mmm,” You hummed, thinking for a minute, “I don’t know. Probably not considering winning 10 Grammys in one night is a record,” “On top of the, like 40 other awards you got.” Ray laughed.

“Yeah, true,” You agreed, “But I don’t make music to win awards or anything. I make music because I want to and because I love to and other people like it.” You explained, “You guys are the same.” They nodded. “The awards are just something nice.”

“I mean, you’re basically on top of the world.” Ray responded.

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it all the more scary,” You began, “You kind of look down from your stance at the top, having everything you’ve ever dreamed of in your career, and you have to ask what do you do next. And then it turns in to panic because there’s no where to go. And that’s why Gerard is up with me every other night while I’m having a panic attack about what the fuck I do next.”

“I don’t think I’m much help.” He added.

“You’re more help than if I was alone.” You responded, “But I’m kind of excited for this new era. There’s no limits anymore, I feel like, so I’ll just take on this good girl gone bad character. Not in real life, of course, but my alter ego.” “So you’re gonna reset everything?” Ray asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, hopefully. Starting with my closet.” You took a bite of your food, “Gee, take me to Hot Topic.” He rolled his eyes.

“If you want to do that, then just take all my leather jackets.” “You have too many anyways.” “Do not,” He warned, “I take pride in my jacket collection.” This time you rolled your eyes. “You have an entire rack in your closet for jackets.” “Uh huh, says Miss ‘I have to have an entire room for my purse and shoe collection’.” “Oh, please, it’s part of my personality.” “Well jackets are apart of mine.” He fired back.

“You two are literally an old couple.” Ray interrupted.

“Kinda.” You agreed.

“But for real,” Ray asked next, “What is going on in the world of Y/F/N Y/L/N?” You sighed.

“For once it feels like nothing,” You admitted, “No brand deals really, almost no interviews, no tour because that finished up, just this I guess.” You took another bite and continued, “I did recently get the opportunity for there to be a documentary on me and my life though. Like a camera crew and everyone follow me around for a few critical weeks of the year, put it into a whole movie type thing about how I live, my fame, all that.” “Wait, what?” Gerard asked, now a mixture of shock and concern on his face. “You-you never told me.” He said next.

“Well, yeah, I mean I told them I would at least have to think about it. I was planning on telling you but I needed to figure out if I wanted to go through with it first. I was very indecisive about it. Still am.” “So what are you thinking?” Ray asked, clearly trying to break some of the tension.

“I still don’t know,” You admitted, “I mean, a part of me really wants people to understand why I’m so under the radar, why I’ve disappeared from the world for a while. But the other part wants to protect that privacy. Plus if we were to theoretically go through with this, Gee, you would have to be okay with it too since they’ll be filming in our homes, and very possibly me and you.” He nodded, “And plus, I don’t know if it’s the right timing. I’m starting this new era of me being private and taking on this alter ego for everyone else, it may just be bad timing too.”

“I think it would be interesting for people to be able to see you, like the real you. And how you deal with the fame and all.” Ray added.

“Yeah, but,” You took a brief pause to find words, “How much of my privacy am I willing to forfeit for that?”

You and Gerard got back to your New York townhouse, kicking off your shoes and almost immediately crashing on the bed. You had to admit, at least to yourself, that your mind was beyond conflicted with what to do. Your next album release would have been perfect timing to plan starting a family with Gerard. Release the album, stay completely under the radar, and go on a small tour with a few big shows. But the opportunity for the documentary to be made would make a huge deal to your life. It would be nearly impossible to do both at the same time, though.

You laid down, your head on Gerard’s shoulder, as you both laid in bed reading your books trying to wind down. But Gerard, being your husband, best friend, and soulmate, knew you were stressed. Just from even looking at you, although no one else could tell, he could.

“Talk to me.” He said softly, barely above a whisper.

“I don’t want to disrupt your reading,” You sighed, “Or annoy you.” “I like listening to you talk.” He glanced to you, your eyes meeting. You didn’t know how a man could be that gorgeous, he just was. “It’s soothing, even when you rant.” You lightly laughed, snuggling further into him. He willingly took one of his arms, swinging it behind you and placing his book down on his nightstand, marking the page. 

“Fine,” You sighed, moving down so your head was on his chest, feeling it rise and fall with every delicate breath he absentmindedly took. Your hands found their way there too, drawing circles on the shirt he had on.

So there the two of you laid, you pouring our your anxiety and worries to your husband, who seemed to understand what you were saying, translating every jumble of emotion you had into a symphony of calmness. 

“This is all up to you babe, I’m just along for the ride.” He said, “But maybe this is a sign, ya know? Maybe you should take this opportunity to have a documentary be made about you, because maybe people will begin to actually understand the extent to which your life has been thrown into the spotlight, and why you need that privacy. And maybe that sympathy will get us to an even better place where we can start a family, worry free from any chance that our child or children will be in the spotlight.” “You’re so smart.” You lightly laughed, nuzzling into him. “I’ll think about it, Gee.” And like that a lightbulb went off in your head. You squeezed out of his embrace, groaning and getting up out of bed, his face filled with confusion. “Where’re you going? Did I say something wrong? I-” “No, it’s a song idea.” You palmed your face in your hand, “Like a really good one.” You grabbed your phone to go record it. “You get it, right?” “Not really because I don’t record as many songs as you, but kinda.” You groaned again, his face so innocent as you eyed him.

“You’re an ass.” 

[takebullshit]

About Louis recommending Gerry Cinnamon’s new album...

Not to be that person, but... The lyrics are LOUD. (and the songs are great, go check them out! P.S.: everyone’s already freaking out because if Louis sang one of the songs, his accent would be thick) 

About my thoughts on each song (of course, regarding Larry):

"Canter" 

The song is about living your life to its fullest, about going after what you want. It also kinds of follows the same storyline as Miss You/a bit similar to Always You as well. It’s about going out, partying and everything, but at the end, you miss that one person and it’s all that really matters.

Some of the lyrics: 

“Because the hardest part of the game isn't even playing the game, it's caring enough to care about the things that you're doing”

“They tell you it's no easy, they tell you that it's hard They tell you it's impossible to mend a broken heart The lead role in a tragedy pretending that it's art”

“I coulda write a stanza and put you in a song, detail all the times when you were right and I was wrong Flashbacks to the only place I felt like I belonged You'll never be a king when you're acting like a pawn”

"War Song Soldier"

What I understand from this song is about someone who starts a war with their songs, who use their music as a weapon sort of.

“Now my mouth is a gun Ima let my words rain down”

“I could write a song and pretend it's worth my time”

“Every night we hide Between my dreams and rhymes”

"Where We're Going" 

This one talks about someone who makes mistakes and wishes for another place to live with the happiness the other person is giving them.

“But it seems that in the end I fuck up everything and it's killing me”

“There'll be another place for you and me Endless time, love And nothing really matters, really”

“Rolling in directions that I don't believe Pretending that I'm someone that I'll never be, I will never be I could never be” (!!!)

"Head In The Clouds"

THIS ONE. I swear, it suits larry so much. It’s basically about someone who’s “on the top of the world” and feel lost, unsure of how to act and end up acting like a fool most of the times. To completely understand the feeling, I’d recommend you to listen the whole song and pay attention to the whole lyrics, but there’s a few parts that can sum it up pretty well:

“More late nights of the same old shite than you care to remember”

“You're on top o' the world (...)  They tell you nothin' is free”

“Havin' your fun with two weeks in the sun” (mostly here because I like the reference/coincidence with the “they never go longer than two weeks apart” theory)

“Now you're caught in a game you don't know how to play”

“Where you hide all the things you don't want to be hearin’” “You try not to fight it, so you try to be cool but then act like a fool You don't know how to hide it 'cause it feels like a dream”

“You're still stupid enough to know that you can't run forever On your mind every day ‘cause the pain goes away anytime you're together”

“I don't know if you're really in love but I have my suspicions”

"Dark Days"

Okay, another LOUD one. It’s about having a relationship going through “hard days”, but also using the other’s person strenght (refered as “light”). Also, it talks about the other being a moon beam and about having sun rays and all I could think about was the post I saw saying Louis’ the sun and Harry is the moon.

“You were a moon beam in the sky”

“Longing for the day, I threw myself into your light unthreatened by the night”

“Nothing stays the same but still the world is turning, at least there's some things never change”

“Dark days, these are dark days, but I heard that there's an easier way These are the best days that you're ever gonna have”

“Dark days, but I got sun rays 'cause I know that there's an easier way to love” (!!!)

"The Bonny"

I have a feeling this is something more familiar to Louis, if he relates to the song in some level, mostly because of this lyrics:

“For the people that you loved and lost That you never got to tell goodbye”

"Sun Queen"

This is a nice one, about fame and being in a band, also about a lover that is refered as “The Sun Queen” (that connects with Louis, as he’s always called “sunshine” by the fans and has references to it in Harry’s songs as well).

“Sing my songs, never thought I'd make it this far (...) Lived my life, I can prove it 'cause I got scars”

“She said she had a thing for James Dean and the music from the 50s”

“Faded memories of a young team”

“Fakes in bands only wanna get wasted They wear nice clothes but they'll never even taste it Ripped off songs, first you copy then you paste it”

“The boy's got soul but he musta misplaced it”

"Outsiders"

This one is a quite dark one, in my opinion. I feel it as a song about the demons in your head, even not believing your partner’s love for you anymore. I don’t know if there’s different meanings, but the main feeling I get from it is someone being reluctant about going to places because they feel out of place because of those demons in their head.

“I got some bright ideas (...) and it burns inside”

“I don't wanna come in cause beneath this smile I'm dying on the inside”

“I don't care if I win, it's a sin”

“I spill my guts again I cut my heart out in a piss stained field While you scream don't shout Till I believe again My heart is open But my fates still sealed”

(Maybe if Louis relates to that would be in a sense that he’s opening up, but he still can’t change his “fate”, even if he’s letting down his guard. And that he’s vulnerable, but he needs to be convinced about love again.)

"Roll The Credits"

This is very sad break up song. Since we all assume they broke up at least once, according to their lyrics, it also can be related to it, it’s a pretty strong break up song.

“It's over, so why do you need me to answer your questions like we're still alive” “I told ya, all your words they mislead me to think cause our bodies ain't broken our hearts might survive”

“The tracks of your tears let me know that you've cried”

“Roll the credits there's no happy ending The monsters got over the wall and tore us apart Pull the curtain there's no use pretending”

"Mayhem"

I got a feeling this song it’s originally about cheating or something like that, but can also be seen as someone making a mistake and (again) about feeling lost. (quick comment that this song is amazing, my favourite from the album)

“Mayhem in your eyes”

“I spat on the pavement ignoring the demons inside”

“Home is where I belong I promise I'll do no more wrong I might even sing you a song”

"Six String Gun"

I feel like this is about using the music as a weapon again, trying to be truthful to yourself but feeling alone. Talking about Louis, I guess it relates to the same way of “War Song Solider” and I thought of “Only The Brave” listening to it, so idk.

The lyrics are amazing and pretty short, so here they are:

“Well I try to be an honest man I do my bit when I can I might fall but I have my fun Sometimes I feel I'm the only one With a six string gun The world's on fire and the gods know it So we don't pray anymore Our eyes burn in a red hot sun Sometimes I feel I'm the only one With a six string gun”

"Every Man's Truth"

Even if I don’t think it’s exactly Larry related, it criticizes the society as a whole so I guess it’s valid (also wouldn’t let only one song out). Also, another great song either way, it’s worth checking out.

A little bit of the lyrics:

“Odds on That the world is run by criminals And we're all controlled by subliminals Consuming like our minds are haunted By the things we didn't need but wanted”

Well, those are the songs in the Gerry Cinnamon’s album, “The Bonny”.  Check the album, it’s great!

I feel like we tend to listen to and recommend songs based not only on how much we appreciate it, but also how much we can relate to it. So, I’m not affirming Larry is real because of those lyrics, I’m just saying that, since I believe Larry is real and it is, I believe Louis can relate to the songs in a intimate level since he talks about how lyrics are important to him.

[mammon-sama]

Operation: Pluck the Peacock (Fanfiction)

Uhm ... apparently this whole thing got deleted?  What?  Okay, here it is again.  Again, just a super dumb thing I wrote for fun!

Title:

Operation: Pluck the Peacock

Summary:

The demon brothers face the immeasurably daunting challenge of trying to photograph Lucifer shirtless.

Genre:

Fluff/Humor/Slice of Life

Rating:

T

Word Count:

4958

-

“Ahem! Ahem! ” Asmodeus chirped from the front of the R.A.D Council Room.  He rapped on the podium in front of him and frowned when he noticed the crowd of people that filled the room had yet to dispel their cacophony of chitchat.  “I said ahem! ”

With that, the remaining six Student Council members, as well as their President, Lord Diavolo, quieted down.

Asmo raised an eyebrow.  “You know, I thought at least you five—” he gestured toward Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Beelzebub, and Belphegor, “—would be eager to get this meeting started.”

Mammon gasped and smirked.  “No kiddin’—totally forgot what this was about for a second there, to be honest.”

Lucifer’s brow furrowed as he noticed the mischievous look that passed between Belphegor and Satan.  

Asmo grinned at his elder brother’s suspicion.

“I’m only here ‘cause Beel ate the router,” Levi grumbled, his head on his desk.  “I can’t play any games without connection and Barbatos said it’d be like, seven hours before he can get a chance to fix everything.”

“Belphie promised me a chocolate-covered cricket chip cookie if I went along with this!” Beel announced cheerfully.

Mammon turned around to face his brother and cocked his head.  “Only one cookie, Beel?  C’mon, I’d think ya’d rather take a steeper offer than that.  I mean—” his smirk only grew as he peeked at Lucifer, “—I think this is gonna be good, but it’ll probably get us in a buncha trouble, too.”

Beel lowered his head and frowned.  “I already ate the rest of the cookies in the box.  Belphie just promised me the last one if I helped you guys with this.”

Asmo snapped his fingers from the podium.  “That’s enough prattling from you two; we’ve got bigger matters to attend t—”

“Okay, I’ve had just about enough of this,” Lucifer decided.  He stood up from his chair as Diavolo watched him eagerly. “Why in the world did you call us here, Asmo?”

Asmodeus scowled.  “I was just about to get to that.”

“Well, don’t meander about your point and get to it, then.”  Lucifer sighed and sat back down.

Feeling rather ruffled, Asmo huffed and said, “I am.  In fact, we already sort of discussed this in a text message conversation awhile back.”  From his back pocket, he pulled out a small, cleverly folded square of paper.  Careful not to chip his nail polish, he unfolded the sheet to reveal a huge poster.

Lucifer rolled his eyes as he read aloud the bright, sparkly pink words on the said poster.  “Operation: Pluck the Peacock.”

“Translation—get Lucifer shirtless,” Satan clarified, closing his eyes and smiling in satisfaction.

“And photograph him,” Belphegor added, with an equally devious grin.

“And sell it!” Mammon concluded.

“The last part’s debatable,” Asmodeus admitted.  “He’s only saying that ‘cause he got so much cash off of Levi’s shirtless pic.”

Leviathan, who did not like to be reminded of his insurmountable internet fame from the picture of his toned swimmer’s body, scowled at Mammon.  “I still am gonna kill you for that.”

Mammon smiled sweetly in response.  “Yeah, and ya can bury me in the most expensive mausoleum there is, what with all the cash I made off of ya.”

Levi’s face grew red, but before he could lunge at his brother, Lord Diavolo rose from his chair, his face gravely serious.  

Lucifer looked incredibly pleased with Diavolo’s somber expression, while the other six demon brothers exchanged irritated glances, worried that the President would shoot their idea down.

“I must say, Asmo, this is a rather frivolous thing to bring to the Student Council floor,” Diavolo said.  As he saw six demon faces fall, he amended, “ But, frivolous is what we’re about here at R.A.D!”

“What? ” Lucifer blanched.  “No, we’re not.”  Attempting to regain his composure, he coughed and said, “With all due respect, Diavolo, this operation is a waste of time.”

Diavolo chuckled as he saw Lucifer’s pout.  “Oh come on, Lucifer, there’s no harm in it.  Besides,” he reasoned, “think of it as a test for you.  A test to see if you can avoid your brothers’ attempts to ‘pluck your peacock.’”

Asmodeus smirked, while Levi blushed and stuttered, “D—don’t say it like that!”

“Then it’s settled, then!”  Mammon cheered. “Operation: Pluck the Peacock is a go!”

-

“Okay, what’s our first order of business?” Satan asked, sitting at his desk, with Belphegor, Leviathan, and Mammon surrounding him.  He peered behind him and sighed. “You can’t eat any of those books, Beel.”

Beelzebub, who was poking around in Satan’s mountain of books, sighed despondently, saying “I was just checking,” before flopping onto the bed.

“If you say so.”  Satan rolled his eyes when he realized that the fifth-born demon was missing, as well.  “Asmo, come on.  This whole operation was your idea.”

“Hold on,” Asmodeus urged, as he too, nosed through Satan’s book collection.  “You really don’t have any fun magazines around here, do you?”

Mammon raised his eyebrows.  “Yeah, smarty-pants Satan’s gonna read some tabloidy stuff like that.  Now, get over here.”

“Oh, calm down,” Asmo replied as he pranced toward the group.  “I already have a foolproof idea.”

Belphegor yawned.  “Oh, so it’s Mammon-proof?”

“Keep talkin’ like that, Belphie,” Mammon warned.  “And I’ll lock ya back up in the attic, again!”

As if on cue, Beelzebub leaped off the bed and curled his hands into fists.  “You wouldn’t dare, Mammon.”

“Gah!  Cool it, Beel!  I was just kidding!”  Mammon yelped, backing into Levi, who growled irately.

Satan sighed.  “Alright, everyone be quiet.  Asmo, what was your idea?”

“Well, it wasn’t an idea, more like, a thought,” Asmo confessed.

Belphegor rolled his eyes.  “Do you even know the difference between a thot and a thought ?”

“Yes, good job, Belphie,” remarked Satan drily.  “Say two homonyms in spoken dialogue and expect us to know the difference.  Very nice.”  

Before Belphegor could hiss a reply, Beel sighed.  “Can everyone just please stop fighting? This whole thing was supposed to be a fun way to pass the time and this isn’t fun.”

Satan nodded.  “Beel’s right. Okay, Asmo, what was your thought ?”

“Well,” Asmodeus began.  “A while back Lucifer was helping me get ready—sometimes he has impeccable taste, you know—and when we went through my closet, I remember that he seemed to be especially fond of this dark blue silk undershirt that I have.  He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he wanted it.”

“That’s it?”  Mammon asked. “Ya wanted to brag about buyin’ silk undershirts?”

Satan massaged his forehead and conked Mammon on the head.  “How can you and your one brain cell miss the point so badly?”  He turned to Asmo and stroked his chin. “So, what you’re saying is, if you can lend him this undershirt and put him in a situation where he could damage it, he’ll take it off, revealing his chest underneath for us to photograph?”

“That’s right!” Asmodeus chirped.

“But what kind of situation would make Lucifer realize that he doesn’t want to ruin the silk and take off the shirt?” Beel wondered.

“We could throw him in a fire,” Belphie suggested, with an innocent grin that absolutely dripped malice.

While the rest of the brothers stared at Belphegor with gaping mouths, Satan snapped his fingers and nodded appreciatively.  “He’s got a point. I mean, we live in Hell—fire is in no short supply. It’s economical, at least.”

“… or we could do something milder,” Levi suggested.  “How about we have someone pretend to drown in R.A.D’s swimming pool and stage it so Lucifer walks by and has to save them?”

Mammon, who had some faith in his elder brother, wondered, “Would he really take time to strip off a silk shirt if someone was drownin’?”

“He’d better,” Asmo glowered.

“Fine.  I suppose that’s a feasible idea, too,” Satan said.  “But who will be the one to fake-drown in the pool?”

“Levi’ll do it,” Mammon, who was not thrilled with his younger brother’s constant death threats, offered.  “I mean, he’s the one who suggested it, after all.”

“I second that,” Belphie agreed.

“I’m not doing this, guys!” Leviathan argued.

“I third it,” Beel replied.  

“Still not gonna do it!” spat Levi.

“I four—” Asmo began before he was interrupted by Satan.

“—We only technically needed two affirmations for this to go through, and we’re wasting time.  Sorry Asmo,” Satan explained. “Alright, Levi, get your swim trunks and acting skills on, because it’s time for Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt One: Drown the Fish!”

“I’m not supposed to represent a fis—” Leviathan insisted, but he was cut off as Beelzebub threw him onto his back and the six made their way over to R.A.D’s swimming pool.

-

“Guys, I just got a text from Lord Diavolo,” Asmo whispered as he, Mammon, Satan, Beel, and Belphie crowded behind the bleachers in the empty R.A.D natatorium, as they watched Leviathan bob up and down in the pool.  “He says when we get the shirtless pics of Lucifer, we should send them to him.”

Belphie scowled.  “I thought you were supposed to ask him if he could ask Lucifer to do some fake Student-Council-related stuff here by the pool.”

Asmodeus huffed.  “I did, and he said he would.  I just thought that information would be more interesting.”

“ Shh! ” hushed Satan when a loud rumble reverberated through the room.  “I hear something.”

Beel blushed.  “Sorry, that was me.”

“No, wait—I actually hear footsteps this time,” Mammon whispered, and sure enough, the group could hear footsteps through the natatorium’s door. 

“Levi!  Start drowning!”  Satan hissed.

“Whatever,” Levi mumbled as he quietly laid his head back in the water and tilted it back.  He mimicked gasping and stiffened his legs, remaining for the most part, quite quiet.

The brothers watched this natural display, before Belphie growled, “That’s not ‘drowning,’ Levi.”

“Yeah, you’ve got to play it up more!  Start coughing and spasming and screaming ‘n’ stuff!” Mammon called.

Leviathan scowled.  “Have you guys ever seen anyone drown before?  No one does that!”

“Do it anyway!  Lucifer doesn’t know that, and besides, there’s nothing wrong with being dramatique! ” Asmo encouraged.

Levi rolled his eyes and muttered, “Fine.”  He took a deep breath, and as soon as the natatorium door creaked open, he began to scream, “ Help!  Someone save me!  I’m drowning! I can’t breathe! ”  He thrashed around in the pool, making the normally stagnant water an array of waves.  

Lucifer walked in, deliberately, and ignoring the ‘drowning’ Levi, knelt down by the pool, took out a small beaker and strip from his pocket, and began to take samples of the water.

“Um, hello! ” Levi groused, splashing even more.  “ I said I’m drowning, here!  What do you think you’re doing?”

“Taking pH samples of the water for Diavolo,” Lucifer replied easily, carefully dribbling a drop of the pool water onto the pH strip.  

“Yeah, but I’m drowning!  Don’t you see me splashing and dying here? ” 

“Levi, you spend an unholy amount of time in your aquarium, are the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy, and not to mention, can breathe underwater.  If you’re going to drown, do it with a little more class.”

“Oh.  Crap, you’re right.”

From behind the bleachers, Mammon shook his head, disheartened.  “I knew we were forgetting something,” he said, which earned him another bonk on the head from Satan.  He wheeled on his brother. “Quit it! Also, I’ve got another plan.  I call it Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt Two: Boil the Bird!”

-

“How did you even know the code to get in here?” Satan wondered as he, Mammon, Beelzebub, Belphegor, and Asmodeus huddled behind a bookcase in Lucifer’s private study.  Leviathan, who caught a cold from spending so much time in the freezing R.A.D pool in their last expedition, couldn’t attend the next phase of the operation.

“Lucky guess,” Mammon shrugged, modest for once.  “And ya did turn the heat up all the way, right, Beel?”

“Yes,” Beel nodded.  “It was set to Light Burn in here before, but I switched it to Dante’s Inferno.  It’s going to take a few minutes to kick in.” 

Asmodeus frowned.  “If the heat ruins my hair, Mammon you’d better be ready to foot my salon bill.”

“Hey!  Why me?” argued the secondborn demon. 

“Because turning up the heat in Lucifer’s study to get him to take off his clothes was your lousy idea,” affirmed Asmo.

“Shut up, you two,” Belphegor hushed in irritation.  “Lucifer’s gonna come into his office any moment and he can’t know we’re in here.”

The five demons stood in silence as they heard footsteps approach the door.

As they heard the automated door slide open, Mammon gagged.  “Holy Father, I’m feelin’ it now—the heat.” A sweat broke out over his body and he fanned himself with his hand furiously.

Satan, who was considerably less sweaty, frowned at Mammon, as Lucifer walked into the room.

The brothers peeked at the eldest through empty spots in the bookcase and watched as Lucifer raised his eyebrows.

“That’s strange,” the firstborn muttered.  “I don’t remember turning the heat on in here.”  He shook his head and sat down at his desk. He worked quietly for a few minutes, before succumbing to the temperature and taking off his cape.

“One layer of clothing down,” Asmo whisper-sung.  “Two more to go.”

Satan nodded and wiped the perspiration off his brow.  “Beel, turn up the heat.”

“Okay.  I’ll set it to Inside of a Just-Cooked Pizza Roll—that’s even hotter than Dante’s Inferno.” Beel agreed.  “Mmm … Pizza Rolls.”  

As Beel turned the heater dial, Mammon slunk to the floor, moving the hair off his forehead and fanning himself even faster, trying to cool himself down.  “I’m beginnin’ to think this was a bad idea.”

Belphegor shook his head.  “I guess the ‘bird’ in Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt Two: Boil the Bird was a ‘crow.’”

“Look, look,” Asmo ushered and gestured toward Lucifer, who was beginning to unbutton his vermillion vest.  “Inside of a Just-Cooked Pizza Roll is hot enough to make him take off another layer of clothing.”

Mammon put his head on his knees, beginning to strip off his clothes, as well.  “I don’t know how much more of this I can take, guys. My head’s startin’ to hurt, now.”

“Too bad,” Satan said unsympathetically as he dragged his brother, whose skin was turning red, off the ground.  “This was your idea.”

“And it seems to be working,” Belphie admitted.  “Beel, turn up the heat; we just need him to take off his shirt, now.”

Beel obediently turned toward the heater dial, again.  “The heat is now going from Inside of a Just-Cooked Pizza Roll to Seat Belt Tongue on a Hot Summer Day.”

The five brothers, all completely drenched in sweat, watched eagerly as Lucifer meticulously began to unbutton the black shirt that was the last layer of clothing on his torso.

But, as his red-nail-polished (sausage) fingers fumbled with the last button, there was a muffled gasp from Mammon as the secondborn collapsed.

Satan raised his eyebrows as he realized what had happened.  “Heatstroke. We’ve got to get him to the infirmary, now.”

Beel grabbed his brother and ushered the remaining three silently out the door of the study without Lucifer seeing them.  

“I guess even demons have their heat tolerances,” Asmo mumbled as the group marched down the House of Lamentation’s corridors, without a picture of Lucifer shirtless to show for their troubles.

-

“Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt Three: Give Him a Cupcake is a terrible name, Beel,” Asmo sighed.  “All the other names for the attempts sounded mysterious—this one is just saying exactly what we’re going to do to him.”

Beel’s brows downturned and he looked down.  “Well, it doesn’t say what I’m going to do with the cupcake.”

Satan raised an eyebrow.  “The name literally says we’re going to ‘give’ it to him, Beel.”

“He means after that,” Belphie retorted, always quick to defend his twin.  “You can’t know that we’re gonna ‘accidentally’ smear the cupcake all down the front of Lucifer’s shirt after we give it to him just from the name.”

Asmo shrugged.  “This whole attempt lacks decorum if you ask me, but I guess it’s all we’ve got.”

“Hopefully your plan works, Beel,” Satan said.  “Mammon’s still in the infirmary and Levi won’t come out of his room since he’s nursing his cold, so we’re dropping like flies here and we still haven’t gotten the picture.”

Beel gulped, not enjoying the pressure that this whole ordeal put on him.  “I hope it works, too.” He fiddled with the frosted pink cupcake that he held in his hands, going against every single one of his instincts to eat it.

The four remaining demons stood aside in the R.A.D hallways, waiting for Lucifer to walk by after his daily meeting with Diavolo.

“Now, Beel,” Satan reminded his brother.  “When you end up smearing the cupcake on Lucifer, make sure you smash the frosting so that it gets on both his vest and the shirt underneath—aim for mostly the upper part of his torso.  It’s after school hours now, so he should be in his everyday clothes and not his uniform.”

Beel nodded, faithfully ignoring the growl of his stomach as he and his brothers waited for Lucifer to walk past them.  

After a few minutes, Belphie spotted a dark figure skulking down the hallway.  “There he is. Go, Beel.”

Beelzebub walked toward his brother and greeted, “Hey, Lucifer.”

Lucifer cocked his head in confusion but smiled demurely at him.  “Beel.”

Painfully, Beel reached out his hand and offered Lucifer the cupcake.  “H—here.” He could barely make out the words; how could he possibly give away food?  “You … you can have this.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.  “You? Offering me food, Beel?”  He made the connection between this gesture and the operation instantly, and his smile widened.  He pushed Beel’s hand away, and in his gentlest tone said, “No, thank you. Please take it for yourself.”

Beel’s eyes widened in excitement.  “Really?”

Lucifer nodded.  “Yes.” He pulled his brother close and spoke quietly.  “In fact, Beel, drop this whole operation and I’ll buy you a dozen cupcakes.”

Beelzebub stepped away, realizing Lucifer’s ploy.  “I—no, I … can’t.” His stomach growled loudly in protest.

“Two dozen, then.”  

“I—I—I can’t—”

“Three dozen.  And all of the ‘dozens’ will be baker’s dozens.”

“ … Fine.”

From afar, Satan watched Lucifer walk away with Beel and hissed, “That snake.”

Belphegor frowned and stomped on his foot.  “Hey.”

“Not Beel,” Satan reassured.  “Lucifer just stole one of our team members.”

Asmodeus shook his head.  “And now there’s just us three remaining.”  His eyes lit up deviously. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

“If you suggest a threesome, Asmo, I’ll end you,” Belphegor warned.  

Asmo retorted, “Um, excuse me, if I was going to suggest anything like that, I’d do it when there were more of us together so we could do it orgy-style.”

“Well, what were you going to suggest, Asmo?” queried Satan.

Asmodeus grinned deviously.  “Actually I was going to suggest a threesome—Ow! Belphie, kick me again, I dare you!  Anyway, but now I just thought of the answer to getting Lucifer to take his shirt off—sex.”

Belphegor and Satan exchanged a look.  “ … What?” they chorused.

“Just leave it to me.  I propose, Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt Four: Get the Cock!”

-

“This isn’t going to work,” Belphie remarked drily.  He and Satan were poised outside Lucifer’s room, in which Asmo was alone with Lucifer.

Satan shook his head.  “I know. I don’t know what he’s thinking, trying to seduce Lucifer like this.  We know the only person that can make Lucifer go boing! is D— ”

“Wait—shh … I hear something.”  Belphegor had his head pressed up against Lucifer’s door and raised his eyebrows.  “Holy Father … I think … I think I hear Asmo’s ‘Sexy Time’ playlist on the speakers.”

The fourth-eldest brother scrunched his nose.  “You don’t think …?”

Belphegor blanched as he heard Lucifer’s voice through the door.  He repeated the words back to Satan, saying, “‘Oh, Asmo … I’m going to make you feel so many things …’”  His eyes widened. “I hear footsteps, and they’re getting closer. Holy Father, Holy Father, someone’s coming to lock the door.”  He turned to Satan, his eyes wild. “They’re gonna do it!”

“Oh, my …” Satan gulped as he too, heard the footsteps draw near.  “Perhaps we should go.”

Belphie looked conflicted.  “I don’t kn—”

Before he could get very far, the door to Lucifer’s room swung open and Lucifer—fully clothed—marched out, not noticing the two eavesdroppers standing sentinel at his threshold.

“And all of those things I said you’d feel—” Lucifer said, his voice menacingly smooth, as he made his way over to Asmodeus’ room, wielding a rather large, rather sharp pair of scissors.  “—are all going to be variants of pain .”

Asmo sprinted out after him, his face red with exertion.  

Satan flew onto his feet.  “What happened?”

The fifth-born demon paused in his race to say, “He was totally into it—I swear!  Or at least, I thought he was until he said ‘Oh, Asmo … I’m going to make you feel so many things …’ and then walked out with a pair of scissors.  He said he’s gonna cut up all my clothes! I think he knows it was all a plot!” With that, he continued to sprint after Lucifer.

“ … Or maybe he just didn’t want to fool around with Asmodeus,” Belphegor reasoned.

Satan nodded.  “That’s more likely.  And besides … Asmo should be glad Lucifer’s gonna slice up all his clothes.  That way they’re more revealing—which is what he likes, anyway.”

“Yeah, but there goes another member of our team.”   Belphie squinted his eyes at Satan. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”

“ … seems that way.  Any ideas for the next attempt?”

“No.”

“Hm, well, I think I have one, then.”

-

“ … I can’t believe we didn’t think of this before,” Belphie sighed.  “This way is so much easier.”

Satan bobbed his head.  “Yes, Operation: Pluck the Peacock, Attempt Five: Unleash the Magic should be our easiest try, yet.”  He flipped open his spellbook. “What’s really impressive is that I’ve magically found a super-convenient, super-specific curse that instantly vaporizes someone’s shirt and only their shirt through a blast of heat but only if its aimed properly at their heart.”

“Better not show that to Asmo,” Belphegor warned.  “Vaporizing shirts sounds like something he could easily take advantage of.”

Satan pointed to a section of the text in the book.  “No need to worry about that; it says right here that the spell is one-time use only.  Once it’s incanted, the spell can never be used again.”

“Huh, the book also says that if the produced heat isn’t directed at the heart, the heat won’t function as it’s supposed to—that is, to vaporize clothes—but will work as regular heat and cause a fire using whatever the user pointed at as fuel,” Belphie read.

“We have to get this right on the first try, then.  Asmo’s usually the designated photographer, but since he’s too busy crying over his ruined clothes, you better have your D.D.D out to take a picture of Lucifer as I say the spell,” ordered Satan.

Belphie pulled out his device.  “Got it.”

“Alright.” The pair were huddled behind a couch in the Common Room.  Lucifer was seated on the couch across from them. “I’m going to incant the spell right here.  The tip of my pointer finger should glow fiery orange once I’m done. Then, I’ll get up from behind this couch and point my glowing finger at Lucifer’s heart.  I’ll say the release command for the spell, which should cause the heat from my fingers to zoom toward Lucifer and vaporize his shirt. Afterward, you take the picture.”

Belphegor nodded.

Satan continued and muttered aloud from his spellbook, “ In eaque faciam ignis / ignis ardens et lucens tam secura / ut hac flamma quae mando ad conflandum / quem legeret furore libare. ”  With this, Satan rose, his fingertip burning hot with the spell.

Lucifer, who had been studying a page of music on the other Common Room couch, widened his eyes in confusion, as Satan pointed his finger at his brother’s heart.  “What in the Celestial Realm—”

“Hey, everyone!  Your favorite brother Mammon has been released from the infirmary and can now stay in the comforts of his own bed!” was heard from the hallway, just as Satan shouted, “Release command: adolebitque!”  

However, when Satan heard the caterwaul that was Mammon’s voice, he turned behind him to see the commotion.  This caused his entire body—and therefore, the position of his poised finger—to shift. The heated, released spell burst from his fingers and zoomed toward a hand mirror that Asmodeus had left on the coffee table earlier. 

Belphie dutifully snapped a picture of the spell’s effects once it reflected off the mirror and came barreling back at him who incanted it and lit Satan’s hair on fire.

“Belphegor,” Satan said through gritted teeth and he tried to fan out the inferno that was his head.  “Delete that photo immediately.”

-

Well, Operation: Pluck the Peacock was a bust, Belphie thought sleepily, just awakening from a nap in the Music Room.  Normally, his favorite spot to sleep was the Planetarium, but he had been doing his schoolwork and the Music Room helped him concentrate.  Everyone just gave up, it seems, due to some reason or another.  Too bad—having a shirtless picture of Lucifer would be excellent blackmail.

It was nighttime, and Belphegor figured he should be warm in his bed, but he had been kept on his toes all day with the whole operation, and he felt too tired to pry open his eyes and meander back to his room.

So he lay there, half-asleep on one of the Music Room chairs until he heard footsteps wander into the room.

Who the Hell is that? he wondered.  Most of those guys are usually asleep by now.  He opened one of his eyes slightly and closed it immediately when he saw who it was and what they were wearing.  Holy crap, Lucifer doesn’t wear a shirt to bed.  Opening his eyes a crack, he stared in amazement at his brother’s shirtless form as he scrounged the Music Room for what Belphegor assumed to be some late-night classical music; Lucifer, being the ex-Angel of Music, was easily soothed by calming tunes.

Careful not to make any sudden movements, Belphie reached into his sweater pocket and pulled out his D.D.D, ready to take a picture.  Only, as soon as he clicked the button to capture the image, a loud click resounded throughout the room.  

Crap, crap, crap, I forgot to turn off my ringer.

Lucifer, who had just noticed Belphegor’s body slouched in one of the chairs from the noise, sprinted over to his brother as he realized what had occurred.

The firstborn brother grinned maliciously, suddenly transforming into his demon form as he politely spat, “Delete that.  Now.”

-

Diavolo shook his head in disappointment at the Student Council members the next day.  “I assume from your faces that Operation: Pluck the Peacock was a bust?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Satan muttered, shaking his head.  “Even with all of us together, none of us could get Lucifer to take his shirt off.”

Mammon shrugged.  “Hey, the Great Mammon totally could’ve done it, y’know!”

“You literally passed out because of heat.  What kind of demon does that?”  Asmo retorted.

“And don’t count me among all you who failed,” Belphie argued.  “I actually got a shirtless Lucifer picture.  Until he made me delete it, that is.” He turned to glare at brother.

Asmo let out a pertinent hmph and grumbled, “Killjoy.”

Diavolo’s eyes widened.  “Wait—is that true, Lucifer?  Your brothers did complete their challenge?”

“I don’t consider catching me in my pajamas and taking a picture to be ‘completing the challenge,’ Diavolo,” Lucifer reasoned, ignoring the angry stares of his brothers.  “I believe the whole point was for them to cause me to have my shirt off, not me having it off regardless.”

“We never really specified the details,” Beel admitted, after a moment of silence.

Levi looked up from his D.D.D, where he had been playing a mobile gacha game, since Barbatos had fixed the router.  “Yeah, so that technically means that we can clarify the rules, now, if we want.”

Satan nodded and rubbed his chin.  “That’s right. I vote we make it so that we could have photographed Lucifer shirtless, regardless of his reason for being so.”

“I second that,” Belphie agreed.

“I third it,” Beel replied.  

“I four—” Asmo began before he was interrupted by Diavolo.

“—Sorry for cutting you off, Asmodeus, but we only technically needed two affirmations for this to go through,” said Diavolo, his face lighting up.  “That settles it. Lucifer, since you wrongfully deprived me—I mean, your brothers—of a shirtless picture of you yesterday during Operation: Pluck the Peacock, I hereby declare that you must grace us with your glorious shirtless figure right here and now in the R.A.D Council Room!”

As the six brothers cheered, Lucifer’s eyes widened.  “I most certainly will not!”

“You must!  It’s an order!” Diavolo countered.

Lucifer frowned and blushed.  “ … Fine. Just … don’t take any photographs.  I’d rather not have this ridiculous event emblazoned across the internet.”

Once Lucifer had unbuckled the belt of his robelike school uniform and undid the buttons, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor and Diavolo all whipped out their D.D.Ds and captured the most ethereal image of all—Lucifer’s abs.

THE END

[giovanniis]

what  is  UP  my  pals  ,  mis  amigos  .  my  name  is  dab  and  i’m  ur  new  bff  .  besides  that  ,  i’m  also  twenty  ,  use  she/they  pronouns  ,  and  am  kickin’  in  over  here  in  pst  !  under  the  cut  ,  i’m  gonna  ramble  probably  a  lot  about  my  son  ,  giovanni  .  (  spoiler  alert  :  he’s  a  dumbass  who  only  ever  wants  to  talk  about  hockey  .  )   DMISMDA  anyways  .  pls  give  this  a  LIKE  if  u’d  like  to  plot  and  i  will  come  RUNNING  !  my  d*scord  is  𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒊_420#1971  if  u  wanna  hmu  there  !  i’m  gonna  shut  up  here  now  so  i  can  start  babbling  more  below  hehe

chicago’s very own GIOVANNI NARCISO has been spotted on madison avenue driving a range rover , welcome ! your resemblance to shawn mendes is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-second birthday bash  . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re stubborn , but being ambitious might help you . i think being a leo explains that .  3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be the sharpened blades of a pair of ice skates, hockey memorabilia everywhere, and late night escapades . 

╰  *  MINI STATS  !

FULL NAME  :  giovanni  noel  narciso  

NICKNAME(S)  :  gio  ,  g

AGE  :  twenty - two

GENDER  +  PRONOUNS   :  cis  male  +  he  /  him

ORIENTATION  :  bisexual   /   biromantic

ZODIAC  :  leo  sun  ,  gemini  rising  ,  pisces  moon  

BIRTHDAY  :  july  26th  ,  1997

PLACE  OF  BIRTH  :  toronto  ,  ontario  ,  canada 

LOVE  LANGUAGE  :  physical  touch  

OCCUPATION(S)  :  professional  hockey  player  for  the  ny  rangers  ,  socialite  

DRINKING  /  DRUGS  /  SMOKING  :  hell  yes  /  no  /  only  weed

TRAITS  :  stubborn  ,  hotheaded  ,  dramatic  ,  standoffish  ,  brash  ,  overemotional  ,  facetious  ,  distant  ,  provocative  ,  inconsistent  ,  unpredictable  ,  gullible  ,  sympathetic  ,  charming  ,  loyal  ,  hypocritical  ,  protective  ,  talented  ,  ambitious  ,  passionate  ,  affectionate  

LIFE  GOAL  :  make  it  to  the  hockey  hall  of  fame  and  be  remembered  as  the  G  O  A  T  

╰  *  BACKGROUND  INFO  !

giovanni narciso was born in toronto, canada on july 26th to a world-renowned hockey player and his socialite wife. needless to say, gio lived his life in the spotlight from the moment he was born, and he’s always had everything he’s ever wanted right at his fingertips.

from a young age, gio was encouraged to be active all the time. he started skating almost as soon as he learned how to stand up by himself. it’s no wonder that he had such a knack for it with his father being a hockey legend and the fact that he got so much practice. when his father realized that gio had a natural affinity, he put him onto a club hockey team as soon as he was old enough, and started making gio work with a private coach to give him a one-up on his teammates and everyone else on the ice ( despite the fact that he was only seven when he started ).

because of this, he always felt a lot of pressure to be the best he could possibly be… how could he not ? there were sports reporters showing up to his games to get the scoop on how he was doing, and how he compared to his father, and if he’d ever actually make it in professional hockey.

his parents divorced when he was eleven, and his mom moved to marry a much older, wealthy man in chicago, illinois. so, much to his despair, gio lived his life switching from toronto to chicago. the only constant in his life was hockey. so even though it stressed him the fuck out, it also made him feel at peace. he knew no matter where he was, he could get on the ice and kick everyone’s ass. he spent most of his time in chicago with his mom, and attended school there too, but during holidays or the summertime, he spent his time back up in toronto with his dad.

this really took a toll on his mental health because his mom ?? sorta just forgot about him :/ like … she fought for custody just to spite his dad ? she didn’t actually want gio. this sounds kinda dumb but like … sorta think about cinderella ( #gioella ) and how he suddenly got thrust into an entire new family that didn’t really like him or know how to connect with him. he felt really alone more often than not.

luckily, at sixteen, he was signed to a minor league hockey team in chicago. because of this development, he stopped going out to visit toronto as often ( especially when it was game season ). this caused a lot of buzz in the hockey community because oh my god giovanni narciso, son of a hockey legend, was breaking onto the scene

and it SHOULD’VE STAYED THAT WAY !!!! BUT NO ! gio’s dad had other things in mind. demon.

you see, pretty much all throughout high school, gio was dating kylie. she is the love of his life. there’s never been an ounce of doubt about that fact. the sky is blue and gio loves kylie. like ???

gio proposed to kylie when they were eighteen. fresh out of high school. this made gio’s dad LIVID. he didn’t like kylie or her family or anything about her. gio’s plan, of course, was to say a big fuck you ! and marry her anyways. but it didn’t end up working out like that.

sadly, giovanni’s father did not approve of her. was he a little salty that gio chose to stay in chicago and not visit anymore (even if it was because he was signed there) ? yes. was he incredibly greedy and wanted to cement the narciso name in history too ? aaaabsolutely.

as soon as he was eligible at eighteen, gio had multiple offers from nhl franchises to come play for their teams. he could pick and choose whoever he wanted, basically. he was a real hot commodity. but suddenly, the offers were being ripped right from his hands. and it was all because of his dad’s influence in the hockey world. he basically gave gio an ultimatum: marry kylie, and there was no more hockey. or do as he said, and he could have it all.

it was rushed, haphazardly chosen decision, but gio chose hockey. it had helped him through every rough patch in his life, and it was the one thing he knew he was good at. it’s not like he was exceptionally smart or good at anything else. if it wasn’t hockey, then he wasn’t worth anything. that’s something he honestly believes to this day.

so instead of TALKING THIS THROUGH WITH HER LIKE ANY RATIONAL PERSON WOULD ! he straight up left. packed his shit and left in the middle of the night when kylie was asleep. completely ghosted her. didn’t answer her texts, her calls, nothing. blocked her on everything.

he did as his father told him to, and started dating carolina graham, a nice girl that his father liked a lot better

their relationship was reminiscent of p*te dav*dson and ariana grande’s. they very quickly got engaged and they were the talk of all the tabloids. there wasn’t a moment where they could step out without cameras being shoved in their face. this sky-rocketed gio to socialite status. everyone that didn’t already know him from hockey wanted to know the handsome young man now engaged to carolina

ok now lightning round

when he was twenty-one , he secured the bag with the ny rangers DJSIOAJDOA and got a multi-year contract — one of the biggest contracts in the nhl history, and became one of the youngest captains ever .

* more fun facts about gio n hockey : he plays first string center and is #2 !

since his career was actually stable, he decided to stop having to pretend to be in love with someone, and immediately just broke up with carolina. he said goodbye wifey JDSAODSA  aaaaand now , a year later , he’s livin it up !

also ? 1000% still in love with kylie but THAT is a completely different story he is a #simp

╰  *  PERSONALITY  !

hockey is a rough-around-the-edges type of sport, and that’s reflected in gio’s personality. he’s very charming, and is typically a pretty nice person ? he doesn’t go out of his way to be kind or anything but he’s not gonna start a fight for no reason DSAIJDSADSjDI

he’s terribly stubborn, and once he’s set his mind on something, it will happen no matter what or who he has to do. this could be good because in a way, it just means he’s very ambitious, but it’s also bad because he will do and say things without a thought about how it makes someone feel

narciso is a fitting last name because he’s incredibly full of himself. how could he not be ? he’s the son of a hockey legend, and he’s made a great name for himself too. he’s an amazing athlete, and he knows he’s good looking too. it’s no secret that he’s a little big-headed sometimes.

he has a very short temper. he blows his lid very easily, and will say things he probably doesn’t mean just because he wants to hurt you.

he just??? doesn’t think. he doesn’t have a filter literally at all. will say the first thing that comes to mind always and it’s usually fucking stupid sdjdjas… he’s also a big jokester and very sarcastic 

also has a problem with being honest ? lies about everything? the type of person to smile in your face while he stabs you in the back? will lie when there’s no reason to? you could be like “gio did u eat breakfast” and he’ll be like “ya.” even if he didn’t like… dumb shit. don’t ever trust him about anything

ok so he comes off as cocky like… externally… but inside, he’s really insecure? like he believes that love exists because he’s felt it but he doesn’t…. think it was meant for him, if that makes sense. because every time he loves someone, he fucks it all up. because of this, he has a really poor vision of love n everything. uhhhh can u say trust issues?

he’s also a wh*re . i’m so sorry. lowkey craves affection and fills that void with meaningless hookups and one night stands 

most people think he lives up to the ‘dumb jock’ stereotype, which is something he’s also really insecure about. it’s not that he didn’t try in school. he did to a point, but then he just flat out stopped caring. school was always really difficult for him. he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was 7, and it always made him feel really out of place in school… to the point where he just stopped caring because all it did was made him feel frustrated and dumb when all he needed was some extra help?

he’s misunderstood

and also just… a whole mess tbh djsaios….

u can find some wanted connections here 

[midnightmemes]

Shinedown ATTENTION ATTENTION Starters

DEVIL

‘ you said it yourself - you’re scared of being alone ’ ‘ don’t play the prima donna ’ ‘ you said it yourself that you would never stop until you felt the needle drop ’ ‘ everyone can tell that you’re poisoning the well ’ ‘ but there are no mistakes - except what you create ’ ‘ you need to know your place ’ ‘ ‘cause i was sent to warn you - the devil’s right beside you ’

BLACK SOUL

‘ who’s the victim now ? ’ ‘ face everyone you disrespect ’ ‘ so who’s the asshole now ? ’ ‘ holier-than-thou, you’re not ’ ‘ you’ve made a mess of your life ’ ‘ now you play roulette with a water gun ’ ‘ speak up ‘cause no one heard your name ’ ‘ watch you double down hard, and take it too far ’ ‘ and you know you’re in too deep ‘cause you’re running out of time and you’re talking in your sleep ’ ‘ it might take forever to put you back together ’

ATTENTION ATTENTION

‘ the stories i hear are the stories i tell ’ ‘ intention, retention, it’s all in your head ’ ‘ nothing ‘bout me is ordinary, my friends all say i’m going crazy ’  ‘ they’re just villains in my mind doing time ’ ‘ they’re just matches burning holes in my soul ’ ‘ if you’re a shiny new penny, i’m a hundred dollar bill ’

KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE 

‘ everybody’s taxing my soul ’ ‘ they say it’s all the rage, to never act your age ’ ‘ so why you wanna do me like this ? ’ ‘ you call each other sick - yet you’re coming back for more ’ ‘ you can’t stop - cause it’s already too late ’ ‘ kill your conscience - better you than me ’ ‘ do your best, do your worst - show me where it hurts ’

PYRO

‘ you better watch your step, the wicked, they don’t ever rest ’ ‘ i bet the fuse is live, i feel it when the doves cry ’ ‘ what can you do ? where can you go ? ’ ‘ it’s never one and done, it’s only just begun ’ ‘ am i a hypocrite to say i ain’t feelin’ this ? ‘cause i ain’t feelin’ this ’ ‘ they just wanna light it on fire and they just wanna let it all burn ’

MONSTERS

‘ good for you - you fooled everybody ’ ‘ good for you - now you’re somebody ’ ‘ leave your weapon on the table ’ ‘ don’t get angry, don’t discourage, take a shot of liquid courage ’ ‘ my monsters are real - and they’re trained how to kill ’ ‘ there’s no coming back and they just laugh at how i feel ’ ‘ there’s no going back, if i get trapped i’ll never heal ’ ‘ good for you - you hurt everybody ’ ‘ good for you - you love nobody ’ ‘ call a doctor, say a prayer, choose a god you think is fair ’ ‘ leave a light on if you’re able ’ ‘ ‘cause we both know you’re unstable ’ 

DARKSIDE

‘ can you hear me ? am i speaking clearly ? ’ ‘ do you need a savior ? some bad behavior ? ’ ‘ face forward and don’t come unhinged ’ ‘ block out the actors and all these bastards that took all the fun out of rage and revenge ’ ‘ don’t be so quick to judge, reign havoc from above ’ ‘ you enter at your own risk, so don’t be surprised ’ ‘ welcome to the darkside ’ ‘ i tried to play nice, you were baptized in ice ’ ‘ the symptoms are contagious - so please be advised ’

CREATURES

‘ i wouldn’t wish this on just anyone - but you seem to share my impulse ’ ‘ but you seem to like the results ’ ‘ i’ll connect the dots and you can tell me to stop ’ ‘ i’d rather keep on going than be something that i’m not ’ ‘ we’re creatures or habit, we can’t live without it ’ ‘ nothing’s ever gonna change - ‘cause i ain’t gonna run away ’ ‘ we don’t have to answer to anyone ’ ‘ i will defend you when you’ve used up all your chances ’

EVOLVE 

‘ opinions are biased, shut up and be quiet ’ ‘ i’m trying to make you understand - this is what you’re up against ’ ‘ i had to take leave of my senses to draw my own conclusion ’ ‘ in a world gone mad, it’s all so sad, look what we’ve become ’ ‘ conditioned to fight it, so bring on the riot ’ ‘ raise a glass now for the damned ’ ‘ i figured it out - in a room full of mirrors, there’s only one way out ’

GET UP

‘ i know you’re clinging to the light of day to tell you everything’s a-okay ’ ‘ medication don’t do much, yeah, it just numbs the brain ’  ‘ guess you might say i’m a little intense ’ ‘ i’m on the bright side of being hellbent ’ ‘ so take it from me - you’re not the only one ’ ‘ if you’re ever in doubt - don’t sell yourself short, you might be bulletproof ’ ‘ i believe you can be whatever ’ ‘ i agree - you could do much better, trust me ’ ‘ ain’t nothing normal when it comes to you and me ’ ‘ i’d rather twist myself in knots than watch you give up on your dreams ’  ‘ i don’t know why i never talk about it - i guess that’s part of the problem ’

special

‘ you see life’s too short to run it like a race so it’s never gonna matter if you win first place ’ ‘ stop waiting on your fifteen minutes of fame - cause you’re not special ’ ‘ i’m not trying to rain on your parade - but you’re not special ’ ‘ i’m not trying to bring you down, i’m not trying to sound so ineffectual - but you’re not special ’ ‘ if you take it down a notch and you let me explain ’ ‘ we all live to love, we all fall apart ’ ‘ instead we’re condescending, there are no happy endings ’ ‘ i won’t hold my breath, i won’t cast a doubt, i’d never sell you out ’ ‘ i’ll give you one last chance to own it ’

THE HUMAN RADIO

‘ i got a four-letter word for ‘i don’t care’ and a whole lotta drive to get me there ’ ‘ i’ve seen a whole lotta wrong, to say the least ’ ‘ spent a whole lotta time staring down the beast ’ ‘ keep your eye on the prize and your feet on the ground ’ ‘ if you tell ‘em you’re the king, you’re probably not ’ ‘ got a brand new approach, and i ain’t done ’

BRILLIANT

‘ never knowing who to trust can make me insecure ’ ‘ let me clear my throat, let me catch my breath ’ ‘ let my heart bleed out til there’s nothing left ’ ‘ it’s my day to be brilliant ’ ‘ better once you realize finding someone you can trust gets results ’ ‘ this ain’t a game and i’ll never stop ’ ‘ to whom it may concern, i won’t crash and burn ’

Headcase

‘ ammunition, all i need is ammunition ’ ‘ yeah, you got a real condition ’ ‘ i hope you don’t regret it because you’re born to lose ’ ‘ i’m already convinced you’re an oxymoron ’ ‘ it’s hard to be happy when you don’t know how ’ ‘ yeah, i got a premonition - that you need a ton of supervision ’

ANWTD

‘ keep your hands where i can see ‘em ’ ‘ the myth don’t make the man ’ ‘ i hope you paid the bill - cause this shit’s about to get real ’ ‘ tell them pretty little lies ’ ‘ truth is you look strung out and i ain’t takin’ it ’ ‘ not gonna lie, i ain’t sold ’ ‘ you know there’s consequences, you seem a little defensive ’ ‘ i hope you got your thrills - cause this shit just got real ’ 

[alrightinbed-betterwithapen]

we look so good, and we never even try — David Dobrik x Reader

A/N: heyo my lil doves, so this is based off an ask for a David x reader from this video. And I kinda ran with it hard! Read the warnings!! I hope you like it. It was heavyly inspired by this song below! Love you all ♥️♥️♥️

Warnings: heavy drinking, drug use, smut, oral sex, sex, idealization of drug use (drugs are bad, srs, this is fiction), smut again

Summary: rockstar, rich, bad influence!Reader x David thats loosely stemmed from a dear anon ask♥️. There’s drinking, drugs and sex... and lil fame.

~~~$~~~

They say David Dobrik has a type. The internet gossiped about how he liked girls that were more famous than him, Liza must have given him a complex. Madison Beer, Kendall Jenner, Miranda Cosgrove all rumored flings of his. None of this was true and, nah, fame level didn’t matter.

His type is you. You just happen to be famous.

~~~$~~~

You’d started a silly garage band five years ago and were heading to the Grammys in a month with several nominations. You thought your life was crazy and filled with luck, until you met David. A boy who drew fame and money to him with paintball guns, flamethrowers and recorded drunken nights out. You can’t believe they call you a success story.

And what can you say, you’re in your early twenties, rich and want to get into as much trouble as possible while living in LA. So, it’s kind of fate when your guitarist says he met some crazy dude named Zane at the bar you were drinking at and he invited the whole band back to a house in the hills for a party. He also said something about YouTube, but whatever all exposure is good exposure at this point in your career.

(They don’t know what’s about to hit them. If the vlog squad was a ten on the scales when it comes to madness and nights only remembered from the phone videos, you and your friends were a hundred. There’s partying and then there’s partying.)

When you meet David, you’re enraptured and you decide quickly that you want to ruin him. Such a driven, confident man who’s used to watching other people live instead of experiencing it for himself. You’re drawn to him like a tiger to prey, and David, well, David wants to be eaten.

~~~$~~~

That’s how he finds himself surrounding by his friends and the members of the band they’re all in love with; high, wild and camera-less. Yeah, he got the obligatory footage and thumbnail, MY FAVORITE BAND CRASHED MY PARTY?!??!!! But that was before (Y/N) had sunk her teeth in, asking about his job and life while vaguely disinterested, but looking at him like he was the only person in the universe that mattered to her.

Oh no, she was a problem.

Her presence alights a longing in him that nobody else had before; not Jason giving him shit for his lack of experience on the podcast, not Toddy shaking his head at him for not knowing something obvious about drugs or partying and damn well not Liza with her tales of dabbling in the things David only records. (Y/N) coaxes a yearning out of him that he didn’t know existed, that he’s convinced himself he didn’t have.

That’s how he justifies the insane level this party had gotten to. Drugs are free flowing, the booze is close to being gone and his friends are dispersed around his house, all completely fucked up. Living in the realm of vlogging, this was a rare occasion when all cameras were thrown to the wayside. The single friends are fucking strangers in different rooms or causing chaos in the open space of the house, and the couples are wrapped in each other like no one else exists.

Everyone is in their own world, high and floating, and his world is on the grass in his backyard, waiting patiently on her knees for an answer from his sitting form.

She had dragged him out here after he was a couple shots deep, laying him on the ground and ruining all make outs for him forever. The had left a conversation with Zane, Matt and a couple techies that worked with her band. Matt had some ecstasy, and they were making fun of his early 2000s drug choice when Molly was so readily available in Hollywood, not to mention in this house. David was so curious in his drunken state, he just kept asking question after question. (Y/N) was determined to give him the answers when she pulled him outside.

He doesn’t verbally answer, he just leans forward and sucks the neon purple pill off her finger, telling her if he dies like the after school specials say he will, she better write a song about him.

She says she’s gonna write one either way.

~~~$~~~

He’s wrapped so prettily in his innocence when you first met him that you couldn’t look away. From how he gulps down the pill to the way he downs a fourth shot with your drummer, you feel a need to take him apart.

The night is deep, the suns promise of rising only a few short hours away and David’s laying shirtless on top of his black pool table. Most people are passed out or left to continue the fun else where. There’s an older man with his bleach blond girlfriend passed out on the couch and cuddling your bassist, only a stones throw away from where the two of you are. Where you’re sucking marks into David’s chest while he moans into the room like you’re both alone. He’s skin is rippling with bumps wherever you touch and he’s so needy, the pill taking over his senses.

You pull your lips away and he’s jerking up on the table, grabbing and hauling you into his lap, murmuring into the skin of your shoulder, “No, no, no, no. You can’t stop touching me, that’s not fair. Feels so good, don’t stop (Y/N).”

Your answering laugh might sound mischievous, but your intent is soo much more wicked than he realizes when you tell him to take you to his bedroom.

~~~$~~~

David didn’t know feeling like this was a possibility. There are chills all over him as he rubs his back over the contrasting textures of his wood floor and the silky, white rug he was half laying on near the foot of his bed. He thinks he could come from just this, if he really concentrated. But he doesn’t need to. Not with (Y/N) laying next to him, fully spread out on the wood, watching him like a hawk.

“You think that feels good? You should let me massage your head,” she laughs out, sitting up to grip the bottle of champagne she had brought with her when he led her down the hall and to his room. She’s in the middle of swallowing around the bottle when David sits up just a bit to throw his head into her lap and moaning out a fuck yes.

“Open,” she commands, holding the bottle over his face, bringing it close to his lips. He is so wrapped under her spell, dropping his jaw and looking up at her with wonder. She pours the carbonated booze in, spilling around the sides of his mouth. It might be too much, he’s had enough to drink, he doesn’t need anymore. What he does need though, is anything she’ll give him.

When her hands comb through his hair and begin to softly knead his scalp, David swallows the liquid and lets out these tiny whimpers, eyes falling shut. He wiggles his head in her lap, begging for more. The touch makes his entire body shudder. At this moment in time, he would let (Y/N) lead him into the gates of hell if it meant she would continue to touch him. He’s known this woman less than six hours and she has him upside down and questioning who he is, his wants, his goals. Her fingers slide down to his neck and he thinks he’d give her his Tesla to feel her lips on him again.

“Feels good, huh? Like your skin is having its own orgasm,” she giggles while he nods dumbly at her. David wants to crawl inside her and never leave.

She’s lifting his head then, moving around his body and straddling him, like she had on the pool table. She pulls off her thread bare cotton crop top, leaving her in only a bralette and black skinny jeans that scrape against his hips so perfectly. She runs her hands from the waist band of his pants upwards, the touch makes David whimper and shake his head from side to side, not enough but so good. Her palms brush his nipples, causing him to gasp a soft ah, and then her fingers wrap around both sides of his throat.

David eyes burst open at the feel of her tongue on his lower stomach, beginning to lick upwards, following the trail her hands had just left. He can’t stop himself when he grabs her under her arms and flips them, pushing her down against the soft rug. He brackets her body with arms on either side of her head, grinding his hips down against her, panting out roughly. He’s so hard, he just wants to be come already. The pleasure she brings is all-consuming and blissful, but also a tease of what he could be feeling.

“Daaavid,” She simpers, going to wrap her legs around his waist and push her pelvis up to meet the slow, hard roll of his hips. She runs her hands up and down his arms, relishing in the noises she brings out of the man. His gaze is so clouded with want as it bores into her. He’s so close to losing control and she wants to see it more than anything.

“How do you feel, do you want to come yet?”

He nods his bent head, snapping his pelvis roughly, crying out.

“Not yet, baby. Don’t you want to feel how good my mouth is? Don’t you want that?”

And god, is he fucking torn. He wants to come, so badly. The chills all over his body a promise of an experience he doesn’t want to wait for. But, the image of her mouth devouring him stirs a monster inside that wants only that for the rest of time. He stares at her blankly, looking for guidance, his lower body weighing down on top of her. He wants everything she’ll give him.

He doesn’t know how his body becomes situated on the edge of the bed, legs twitching while she works his jeans open, and he doesn’t care to remember. Not when she’s placing feather kisses on his thighs, hand coming up to grip his shaft while wet heat envelopes him. Closing his eyes and letting her work him over, David staves away the tightness in his stomach. Her mouth feels like velvet hell, and he can’t help the grunt that rises up in his chest and explodes into the room when she takes him in all the way, tapping the back of her throat while her tongue flicks and massages the base of his cock.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK,” he’s all but screaming when the hand wrapped around the base of his dick grips too hard. His gut seizes and begins to flutter along side his legs. His death grip of the duvet under him pulls the cover up and he falls back into the bed. He’s coming and he’s not. She’s giving his tip kitten licks and humming around his ruined orgasm. There is fire inside him, burning him alive. Twitching on the bed, David wants to curse this woman, throw her out of his house.

Instead he’s sitting up and pushing her back, making her lose balance and fall on her ass in front of him. The glare he gives her is the angriest he thinks he’s ever mustered when she coyly purrs,

“What? Don’t you want to come inside me?”

It goes to show what the drug is doing to him, because he didn’t even consider that an option. And yeah, he wants that. He’s wants to feel her grip around him and pull out his orgasm. He wants her to ruin sex forever for him, because he’s sure that’s what it’ll do. Then, causing his brain to short circuit, she stands and begins peeling her too tight jeans from her legs, exposing a pair of black lace boy shorts that match her bralette. But she’s not walking over to straddle him like David wants. No, she’s walking over to his floor to ceiling windows, running a finger under his chin, lightly turning his head to follow her.

Head tilted and thumbs hooking into the tops of her panties, she’s pulls them down, just slightly below her hipbones. When David can tear his eyes away, her watches (Y/N) lick her full, bottom lip, long and slow.

Shivers still radiate down the mans body, even as he’s lifting himself off the bed with strength and speed he didn’t know he still had in him. Everything is blurred in his vision until he reaches her soft, warm body, carding his arms through hers and wrapping around her. His lips go immediately for hers, tongue sinking into her mouth with no hesitation. Her torso is pressed back against the glass, sinful fucking hips rolling against his.

He doesn’t ever want this to stop.

Not as she’s spinning them around til he’s flat against the window, and not when she’s pushing him down, moving along with him to settle on his lap, knees under her frame. The cold glass on his skin is an amazing contrast to the warmth of the girl sucking and biting his neck and chest. Her deft hands move to push and pull the material down and off his legs, with only a little help from the man. He arches and wiggles off the clothing, ridiculous in his flailing, but her assault doesn’t cease, no it doesn’t even slow. Then, there’s slightly damp, coarse lace rubbing against his cock so sweetly. It’s a little painful, but the feeling of contact on skin so sensitive makes David grab her hips and begin to grind along with the woman’s movements.

David understands addiction firsthand in this moment; it’s pulling lace to side and sinking down onto him, wet and hot, too tight and fast. She’s stretching back, arms behind her head, moaning into the room her approval while taking his dick in as far as possible, bottoming out. Her cunt is fluttering around him, she’s supporting herself when she begins to ride him like a play thing, like he isn’t even there. His hands almost feel wrong on her in this moment, he feels like he should be sitting back and watching her take what she wants while he brims on the edge of losing his mind.

They don’t feel so wrong when she finally snaps her back and head to him, wraps her arms around his neck and goes to latch onto his throat, lips sucking and biting so hard, David thinks there will be a bruise for the next couple of days. She speeds up her long, deep strokes, mewling against his skin. He doesn’t even mean to start yanking her against him, but it happens. And the resulting cry from the girl on top of him is so infatuating he does it again and again, lost in it.

This is purgatory.

This is bliss.

He doesn’t realize he’s coming until a hand pulls the back of his hair sharply. It doesn’t make him snap his neck back though. His teeth in her shoulder assure him of that, but he can’t recall when it happened. Every nerve ending is vibrating, wave after wave of ecstasy roll over him. His eyes closed and crinkled, he’s groaning these loud, needy sounds into the room, but her hips don’t stop, his hands don’t let them. David thinks it’s only fair if he dies in this moment, accepting he will never have a moment this mind numbingly pleasurable ever again in his life. He’d accept death like an old friend.

He’s rutting into her now, coming down a bit with each thrust, and her scent of champagne and perfume focuses him, he can take in the room and the fact that (Y/N) was twitching in his arms, gripping his hair too tight and whispering obscenities in his ear, still in the middle of her own orgasm. He doesn’t let go of her shoulder, he just soothes the skin between his teeth with his tongue when she begins to whimper.

David is in fucking love.

He thinks he really means that as he falls over, her body coming with him. He doesn’t know how the beanbag chair got so close to them or if it was there the whole time, but he’s grateful. He’s laying on his side, the girl wrapped around him as he undulates into her wet cunt languidly. Pulling out, he can barely touch his now soft dick, it’s too much and makes random muscles spasm throughout his body. Slumping back against the fabric, he looks over at her, shaking from the aftershocks of her orgasm, mouth hung open and staring at him like he’s the sun. It makes him reach out and run his thumbs over her lip and hook behind her teeth, it also makes her snap her eyes close and writhe a couple times.

David can’t help what happens next, the sight of her eyes closing stirs a need inside him to do the same. He leans back and drops his eyes shut.

How did tonight end up here?

He feels a hand come to rest on his chest eventually, weight dipping beside him on the chair and it soothes his head. He lets the poison and new addictions of the night pull him into darkness and he pointedly doesn’t think about tomorrow

Even though the sun is already rising over the hills.

~~~$~~~

David is so tired the next night. He is being drug out to some U.S. Weekly party for... something. His publicist dressed him, Jack and Natalie were going with to make sure he talked to enough people and David wanted In-N-Out and sleep. But, apparently this was important. All of Jacks clients were going to be there and blah, blah, blah.

He had no energy to listen to the semantics of this bullshit night. Not when he was nursing the worst hangover ever and trying to forget that he doesn’t know where (Y/N) went to this morning, or afternoon, whatever. He woke up alone in a bean bag chair, covered in come. It was the most wild night he’d ever had and he wanted more with her. Maybe not the booze or drugs (At least not on the regular, I mean shit, who was he, Zane?), but he wanted her, the girl that makes him feel like a firework embodied. He wants her all over again, and he’ll see that happen... when he doesn’t feel like eight different kinds of death.

That’s when David suddenly starts believing fate.

When he’s at that dumb party and starts recording some basic ass Snapchat promo with Tana Mongeau and behind the blonde a couple yards is (Y/N), talking with a journalist, having her picture taken at several different angles. He almost instantly forgets the discomfort of being sick when she angles his body towards him, showing the oversized red hoodie dress she was wearing (and only wearing, with thigh high black Louboutins and a black velvet choker, fuck him sideways) was a signature Clickbait hoodie. The one she had ripped off him the night before.

She winks at him, points to her outfit and continues the conversation she was having with the reporter. David flushes when Tana snaps her head back from looking at the rockstar and says,

“You really don’t deserve that.”

He shrugs, grin real wide when he retorts,

“I know.”

~~~$~~~

[mikazukikannagisjourney]

Full moon in Gemini 12-12-2019, Also a 3/3 or 12/12 Portal

Subtitle: I'm literally swimming in emotions right now also I'm bleeding as scheduled how can I even laugh at a time like this oh well the perks of being a psycho Gemini lolol

Hey guys this will be a short post because full moon in Gemini will be in about 3 hours or so, check your region and timezone ok? As of now the full moon in Gemini asks us to be a lot more honest and open about ourselves, on taking a look at ourselves and what we truly want, at the soul level. You know, those kinds of stuff that we tend to shove down the drain or sweep under the rug because we had no idea how to deal with them. Since full moons are also a time for release, it's also a great time to release old habits, karmic entanglements, toxic relationships, etc. and purge as much as possible, especially things in line with our communication styles, or how we do about our businesses and networkings (Gemini rules communications, business dealings, and other Hermes stuff lol) which are not in alignment with our soul purpose aka everything that sucks the life out of us. 2020 is gonna be even more intense so it's best to simplify by choosing the most efficient path we can have. Remember that working smart is never equal to working hard, unless what you're working hard for is something you're deeply passionate about. Then go for it, I support you! 😉

The next few parts are a bit of my personal ranting so you can end reading everything here. 😁

I plan to do that path with best efficiency with greater intent since apparently, I am (un)fortunately kissed by Saturn's harsh life lessons (based on numerology of my name, I forgot how it works but you can find how to do it for your own name if you use a search engine). So... to keep that short, one of my life lessons is to plow through life mastering everything at a slow, steady pace, no short-cuts, eventually finding fame and fortune and the respect of many at an old age.

But that's just the point. I don't want that crap. I mean, yeah I do know how it feels to learn things at a slow pace, I mean, I'm an effing slow-learner for pete's sake, it takes a long time for me to learn what others would simply learn in just one sitting, one lesson, one hour, one day. I have to learn shit a bit more than 21 days of continuous activity just to even master the basics. It's hard to drill things into my head, though a bit easier through my body. But still takes time though. Not exactly fun when it's in 3d. And seriously, this whole Saturn thing has been putting me on the edge of my rope and sanity. My breaking point is about 3 cm away. Maybe less.

Call me impatient but right now I have nothing and feel nothing, my energy's pretty much nada. I feel a deep disconnection and a strong sense of loneliness. I don't want to feel bitter when I get even older, just because I spent so many years on experiencing hardships. Even right now, I am in a state of limbo, and frankly it takes a lot from me. It drains what little happiness I have. I mean, right now I am at my lowest, and I feel that no matter how much I do stuff, even the stuff I just love doing, in the end I feel so bitter because I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's very, very painful. Everything starts making absolutely no sense. Again.

Of course, I'm not entirely sure if because it's the full moon, or I'm on my period, or because my gene key shadow (Gene Key 20 lol) has been acting up, or because I have been purging karma and these are just crap I need to release, honestly I have no idea at this point. I wanna have a pity party for myself and the demons shadows that live in my head but also I don't want to because why waste a ton of time feeling sucky when I could just have a good cry, calm down, then go binge-watching anime or something.

Oh, screw it, I'l do some KY and if I still wanna have a pity party then a pity party I shall have. I mean, I do advocate embracing out shadow selves so this might be it I dunno. I might make an update once I've dealt with this matter at hand.

Oh, wait, scratch that, they actually loved it that I even posted about them here. They're slowly dispersing now. Holy crap was that fast. 😮 well, like I said, embracing our shadow parts is an important part of our life journey, and I just felt that again. I'm 50% ok now.

At least I feel a bit energized to do some KY so I hope I feel better by tomorrow.

If you've read everything up until this point, thank you for staying with me.

Love and hugs to you, and may you find the healing you seek.

三日月 🌙

Mikazuki

[minaminokyoko]

Spider-Man: Far from Home--A Spoilertastic Review

Oh, my baby boy is back and it feels good.

Like many of you, I was looking forward to FFH due to the trauma left behind by our final film with all the Avengers present, and I needed to see my sweet Spider Son to try to dry my tears. I'm happy to say Far from Home is just the popcorn flick we need this summer: light, enjoyable, fun. I do admit to a bias right off the bat, before I begin the review: I am one of the hugest fans of the Iron Dad and Spider Son dynamic, and so I knew by default that I wasn't going to like this movie as much as the first one. Sorry. I am a skank for adopted family tropes, and I think Iron Dad and Spider Son was one of the strongest relationships developed in the MCU period. Losing Tony is just...agonizing. I've sectioned it off in my brain as Did Not Happen just to get by, honestly, and so keep that in mind as we proceed.

Spoilers ahead.

Overall Grade: B

Pros:

-Lemme get this out of the way: MY SONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN MY SPIDER SON OH MY GOSH PETER PARKER IS SUCH A GOOD BOI AND A SWEET SMOL BEAN AND I HAVE NO MATERNAL INSTINCTS EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO MCU PETER PARKER AND I LOVE THIS CHILD MORE THAN ANYTHING AND I JUST WANT TO PROTECT HIM AND HUG HIM AND BRUSH HIS HAIR AND COOK HIM DINNER I LOVE MY LITTLE BOY Y'ALL.

-Ahem. Tom Holland still shines in this role. I really, solidly care about Peter Parker. He's a great kid and he's very realistic in the way that he's written and acted. He's just a shy, awkward little nerd with a heart of gold who unfortunately has been forced into the worst situations that he's not ready for. I wanted to punch "Nick" in the face for how much goddamn pressure he put on a kid who is literally still in the goddamn mourning process just like everyone else. Peter has so much to deal with and he's only had these powers for a short amount of time, so it's natural that he's so frustrated and anxious and he wants time to go after things that are important to him. I found that very understandable and sympathetic, even if the "I just want to be normal" trope has been done to death in superhero media. MCU Peter has so much heart and I'm proud of this baby for what he's able to accomplish.

-The allusions to Tony and the void left behind hit home quite hard. Especially that fucking gravestone part of the Mysterio sequence. That was just...cruel. Tony taught Peter so much, and he genuinely loved that kid. He grew to love him and trust him and worry about him, and it's so awful that Tony won't get to see him grow up to be his own man. I'm grateful for the time they had together, and I really love Tony leaving Peter the glasses and the A.I., knowing that while he might still make a mistake, he would do the right thing in the end. (Side note: EDITH is as funny as it is fucked up, "Even Dead, I'm the Hero." God fucking damn you, Tony, that is so in-character and it hurts my soul.) "Nick" shoving all that pressure onto Peter made me want to kick his ass, especially since he talks down to him and tries to blame him for not being ready when he only just got into the game relatively speaking. But I also loved the sequence of him in the plane doing exactly what Tony used to do in his lab. It's such a great parallel, showing that Peter is his own person but he's also a chip off the old block, and that is very sweet to see. (I also squealed at the Led Zeppelin comment, oh my son, such a cutie.)

-I was extremely hesitant about them choosing Gyllenhaal for the role of Mysterio (not because of his skill as an actor, just because he looks like a giant puppy, sorry) but now I see why. He's an unstable narcissist and it fits him. What a jerkoff. I was furious with how callous he was and how he shifted blame everywhere like it's just SO necessary to kill all these people for fame, fortune, and money. Ugh, what a shitbird. So kudos to him. I didn't think he could pull it off, but he sure as hell did.

-The effects were fantastic. I really do think the illusion sequence will go down in MCU history as one of the most visually creative, disorienting, heartbreaking things we've seen so far in the saga. It was harrowing, especially the Iron Man suit crawling out of the grave. What a kick in the fucking nuts for Peter, and for us.

-Peter and MJ, while it did get a little overwhelming, were cute as shit. And I'm glad that the modern films are removing the stigma of the "I can't let my family and friends know I'm the hero" thing. It was definitely heavily done in the 80's, 90's, and early to mid 2000's and I'm fine to see it being phased out at least in terms of the MCU. It's a little more realistic that most of your family or friends would be able to handle your secret, and not only that, help you out on occasion. I'm glad she knows and their kisses were freaking adorable. Sweet babies.

-That. First. End. Credits. Scene. What a fucking killer. First off, God bless whoever at Marvel Studios listened to the thousands of fans begging them to cast J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson again, continuity be damned. The man IS the embodiment of the character, and I absolutely fucking ADORE that they gave us the nod and the wink we all wanted even back when Spidey was Andrew Garfield. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Next, oh my God, my sweet baby boy, my smol bean, got called out and branded as a murderer. Fuck, this is gonna be a serious problem, and considering the fact that we don't have the next MCU film lined up yet (at the time this was posted, and mind you, San Diego Comic Con is in two weeks, so maybe they'll clarify) the consequences could definitely be crazy. Poor Peter. He's gonna have a lot of work to do in order to undo this mess and prove that he's not Spidey, but this could also mean they're adapting some part of the Civil War story, maybe. We'll see, but that was a big ass bomb to drop.

-The Skrulls second credit scene was a genuine surprise, and it made sense. I thought Nick felt a little off the whole movie, and that really does explain why--it's someone else doing an impression of him and trying their best. Nick would've been smart enough to know probably right off the bat that Beck wasn't who he said he was. His story was way too noble and convenient. Nick would've probably have run facial recognition and then it would ping for a former Stark Industries employee, and that would've been a wrap. I like that it being a Skrull justifies what would be a plothole. Neat idea.

-I appreciated the Spidey's eye view of the action. Those were some cool shots and they were centered well, so you didn't feel nauseous or anything. It kept you in the action and was very engrossing and cool.

Cons:

-The bystander syndrome that everyone got this time around is a little irksome. It's the same reason that while I really, really love Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, I default don't like it as much as the first one since everyone got put into the bystander spot except for basically Peter in the very end. While it was nice to have them defend themselves, I'd have liked it more of MJ and Ned and the others figured their own way out of escaping the drones. Why? Because it would show Peter that it's not always on just his shoulders. His friends are competent and they can help, and I think that would've been a better way to go rather than him doing it himself.

-Some of the humor was flat. JB Smooth and the other teacher are the worst offenders, I'd say. They were given too much screentime and they're not that funny.

-The May and Happy subplot goes almost nowhere and isn't fully explored, and I kind of would've been fine if it hadn't been in the movie at all. It doesn't add much.

-The ending was kind of unclear? Did Beck actually get shot and die from his wounds? If so, then what was the official story about the drones and his body and whatnot? It's all pretty damn vague. If Beck is dead, that's disappointing. I kinda wish Marvel would stop killing the villains at the end of almost all the films. Longest running recurring villains are Loki and Thanos, I think. Vulture lived, and I'd like him to return in the future if possible. You can use actors more than once, Marvel, they're not tissue paper.

-Nitpick: It did almost feel like we missed a movie where Peter likes MJ. She was more a cameo in the first one than a full lead, so it almost felt like there's a short film somewhere of them getting closer and him getting over Liz and liking MJ instead.

-Nitpick: Same with the whole "other guy also likes MJ" subplot. Eh, I could leave it out and not miss it.

-Nitpick: I still can't with how they expect anyone to buy that Night Monkey story. I mean, it's black suited Spidey no matter which way you look at it. And yes, people should immediately notice he's at the very least one of the students at Peter's high school, and then it can't be too hard after that. I mean, Peter doesn't even change his voice while he's in the suit.

-Nitpick: I was kind of hoping for more clues or reactions to half of everyone, you know, being fucking murdered by Thanos for five years and returning to their lives. But I guess that was just pushed aside because it could become a whole rabbit hole issue. Still, though, I was hoping someone would tell us if the Snapped just don't remember being dead or if there is some kind of afterlife they experienced. (Side note: wow, holy shit, the teacher's mini story about it was dark and awful but I did laugh out of shock. I mean, damn. Low blow, wifey. Low fucking blow.)

-They mention spidey sense but I'd have liked it if they explicitly explain why he has it sometimes but other times he doesn't? It seems to fluctuate, but why and how? Is it more like anxiety or an extra sense? Is it based on his emotional health? I want clarification.

All in all, I had a good time and I'd put this in the middlegrade MCU films. I still really enjoy Holland in the role and I want nothing but good things for him and this franchise.

[fenrirlives]

So after getting some feedback here and from some gacha folks on discord, the overall picture I’m seeing here is that people had a much larger problem with the way Minase wrote a lot of the servants and their interactions than the concept of Agartha in general. I also see alot of people base their dislike on the JP version, which I can’t really comment on because I don’t speak the language and I’m not a fan of basing opinions on possibly biased translations for or against the subject matter

tl;dr, I liked it a good deal! Hated the repetitive dialogue, but the blended fictional worlds, Megalos, and a bunch of other things were really to my liking! I view it as a cool singularity with a sloppy ending and sloppier dialogue. Not as good as Shinjuku, but leagues better than Septem, London, or Orleans on my chart.

also as far as villain servants go, Columbus goes in my “What a douche, I love em!” shelf of fame right next to Mebd and Teach. I mean look at this dude!

Truly Rider is best servant class in all respects! (also his artist is great go follow!)

Addressing the elephant in the room first, I was really confused at the whole misogyny complaints. I saw a few people who found the tyrants to be sexist in concept, while others took more issue with Fergus’ interaction with Scheherazade, or how Fergus as a character was treated overall. 

I don’t imagine there are THAT many people who see the kingdoms as the problem, as they never came off as a commentary on gender to begin with, and context shows that they wouldn’t even work as commentary since all aspects of them are either A) fabricated in regards to the non servants, or B) altered by Scheherazade’s Noble Phantasm in regards to actual servants. If anyone saw them as the writer’s take on gender roles, I think it’s unintended.

People taking umbrage with Fergus and Sche, I can understand a little more, as alot of that is a symptom of the repetitive dialogue that plagues this whole singularity. Fergus’ message near the end is one that I agree with (living in constant fear of death isn’t living at all, and using your trauma as an excuse to generalize or hurt other people is unacceptable), and I was a big fan of how the end of his quest to become a good king is realizing he’s just not meant to be one.

 The thing is, character arcs are carried by their dialogue, and having Fergy either repeat the same crap about training/not hitting women or break the pace of a scene to internally monologue about the philosophy of a kingdom really did no favors. I also wished that his revelation about there being strong women was something someone else told him instead of something he just randomly remembers when the time is convenient, because that makes his whole “younger self” aspect kind of meaningless outside of not letting him be playable. Medea and Medusa lily were far better examples of how one goes about writing these younger servants and their relation to the knowledge of their future selves.

 I think it would’ve worked better to use Adult Fergus instead, and have him show new levels of discomfort both with the situation in Argartha, and with his own behavior when first interacting with Sche (thereby betraying her expectations and reason for summoning him by actually being more thoughtful and reserved than she initially expected) . Maybe have him focus more on male camaraderie with Columbus and the resistance than sleeping with women, as I don’t imagine he’d have much interest in cell dividing zombies with fabricated personalities, even if he doesn’t know that’s what they are yet!

Now, Scheherazade is actually my favorite character from this singularity besides Wu. I love stories that have trauma & behavior developed from trauma (rather than principle built upon trauma) as an antagonistic force. Having to perfect your craft of storytelling to survive for over 2 and a half years while also suffering abuse and captivity is nothing short of awful, and the fact that this attracts the Demon Pillar to her and allows them to work together is really interesting.

 I did dislike the fact that she seemed more affected by her infatuation with Fergus than his encouragement to find strength and pride in her storytelling, and see her nature as a heroic spirit as a boon to it, rather than something to fear. It feels like a big flaw of her character in FGO, which is that DW can’t decide if they want her to be a shivering leaf that hates fighting, or a sly beauty that subverts authority with her tales. Ideally these two aspects should be combined, but it comes across as inconsistent since there’s no solid in-between to give that transition more nuance. 

That being said, I think the folks that label Fergus’ speech as inherently sexist are kinda missing the forest for the trees. No amount of headcanon or fan interpretation changes that he’s a character highly motivated by carnal instinct, and the fact that it’s the lense through which he tries to argue against Scheherazade’s viewpoint is pretty consistent, though the afore mentioned issues with his dialogue makes his sudden shift back to being horny on main jarring and could be fixed by him always being adult Fergus. I can at least appreciate that the story brings up the clumsiness of his words and that even if they get the message across, the flaw in delivery means that Scheherazade will not indulge him on his terms, even if she’s grown just a tiny bit out of her old mindset (plus everyone calls him out so it’s not like his attitude is treated as being “good”, just that it’s not all there is to him). Bottom line I love both those characters, and Agartha left them both in a place where I’d love to see more about them and their relationship explored!

Drake/Dahut was unremarkable (though I was a huge fan of the character design, and I wish DW would make that a skin for Drake). The concept of Ys and her being a creepy rapist/murderer using Drake as her puppet was interesting, but she really didn’t get screen time needed to do anything with that. Wu Zetian on the other hand, I felt was really fun!

I would’ve liked to see her more before the confrontation while we were in the Nightless city, but her speech about working her way up from nothing to becoming a ruler through sheer tenacity, contrasted against the lady that tries SO hard not to let it show that she likes being doted on really clicked with me. All in all, she definitely swiped Gorgon’s spot as the 4 star servant I’m gonna use that ticket on later in the year!

Penthesilea and Megalos had the highlight of the singularity. Nothing was cooler than fighting a bunch of Amazons as those two clashed overhead, and despite almost losing that fight due to a string of Penthesilea’s intrusions hitting my team, I actually wish they did more damage at this point because I wouldn’t even be mad (fyi Colombus actually got killed by Penth during the Megalos fight and I couldn’t stop laughing).

Now if we’re talking about parts of Agartha I absolutely hated, that’s Phenex with a bullet! Besides his bossfight being the most drawn out and irritating thing ever, the fact that both him and the Pillar in Shinjuku don’t fight us in their more humanoid form feels like such a waste. These are supposed to be 4 (5 counting ccc) Pillars that had enough independence gained to run away from Goetia, so the fact that they still look like pillars and never become those human forms when we fight them seems like a real dropped ball here when it comes to visual storytelling and Story/gameplay integration.Also, after how radical Shinjuku’s final fight was, Agartha really didn’t do much to sell Caladbolg finally going off in the middle of the fight (the poison of Wu’s NP was a nice touch at least!)

so yeah, I had quite a few problems here, but I always regard the art and media I consume on a component basis, and for me, the lows here really couldn’t beat out the fact that Agartha was this really cool combination of fabricated settings with tyrannical rulers facing off against a villain masquerading as a revolutionary hero, with a Nightmare monster appearing anywhere at any time, and our heroes seeking to find out which of these figures was the one truly responsible. 

This was always the strength of the Remnants imo, taking looser concepts that normally don’t fly in Nasuverse fiction, and using it to twist the rules of servants through singularities in a way the original seven didn’t outside of Camelot and Babylonia. It wasn’t as great as those two by a long shot, but at the end of the day, It’s left me quite excited for Shimosa, which I’ve been told is the hypest Pseudo Singularity out of the bunch. 

It sucks that this singularity gets such a bad rap when it has so many cool and interesting things in it, but if people dislike something, then there’s nothing for it. As for me, I’d give it a B- on an F to S scale, with Camelot still sitting at the absolute top for me. Anyway, Happy 4th of July tomorrow if you celebrate it, and here’s to EoR 3 and Shirou eventually getting in the game (lmao nope)

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 10 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters. xoxo!

Chapter Summary: Slumber party madness.

TW: Mild homophobia/biphobia based in ignorance

Chapter 10: Sleepover

Adore was determined to seal the deal on Violet and Pearl’s friendship. Her mom was out of town for the weekend, visiting her aunt, so Adore decided it was no better time than now. So, she invited Fame, Trinity, Willam, Violet and Pearl over to have a sleepover at her place. The two had been getting along better; Violet hadn’t been as harsh with Pearl as she had been during her first few days. Her snarky remarks and eye rolls whenever Pearl was near had declined immensely.

Pearl was the first to arrive, and helped Adore get her living room ready, pushing the couch and coffee table aside so that there was enough room for everyone and their sleeping bags, lining the floor with cushions and blankets, and setting out snack food.

“So, I never really understood what I did?” Pearl said as she popped a cashew into her mouth.

“Huh?” Adore looked at Pearl, confused.

“I mean, Violet…like did she ever tell you why she didn’t like me? It had to be a reason, other than just existing, right?” Pearl asked. She knew that Violet didn’t hate her like she did during their first few meetings, but Pearl also knew she was far from Violet’s favorite person, and it was driving her a bit mad.

“Look, Violet just has this thing with people,” Adore started shifting in her spot on the palate.

“A thing?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t really like people,” Adore tried to explain.

“You always say that, but she likes you and Fame and Trinity and Willam,” Pearl raised an eyebrow hoping that Adore would spill the secret to winning over Violet.

“Mhmm,” Adore nodded in agreement.

“So, you should probably tell me how to, like, win her over.”

“Oh, no. I having no fucking idea how to do that. I just figured that if I force you two to be in the same proximity enough, that she’ll eventually warm up to you,” Adore said, shoving a handful of chips in her mouth.

“I really hope you’re right, but I don’t know if-“ But Pearl’s thought was cut off by the doorbell ringing.  

“Party!” Adore smiled, hopping off the ground to answer the door, Willam and Trinity stood in the doorway, their pajamas already on, per Adore’s request.

“New girl!” Willam eyes lit up, pushing past Adore to sit next to Pearl.

“You know, it’s been like weeks. I don’t think I qualify for the ‘new girl’ nickname anymore,” Pearl drawled blinking slowly at Willam.

“Whatever,” Willam rolled his eyes.

“Willam, you can put your bag over by the couch,” Adore informed Willam, who had just dropped his bag at the door.

“Cuz can do it,” he said looking down at his fun.

“Do I look like a fucking maid?” Trinity shot back and when Willam turned, his mouth ready to say something smart, she added, “Don’t you say shit.”

“I got it,” Adore offered kindly, picking Willam’s bag up and then hurling it into the living room.

“Hey!” Willam exclaimed, and all three girls began to laugh at him.

-

Courtney arrived at Alyssa’s house, a little apprehensive about spending the whole night with these girls. It was one thing to eat lunch with them, but a sleepover without Adore there? She sighed. It wasn’t that she begrudged Adore her new friends - except maybe for Violet, who was a bitter little monster with some kind of weird ax to grind - but she just missed her. She missed having someone around who would always have her back. And sure, she had Roy, but it wasn’t the same thing. And sure, she had Roy, but it wasn’t the same thing. And it certainly wouldn't protect her tonight.

There were some girls who were just inclined to these types of groups. Alyssa, for example, was a Queen Bee. She always had a gaggle of followers. She was a girl’s girl. Same with Shangie, and Gia, and Laganja. And even Darienne, to some extent (although Darienne could hang with the boys too, but she was equally comfortable with this slumber party sorority stuff). Courtney liked being a cheerleader. She liked being part of a team. She liked fitting in. But there was no doubt that she’d never really belonged to a group of girls, not the way the others had. She and Adore had always just been a pair, perfectly happy to be all on their own.

“Courtney!” Alyssa snapped, waking her up from her thoughts.

“What?” Courtney blinked.

“I said, what do you want on your pizza? God, you are a bigger airhead than Gia sometimes. It’s exhausting.”

“Oh, uh...veggies? I guess? I’m a vegetarian, so plain cheese would be okay too.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Shangela put an arm around Courtney’s shoulders. “Come on, babe, don’t mind her. Sit over here with me and tell me all about that fine boyfriend of yours…”

Courtney looked at Shangie gratefully, not noticing the death glare Alyssa was shooting at the back of her head.

-

Fame and Violet arrived together, looking as beautiful as always. Fame wore a light pink nightgown, red roses decorating the bottom with matching thigh high socks, her blonde hair pulled on top of her head into a bun. Violet wore all black, satin shorts and top, her hair down for once.

As the girls settled in with the group, Fame greeted Pearl with a kiss to her cheek and compliments on her skin, which earned Pearl a glare from Violet.

“I have such bad skin sometimes, the past couple of days have been pretty good to me. And I’m like thank the deities,” Fame laughed.

“I’m sure you’re still just as gorgeous as always,” Pearl complimented her and Fame posed, hands framing her face.

“Why, thank you. Especially coming from someone as beautiful as yourself,” Fame giggled, squeezing Pearl’s thigh.

“Okay,” Adore groaned out, interrupting the two. “This is so gay and not the kind of gay I like.”

“Seriously,” Willam agreed, pulling out his phone.  

“What do you guys want to do first?” Adore asked excitedly , plopping down on the cushions beside Violet.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had a sleepover like this. Probably junior high or something, back when she and Courtney used to hang out at Dela’s house. It felt like a lifetime ago.

“We can watch some movies, play some board games, or do all that other girly shit that we’re supposed to do at sleepovers. Like paint each other’s nails, braid each other’s hair, have a pillow fight...” Adore trailed off with a light giggle.

Pearl humped her shoulders. Willam was busily texting on his phone, Fame looked deep in thought, Violet looked annoyed, and Trinity was prowling around the room in search of a liquor cabinet.

“Okay, so I think we should paint each other’s nails. I only have like three colors, but my mom has a shit ton of colors,” Adore said, trying to not let the others’ attitudes get to her. “Come on Vies, help me grab the polishes.”

Adore smacked Violet on the thigh before rising up, pulling Violet along with her. As they made their way to Bonnie’s bathroom, Adore decided to make sure that Violet was on her very best behavior.

“Violet, can you please just be nice tonight? Or like, at least try?”

“Why wouldn’t I be nice?”

“Violet,” Adore said, giving her a look.

“Fine, I just don’t like how she’s always all over Fame,” Violet said.

“Don’t act like Fame isn’t one of the touchiest, most flirtatious people there is,” Adore eyed Violet, who only rolled her eyes in response.

-

“Hold your hand still,” Willam growled out in frustration, fixing Fame’s hand on his thigh.

“I didn’t even move.”

“Then why is there nail polish on your finger instead of the nail?” He held Fame’s hand up to her face.

“Because you can’t paint,” Fame snatched her hand from Willam and crawled over to where Violet was getting her nails painted by Trinity.

“Where the fuck is the pizza? Has it been thirty minutes already?” Adore huffed out, moving slightly, earning a pinch from Pearl who was only doing slightly better than Willam.

“Halfbreed, get your ass back over here, so I can finish.”

“No, they already look horrible. Adore, where’s the polish remover?” Fame asked from her place behind Violet her chin on the girl’s shoulder.

“Don’t wipe my art off, halfbreed.”

“Shut up.”

Then the doorbell rang.

-

“Hold still, Gia, or I swear, your lashes are gonna come out even wonkier than usual!” April lectured as she glued Gia’s lashes down.

Alyssa cackled.

“Shangie, can you show me how you do that smoky eye thing?” Courtney asked.

“Sure! But do you even wear makeup?”

“I do! I don’t know why people always say that. I think my face just like, absorbs it,” Courtney laughed. “Adore once tried doing winged liner on me and it literally looked exactly the same as my regular face.”

“Speaking of Adore, I’m very proud that you’re branching out, Courtney,” Laganja said. “I mean, she was totally holding you back.”

“We’re still best friends, so watch it,” Courtney said sharply.

“Are you really?” Alyssa asked, one eyebrow raised, applying some pink lip gloss.

“Because she’s been eating lunch with those weirdo queer kids for weeks,” Gia added.

Courtney could feel her cheeks heating up. “It doesn’t matter who she eats lunch with. We will always be best friends.”

Alyssa yawned. “I mean, if you say so. Because it seems to me that she’s choosing to be friends with someone who insulted you and talks shit about you all the time. But what do I know?”

“She’s not responsible for Violet.”

Alyssa smiled deviously. “Of course not. But if someone treated my best friend the way Violet treated you...I’d probably murder them. But of course...Violet is doing other things for Adore that I’m probably not taking into consideration. And Adore isn’t me. Obviously.”

Courtney pressed her lips together, determined not to let Alyssa get to her.

-

“So, you think if Easy-E was still alive, that he would be as successful as Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are right now?” Adore asked Trinity, biting into her pizza.

“Yeah,” Trinity nodded.

Music was playing through the house on the speaker Bonnie had bought a few weeks ago as the gang all sat around trying not to burn their mouths on the freshly delivered pizza.

“Really?”

“It’ll be like Destiny’s Child. One would be the Beyonce, one would be Kelly successful and known, but not as good as Beyonce, then someone would be Michelle.”

Adore through her head back in laughter, “Don’t count Michelle out yet. She could still surprise us.”

“We’ll see,” Trinity shrugged.

“I think that if Left-eye was still alive, that TLC would be top of the charts.”

“Maybe, same thing with Aaliyah,” Trinity nodded.

“Rest in Peace,” Adore said crossing her chest then biting into her pizza.

-

“No, no, it’s like this…” Laganja demonstrated the dance move again. “Scoop your shoulder more…”

“You guys couldn’t find an accent beat if it bit you on the ass,” Alyssa snarked, shaking her head.

“Well...fuck…” Gia giggled, collapsing onto the couch.

“I mean, we dance in sneakers. If you had to put on heels and learn a real routine, you’d all probably end up with broken ankles and concussions.”

“Tell us how you really feel, Alyssa,” said Shangela.

Alyssa shrugged. “Whatever.”

Laganja laughed. “She’s right, though.” She pointed at Courtney. “You especially have no rhythm.”

“None at all,” Alyssa echoed. “Good thing you’re flexible.”

“I’m sure Roy appreciates it, too,” April giggled, covering her mouth.

“Gross,” said Alyssa.

-

“Draw two, Draw two!” Fame yelled at Trinity.

“Wait, is that on me? I thought somebody reversed it,” Trinity asked not wanting to accept the extra cards.

“Bitch,” Fame said grabbing the cards from the pull pile and trying to put them in Trinity’s hand.

“No, fuck that. I can draw my own cards,” Trinity knocked the cards out of Fame’s hand.

“Can you just pull the cards already?” Pearl spoke up.

“Shut up. Somebody, pull a draw four on this bitch, new girl only has three cards left,” Willam said leaning over in an attempt to look at Pearl’s card.

“Why are you trying to look at my cards,” Pearl whined playfully, leaning against Adore, hiding her cards in her lap.

“Willam is always trying to cheat,” Violet piped up. She was so concentrated on winning she had barely spoken a word throughout the game.

The girls had pulled down Bonnie’s wine and decided that a game of UNO would be better than watching a movie. It was only the first round and the game had already gotten intense. Willam had hid half his cards under his leg after being forced to draw six cards, thanks to Pearl putting down a draw four, Fame reversing the rotation and Trinity putting down a draw two card; which had lead to an argument about if they should start over or not.

“Fuck this,” Adore groaned, “Do we still have some pizza left?”

-

“Dare,” Gia said.

“Okay…” said April. “I dare you to...go upstairs and find something good from Alyssa’s parents’ medicine cabinet and bring it back down here…”

“Okay, fine!” Gia got up and sauntered up the steps of the rec room.

“Real mature, guys,” said Alyssa.

“Afraid of what she’ll find? Like your dad’s viagra?” Shangela dissolved into giggles.

“Please. My parents are so boring. I bet all they have up there is baby aspirin.”

The girls all looked up as knocking sounded at the sliding glass door. Alyssa jumped up and let Darienne in with her duffel bag. “It’s about time, girl!”

Darienne slipped inside, smirking. “Sorry. Thanks for covering for me. My mom didn’t call, did she?”

“No.”

“Darienne, you’re just in time for truth or dare. I think you need to choose truth,” said April, laughing.

“Okay, fine,” Darienne flopped down onto the sofa, grabbing a root beer. “Hit me.”

“What’s Jamin like in bed?” Shangela asked quickly, jumping in.

“I mean, I think he’s pretty good, but it’s not like I have a lot to compare it to,” Darienne answered thoughtfully.

“Okay, but how big is his dick?” asked Laganja.

“I thought you only ask one question at a time for this game…”

“No one cares about the game,” Laganja laughed.

Darienne rolled her eyes. “It’s big enough, trust me.”

“Why are you bothering Darienne about big dicks when Courtney is right there?” Shangela asked.  

All of the girls turned towards Courtney, who started blushing furiously.

“W-what?” she stammered.

Gia skipped down the stairs, shaking a bottle of pills. “Who wants Xanax?!”

“Shut up, Gia, Courtney was about to tell us about Roy’s dick!” April exclaimed.

“I...you guys...I don’t know what...we like, just started going out a few months ago…” Courtney said, embarrassed.

“You haven’t slept together?” Laganja asked.

“No!”

“Okay, but like, you must have at least blown him,” Gia stated.

“N-no…” Courtney looked around at their judgmental faces.

“What are you, like, some kind of born again Christian?” asked Gia.

“No, I just, I mean...we just…”

Darienne put a hand on her shoulder. “Guys, relax. There’s nothing wrong with taking things slow.”

“Thank you,” Courtney said quietly.

“I think people are just surprised, because you guys seem so...physical. I mean you practically get to third base at lunchtime,” Darienne tried to explain without piling on the judgment train.

Gia laughed. “Yeah, like you obviously don’t need to sleep with him. I’m just kind of shocked that you haven’t sucked his dick yet. You should probably do that before he gets bored and breaks up with you.”

“Yeah, listen to Gia. She totally knows what she’s talking about from her zero relationships,” Alyssa deadpanned, hitting Gia with a pillow.

-

“He’s gay?” Violet’s eyes were wide as she looked over her glass at Willam.

“Well, I sucked his dick,” Willam shrugged.

“But does that count?” Pearl asked, and Violet tried her hardest not to roll her eyes.

“Of fucking course it counts.”

“I mean, he could have just wanted to get his dick sucked,” Pearl shrugged.

“That’s some gay shit,” Trinity commented. Fame’s head was resting in her lap, and she was absentmindedly braiding her hair.

“We could say, that’s some gay shit,” Pearl gestured to Trinity and Fame’s position.

“I’m braiding her hair,” Trinity rolled her eyes.

“But, her head’s in your lap,” Pearl shot back, “Real close to the pussy.”

Trinity’s face scrunched up as form of disagreement, but she continued to play with Fame’s locks.

“That is kind of some gay shit,” Adore agreed, looking at the two.

“Plus, straight girls always hook up with lesbians just to make out, and because they know we eat better pussy. So it could be the same with guys. Well maybe not the making out part,” Pearl said, sitting back on her elbows.

“Look who’s the gay specialist,” Adore joked from her spot beside Fame and Trinity, “But really, if a girl hooks up with a girl and enjoys it, is she really ‘straight’ and same with a guy?” Adore looked around the circle.

“But aren’t all girl a bit bi-curious, so technically not into girls, but not not into girls?” Violet offered. “And this is a dude, which seems different.”

“Well, by the way he was fucking my face-”

“Woah!” Pearl held her hand up to stop Willam, “Too much information.”

“He could be bisexual,” Fame offered.

“Shut up, halfbreed. I told you that doesn’t exist,” Willam reached out, tapping Fame on the leg.

“Well, what do you call me? Because I love my boyfriend, but I also like girls-” Fame tried to sit up, but was motioned back down by Trinity.

“Greedy. You’re fucking greedy.”

“Will, you’re an ass and I don’t know why I still hang around you,” Fame rolled her eyes.

“Because us queers gotta stick together. Plus, I need to be there to console your boyfriend when you leave him for a girl,” Willam laughed, making a dick sucking motion.

“Whatever,” she huffed.

“Okay, but let’s talk about those girls that like to hook up with girls, but don’t actually want to be with them,” Violet said, her eyes flicking to Adore for the quickest second.

“Well, there’s variations,” Pearl said looking at Violet.

“Variations?”

“Yeah, girls who only want to make out with girls for a laugh or because some jock thinks it’s hot. Girls who like girls, but want to marry a man and have babies and shit. And closet cases,” Pearl wiggled her three fingers.

“Closet cases?” Trinity asked.

“Oh, shit, Pearl’s right,” Violet nodded in agreement shocked at herself for agreeing with the blonde. Pearl’s eyes lit up a bit, but she kept the smile off her face.

“A closet case. Is, well there could be different kinds, but basically someone who is in denial of their sexual attraction to other girls, for whatever reason, but totally likes girls,” Fame explained.

“But the most important rule to remember about this is never fall for a ‘straight’ girl,” Pearl said looking around at the group, before downing the rest of her drink.

“EVER,” Violet added, looking at Adore.

Adore looked down at her fingers, avoiding eye contact with Violet; ignoring the small voice in her head that was telling her otherwise.

-

Courtney shifted in her sleeping bag. She wasn’t used to this—being in a room with a bunch of girls, but feeling so alone. She wished that Adore was here. Adore wouldn’t make her feel like an idiot for waiting with Roy; Adore would probably make her laugh by calling the other girls a bunch of sluts.

“Darienne?” Courtney asked, turning to the older girl in the dark.

“Hmmm?”

“Do you think...do you think Roy is gonna get bored of me if I don’t...I mean if we don’t start...doing more…?”

Darienne smiled sleepily at her. “Courtney, you should just do what you want. You know how much he likes you, right? The real question is, do you want to take things farther with him? Like, sexually?”

Courtney considered this. She hadn’t really thought about it. The truth was, she really liked things the way they were. She liked making out with Roy, she loved kissing him and being held and touched and cuddled. She was aware that he wanted to take things farther, but she assumed that was just because he was a boy, and boys always wanted to have sex. She hadn’t really been worried about him being bored or frustrated, until tonight. She’d been so utterly happy when he said that he loved her, but now these girls had her second-guessing everything. What if he had ulterior motives for saying it?

The one thing that she knew for sure was that she wasn’t ready to have sex. Her mother had sat her down a few weeks earlier to try and discuss birth control, and it made her head spin and her stomach hurt. She’d promised Karen that she wasn’t sexually active or thinking about being sexually active, but that she would come back and talk to her if and when it applied.

So what if, for now, she wanted to keep things above the waist? Or at least, their pants on? That was her right. Wasn’t that, like, feminism? She closed her eyes, sighing.

-

Adore had woken up in the middle of the night, hungry for pizza. She carefully stepped over everyone, making sure not to wake them. Once she reached the kitchen, she was slightly surprised to find Violet at the table, a bag of chips open in front of her.

“You’re the last person I thought to find in my kitchen at 4 in the morning with the junk food,” Adore said keeping her voice low as to not disturb the others.

“Which is why you should have guessed that I would be that person,” Violet countered.

Adore grabbed a slice of pizza cold pizza from the box, sitting down beside her.

“Question…” Violet said.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you invite Courtney tonight?” Violet’s pointed tone caught Adore off guard.

“Uhm, because I wanted it to just be us; and I think she had plans anyway,” Adore shrugged.

“It’s just that you’ve been real persistent on hanging with us and not them--not that I mind, actually I like it better this way--but it basically started the day she got together with Roy.”

Adore took another bite of her pizza, shrugging and avoiding Violet’s gaze.

“Do you hate him?” Violet asked suddenly.

“No, no, where did you get that from?” Adore shook her head, confused.

“You said that he tortured you when you were kids...”

“No, I said we used to fight when we were kids, because he was bossy and a know-it-all. Like how you fight with your siblings but you still love them,” Adore said with a smile.

“But he’s not your brother,” Violet countered. “He’s the dude who’s fucking your little bae. You’d totally skin him alive if you could.”

Adore bristled. Why did Violet always have to needle her like that?

“He’s not fucking her, Violet, and--”

“Not yet, maybe. Give it a month,” Violet said, brushing the crumbs from her hands and getting up from the table.

As Adore finished her pizza, she tried to convince herself that she didn’t care. She told herself that she wasn’t in love with Courtney and that it didn’t matter if she were because Courtney was with Roy, who she for sure didn’t hate. And she was very happy for both of them.

[flaqkty]

PUWTS Chapter 01

Pokémon: Unlike What They Said by Flaqkty

Chapter 01: False Tales

......

Adventurers.

They are travellers. Venture around the world, see new things they can only dream of, doing quests, helping people, defeating evildoers... as their team grows, so do their fame... their names spread all across the globe... teammates helping each other, sharing each others’ thoughts...

Ahh...

I... too, dreamt of being one. Thinking of how famous I can be... get to know new people... grow and learn new skills all on my own. Maybe even evolve and become a whole new... myself...

But...

I was wrong... I was VERY wrong.

Adventurers...

...are fucked up.

Countless dangers... rude people... they're everywhere. Those wild Pokémons approach you and hurt you... but, those are nothing, compared to the real threat, the society.

You think those educated folks will go easy on you? Hell no, they hurt you, bully you, insult you, lie to you, scam you, betray you... just when you thought you found a good ol' reliable friend... they turned away and stabbed you right in your back...

Still, I found a pretty decent friend. He's a Medicham, a tough and hard-hitting individual... but, friendship don't last forever, or even long, for that matter. Adventures we had, places we went, mysteries we solved, requests we fulfilled... it was all fun and great and all.

Until one day...

...our journey came to an abrupt stop.

......

"This is it, huh... Chostrol Town... about time to settle down." A Cubone arrived at the entrance to a lively town, with two bones resting just behind his back, one slightly longer than the other one. He also had a cloth with two of its corners tied up and acted as a bag.

He adjusted the skull and the red scarf he wore. "Time to put all the past things behind me now..." He sighed, before stepping into the town.

Out of nowhere, a Torchic sprinted out and blocked his path. "Hey...! You're an adventurer, right? Can you..."

"Fuck off." The Cubone ignored and pushed him away.

"Ow... how rude..." He stood back up, flames began spitting out from his beak. "I dislike the rudeness, especially an adventurer like you."

The Cubone slowly reached over one of his bones. "Don't do stupid things." His tone sounded intimidating.

"Hmph, you think you're scaring me? Rude people like you needs to apologise!" The Torchic did not withdraw.

He then shot fire out of his beak, covering his whole body. "TAKE THIS!" He charged forward with immense speed.

"This is gonna get messy." The Cubone took out his dual bones, the short one in his left and long one in his right. He threw out his short bone towards the Torchic, but he quickly dodged it while maintaining his speed.

"No use, HAH!" He tackled the Cubone, who immediately stopped him with his long bone. "Heh, pretty good reflexes! But my flames are so hot it'll melt right through your bone!"

"AARGH!" As he talked, the short bone returned and hit him right in the back.

"End of the fight." The Cubone wound up his long bone and struck him away. The impact launched him to a nearby building and crashed right into it.

He caught the returning short bone and swung his long bone to get the fire off. "You're a good fighter, as a Torchic." He turned around and continued his pace.

......

The Cubone halted in front of a small house. He opened the door and entered. "Empty... figures. Oh well, at least it seems cosy." Closed the door, he put down the cloth, untied it and picked up a photo frame.

"Bro... if you can see this... I'm fine now... no worries needed..." He lowered his head, a quiet cry could be heard, before he shook his head.

"...who am I lying to... I'm not good..."

KNOCK KNOCK!

Put down the photo. He leaned against the wall. "Fuck... not again... these stupid emotions..." He uttered as he slowly paced towards the door.

"Hey... again. So I kinda... overheard your conversations with... well, y'know, yourself... and I'll admit, I got... sorta carried away. Just here to say sorry for that. BUT YOU'RE STILL RUDE, that's for sure." It was the Torchic.

"That's all you're gonna say? Now scram, before I send you to another building." When the Cubone was going to close the door, the Torchic stopped him.

"WAIT! I'm Heather, and I wanna join you! You're an adventurer, right? Judging from that scarf you're wearing." He asked.

The Cubone shook his head. "Not anymore. Why do you even wanna be an adventurer...?" He questioned back.

"Ah, geez, you're an adventurer yourself and you don't know what's good in it?! You travel all around, meet new people, find yourself some great treasures, and all that good stuff!" Heather explained.

"Heh... kids like you being an adventurer is just gonna be a waste of life..." "I'M NINETEEN! I'm not a kid anymore! You saw me fight!" He interrupted.

"No difference. You know what, I'm just gonna provide an advice as an adventurer myself... don't do it. Now get the fuck off and leave me alone." The Cubone continued his attempt on closing his door, but all failed due to Heather blocking it.

"ALRIGHT, SON OF A BITCH. You're really challenging my patience now, aren't you? GET. OFF." His voice slowly becoming threatening.

"C'MON, PLEASE! I'll... I'll do anything!" Heather sounded desperate.

The Cubone looked at him. "...argh, if I let you join me, will you leave me alone?"

"Absolutely! I'll do anything to become an adventurer!" He said with high confident.

Eventually, the Cubone compromised and opened the door. "Urgh... okay, you brat. But before you can join, you'll need to do a lil' something something... to test whether if you're really tough enough to join. Follow me."

Heather jumped up in excitement. "ALLRIGHT! Thanks... uhh, what should I call you?"

"...Clay. Now keep up." He answered after a little hesitation.

......

The duo entered a forest, with trees and vegetation all around them. "Huh... Leafin Forest...? FYI, this forest is quite close to the town and I came here almost all the time. If you wanna train here or something, it's gonna be a piece of cake to me!"

"Just shut the hell up." Clay uttered.

"Okay...! ...boomer." Heather looked away.

They progressed more into the forest, and finally, they came across a Pidgey. It chirped and wandered around, and it still did not notice the duo's existence yet.

"Ooh, a Pidgey! Now what?" Heather said in a low volume.

"Knock it out." Clay commanded.

"On it!" He showed a confident grin.

Just like before, he shot out flame from his mouth and shielded himself up with it. "Here comes!" He then dashed out and assaulted the Pidgey.

It cried in pain for a short while, before fainting and falling to the ground.

"Alright! Piece of cake, what else do you want?" Heather spoke as he put out the fire on him.

"Hmm, clean hit. Now's the hard part. I want you to..." Clay paused.

"Yeah...? Want me to?" Heather asked impatiently.

"Kill it."

Heather seemed confused. "Wha... well, I already did! If you mean fainting it, it's there, fainted and unconscious..."

Clay shook his head. "No. I mean for real. End this Pidgey's life, right here, right now." He worded coldly.

"Th... they say you can't do that! Once a Pokémon is down, you can't do any damage to it unless it's back up..."

"Don't you say you'll do anything to join me? As an adventurer, if you can't get whoever's blocking you out by talking, you'll have to KILL it. But before you learn how to talk, you'll have to learn how to kill. I learnt this lesson the hard way. If you can't do it, now leave. I won't judge you." Clay elucidated.

"THAT'S CRUEL! You can't just do that! You can't just kill someone if it doesn't follow your desire..."

"Trust me, the adventurer's trip will get a LOT crueler than this. The world isn't as friendly as you think it is, Heather. Besides, that's just a wild Pokémon. Later on in the trip, you might have to kill someone you know..." Clay said without even a slight remorse.

Heather began to panic. "But this is just... it's just so... argh... Clay, I... I have a question. Is every adventurer like this? Are they all... heartless, like... you?"

"Not all of 'em. But those who aren't... they won't be able make it far... like me." Clay lowered his head, then he quickly rose up, readjusted his scarf.

"There's no other way? No other, less bloody way?" Heather sought an alternative.

"If you wanna join me, you HAVE to know this lesson, sooner or later. It's for your own good." Clay denied.

Heather gradually raised his leg and showed his claws. He was hesitating, fighting against his will. Clay glanced at the Torchic, sighed.

"Guess you're not worthy enough." He turned around and was about to leave him.

After a while of struggling, Heather closed his eyes and stabbed right through the Pidgey's chest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He repeated as he slowly pulled his claws back out.

The Pidgey quickly lost its breath, then its heartbeat. "THERE! You happy now?!" He yelled, as he shook off the blood on his foot.

All of a sudden, his body started to light up. His body began to grow, change and alter.

Heather evolved, from a Torchic to a Combusken.

"Whou... what... happened?" He exclaimed, as he examined his new body.

"You evolved, dumbass. You'll eventually come to realise how important that lesson will be. C'mon, keep up." Clay continued his walk.

"What do you want now?" Heather inquired.

"Heh, register our team, idiot. Follow up, the night is coming." Clay said.

"AHH! Just... just give me a sec... I... I'll come right up!" He could not hide his excitement, yet he did not come straightaway.

Instead, he dug up a small hole, and slowly put the now dead Pidgey in, before closing it up. "I'm sorry... but I had to do it..." He then found a stone and put it on top. "Rest here..."

"Are you coming or what? The sun is setting!" Clay rushed him.

"A'ight! Coming!" Heather stood up and hurried over to his side.

......

"Guess my journey isn't over yet, huh..."

[findmyhouse]

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER - LOVE BEACH (1978): 4/10

Yeah! How do you like that album cover? What the hell happened? Okay, time for a little history lesson. Remember how the band used an orchestra on the previous two albums? Well, one day Keith said to the other guys: “Hey, wouldn’t it be a great idea if we took an orchestra with us on our next tour?” And… well, to be honest, it actually was a great idea. Artistically, at least. Backing up the old and the new ELP hits with orchestral arrangements resulted in some outstanding performances that were captured on the live album Works Live, which I heartily recommend to anyone who's interested in the band. Financially however, this was a really bad move. Paying the musicians and transporting their equipment was such a financial strain that the band would inevitably lose money unless they sold every last seat at every venue. And they didn’t succeed at that because the popularity of progressive rock as a whole took a nosedive in the late seventies. The genre's emphasis on complex rhythms and structures, esoteric concepts and instrumental virtuosity became more and more associated with snobbish elitism and was rejected by the new generation, which instead flocked to the more approachable, raw and rocking sound of punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols, who regularly mocked progressive rock bands as part of their performances, with their famous “I hate Pink Floyd” t-shirts, and their burning of Yes and ELP records on stage. In addition, the music industry itself changed around this time and became far less receptive towards experimental music than it had been throughout the decade.

So, to make a long story short, ELP were in a bad spot in 1978, and were further plagued by deteriorating personal relations between the band members, as well as conflicts with the record company which demanded a hot-selling record. Love Beach was made in a desperate attempt to reach out to a new audience: it’s made up primarily of a bunch of lightweight pop songs but also throws in a few progressive-sounding tunes to please their old audience. The result, predictably, pleased no one at all and made ELP the laughing stock of the music world. Even the band members themselves have frequently mocked it. What else could they do? This album is just too easy to mock. Just look at it! Even the liner notes hardly say anything about the music and mostly just talk about how much fun the band had on the Bahamas, where the album was recorded.

I mean, you can tell that there are some creative problems when a singer has trouble trying to make the third line on an album fit within the meter. At the same time, Keith changes his synthesizer tones from otherwordly and ominous to sickly sweet and sappy, and Carl plays an awkward drumming part that never seems to get off the ground. And despite all of that, I still have to count “All I Want Is You” among the better songs on here, because it shows at least a wee bit of classical influence and of the old production style (and to be fair, this is hardly worse than Greg’s pop stuff on Works, Volume 1).

However, things very rapidly go off the deep end with the title track and “Taste Of My Love”, which are basically guitar-led cock rock anthems that have Greg singing oversexed smut that would make even Gene Simmons blush with embarrassment (Oh, I almost forgot: all of the lyrics on this album were written by Peter Sinfield, who originally rose to fame by supplying King Crimson with his hallucinatory texts about 21st century schizoid men and rusted chains of prison moons, and who just five years earlier thought up the apocalyptic machine warfare themes for Brain Salad Surgery. Now he writes such lovely slices of poetry like “I’m gonna love you like nobody ever loved you; Climb on my rocket and we’ll fly”). Anyway, these songs are far too tame instrumentation-wise to appeal to the general sleaze-rock crowd, and far too simplistic to not infuriate anyone expecting to hear the ELP of old: Keith’s synthesizer parts feel like they were added to these tracks more out of obligation rather than because they actually contributed something of substance to the music.

“The Gambler” goes for a comedic mood again, but really overstays its welcome with its generic female backing vocals as well as some shitty ukelele and some equally shitty harmonica to spice up the pill. Oh well, at least it has some funny keyboard playing. And "For You" ... well, that one's actually alright. Unlike the rest of the album, it's more melancholic and reflective than sappy and jolly, and it has some nice echoey guitar playing, too. I couldn't care less about the "rocking" coda though (in quotes because it just sounds kind of torpid).

In contrast to the first side of the LP, the second side holds tracks that are basically bones thrown toward the band's traditional audience. The first track on here, "Canario", is also not bad. It's another classical cover (of a piece by Joaquín Rodrigo) that still sounds overly sweet and kinda cheesy but at least it has some dang energy which is sorely missing on the rest of the album, particularly on the next track, where things get really murky when the boys try to pen one more epic multi-part suite in the old prog style, called “Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentlemen”. Don’t expect another “Tarkus” here: this whole suite is just a big toss-off. Almost the whole thing is in the same key and the same plodding tempo, and it sticks to the same disgustingly cheerful atmosphere that dominates the rest of the album. Furthermore, the lyrics try to sound really grandiose and world-shattering but, when taking the utterly banal subject matter into account (a soldier falls in love with a nurse but oh no she died the end), just come off as pathetic. But worst of all, Keith's keyboard playing feels completely sterile and forced throughout the whole thing, and there's no impressive synth solo to hear for miles around. The final movement, "Honourable Company", is a gradually intensifying march that's obviously intended as a rewrite of "Aquatarkus", but it has no climax and just ends up sounding like really bad theme park music (I apologize if I overuse this analogy in my reviews but I really can't think of a better thing to compare it to. Do you remember waiting in line for an Indiana Jones ride and hearing some super-cheesy tune for the grand, magical adventure you're about to go on? Yeah, that's the one ). Not even the gratuitous Chopin quotations help bring the suite to life or anything resembling life.

Oh, I'm sorry. I must come across as angry right now, but honestly, the spectacular stupidity of this album makes it impossible to actually hate or get angered by. The incompatibility of Emerson, Lake & Palmer with their newly created popstar image, combined with the unconvincing manner in which they pursued this new direction, makes Love Beach one of the most hilariously ham-fisted and ill-conceived products in the history of mainstream rock music. So just don’t take it too seriously. Don’t look for quality here. Just let the stupid sink in and have a blast.

Allmusic's original review of this album consisted of just one sentence which read: "A record that ELP released only because they owed it to their original label, and that's all one needs to know." I suppose it’s a mystery whether the band just wanted to make a few dollars and please Atlantic Records or if they actually wanted to make a turn in this direction, but in any case, the album flopped both commercially and critically. Now reviled by their former fans and belittled by their enemies, the trio finally called it quits and went their separate ways.

Best song: eh, I guess it's probably CANARIO

[letsstayyoungforever-blog1]

If you thought you knew Dodie, then you thought wrong. (or exactly right)

note: everything’s written from her point of view except from the “A few situations” category

« ° B A S I C S ;

name ? Oh, it’s Dodie Grant !

nickname ? Someone called me Goldilocks once.

when’s your birthday ? I was born on the 27th of June, 1999

birth place ? Mum says I was born safe and sounds and that’s all that matters. Although I heard her talk with my auntie about the stain on our car’s backseat once.

age ? 18! Yay...

sexuality ? I like nice people but I want to kiss boys 😊

preferred pronouns ? You can refer to me as a “freshwoman”. Just kidding, you can use she and her

which grade are you in ? My first!

is your current hair colour your natural hair color ? if not, what is your natural hair colour ? It’s always been this blonde! Maybe a little blonder as I grew up from playing in the sun.

eye colour ? Well, I can’t really see them but normally they’re green!

height ? A solid 5 feet.

what are you complimented on most ( physically & persona-wise ) ? That I make people smile and feel young at heart.

do you have any tattoos or piercings ? Oh no, I definitely don’t. Not that there’s anything wrong with them!

if not, would you like one/some ? Okay, no... MAYBE I don’t like them THAT much.

what do you do for fun ? Loads of things! Skipping rope, talking to little babies and kittens, blowing soap bubbles, playing board games, making flower crowns OH- pillow fights! I don’t know, just loads of things!

what’s your preferred clothing style ? Bright colours! And I like clothes that have little doodles or a funny message on them, as well.

left handed or right handed ? Just right.

when free, people will most likely find you … up in a tree (that rhymes hihi)

« ° P E R S O N A ;

how would you describe yourself in five words ? Uh, let’s see... Happy, helpful, honest,  hearty and... I’m looking for another word with an H other wise this will seem silly. Hm, high spirited! Does that count?

are you a flirtatious person ? Oh, no. No, no, not really. I get all nervous when I like like someone.

do consider yourself unique ? Yep, everyone is unique and so am I!

are you talkative or rather shy ? I love talking for sure!!

biggest dream ? I really want to help my family out with all their worries. Then maybe they’ll stop treating me like I’m too young to understand everything.

are you good at keeping secrets ? I really want to say yes, because I get so curious about secrets and I know others won’t trust me with them if they tell me! But some may have slipped my mouth already…

are you happy ? Very!

do you consider yourself book-smart or street-smart ? Books usually teach me things. However, the streets have learned me that the grass is softer to play  on, does that count?

main character trait ?  I guess I’m rather what they call… innocent.

worst habit ? I may or may not throw a tantrum every now and then when I don’t get my way...

biggest pet peeve ? People jumping the queue.

if your life would have a title song, what would it be ? Forever young!

who do your friends compare you to ? I honestly don’t know, you should ask them! Sometimes to Kimmy Schmidt from this TV show ‘Unbreakable’

life motto ? Well, on my closet back at home I had this sticker that said: “Life’s too short to wear boring clothes”. That’s something to live by, isn’t it?

« ° L O V E ;

are you in love ? Yep. I fell in love with Korrina’s dog.

do you have a crush ? No, silly! I was just kidding about the dog.

celebrity crush ? Ryan Gosling will always have my heart.

do you believe in love at first sight ? Oh, yes, it’s why I’m not afraid to make eye contact with people!

thoughts about marriage ? It’s lovely. I always cry when I see a wedding.

what does your ideal partner look like ( inside and out ) ? Oh... He should be charming and friendly, I guess. Someone whom I can do all sorts of activities with! I hope he’s taller than me and has soft hair... But honestly I don’t really care for anything other than his smile.

would you consider yourself a flirt ? Not really... Besides, I think the boy should flirt with the girl, as in the movies, right? Not vice versa?

cuddling or making out ? Cuddling is so warm and cozy!

when i was 18 i had my first kiss and it was unexpected

make out song ? Make what out?

turn ons/offs ? Uh, are you asking me about a light switch?

best love song ever ? Everything I do by Bryan Adams

dumper or the dumped one ? I have never had a relationship before but I hope neither?!

ever experienced heartbreak ? Not really, luckily.

« ° T H I S OR T H A T ;

tea or coffee ? Tea. Coffee makes me to hyper...

frozen yoghurt or ice cream ? Ice cream! Vanilla preferably.

chocolat or vanilla ? Oh, look at that, I answered a question before I got it! Hihi, vanilla, please.

shower or bath ? You can dance best in a shower. But you can have floating duckies in a bath. So both.

movies or books ? Movies for sure. I’m too slow of a reader to keep up with the story.

comedy or adventure movie ? Ah, I usually watch the romcoms so comedy it is, I guess. Laughing’s healthier than suspense anyways.

day or night ? I’m a day person for sure. 

black&white or color ? Colors!

chinese or italian ? As people, I have no preference really. But when it comes to food, I’m gonna have to go with italian cause I love pasta.

hugs or kisses ? Hugs!

spring or fall ? Both are lovely! Maybe spring because then flowers blossom. But in fall you can jump around in the leaves...

tattoos or piercings ? Neither please.

money or fame ? Money, that way I can help my parents!

romantic cuddles or hot sex ? Oh, gosh, definitely romantic cuddles hihi.

fair or theme park ? Oh tough one! I’m going to say the fair.

love or lust ? L.O.V.E.

« ° F A V O R I T E S ;

song lyrics ?  "Call 1-800-STEEMER, Stanley Steemer gets carpet (or 'your home') cleaner!" It’s just such a catchy tune! I can’t get it out of my head!

song ? Walking on sunshine

quote ? Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

actor ? Tom Hanks

actress ? Oh, I’m not very good with names actually. I only knew Tom Hanks because my mum praises him whenever mentioned. That lovely one from The Notebook perhaps?

movie ? Love actually

book ? Peter Pan

memory ? Oh that story about Halloween from 2000 always cracks me up! With the halo and feathers, oh gosh- and then that pumpkin! *cracks up laughing too hard to talk*

joke ? Knock Knock! Who’s there? Egg! Egg who? Eggcited to meet you.

guilty pleasure ? Making things rhyme

« ° A  F E W  S I T U A T I O N S ;

how would your character react if… (note: out of character)

if they walk into the shower and see a huge spider sitting right in the middle of it ? Give it a name and make a bit of small talk with it while walking to a door/window to put it outside. Maybe show it off to some people on the way as well.

they found out they won the lottery ? Trust her parents with it completely. Maybe keep a little to buy a popcorn machine.

if they find a someone’s wallet on the floor which holds lots of cash ? Go to the lost and found on campus, or the police station so that the person who lost it, may get it back.

they hear a knock on their door and when they say “enter” their ex walks in ? That would completely depend on how they became exes. She might get rather upset/sad though.

if their house was on fire and they had 60 seconds to leave ? what 5 things would they take with them ? The cat, her unicorn onesie, her flower crown, a fire extinguisher and the towel that she’d used in an attempt to save the cookies in the oven that had caused the fire in the first place

« ° O V E R - A L L ;

when was the last time you tried something new ? Was it that time I tried to dance on someone’s lap?

would you ever give up on your life if you could save someone else’s with it ? I actually think so, yes. I’ve got to enjoy life a lot already. So especially when it’s someone close to me and/or who still has his whole life ahead.

are you happy with yourself ? Very! Well, mostly.

what chances do you wish you had taken ? I once had a really good come back but it seemed a little rude so I kept it to myself.

what’s the first thing you think when you see yourself in the mirror ? Goodmorning me!