Trigger Warning
⚠️⚠️⚠️
Suggestive Themes
Strong Language
Slight Smut
I practice a couple of songs in a backroom that Thomas cleared out for me. He asked me to play a full set for him. I'd be on stage for an hour maybe two.
10 - 15 songs.
I was anxious and excited. I wasn't expecting to be so excited.
I had narrowed down some of the songs.
The ones I liked to play the most.
(I was going to list the songs here but instead I made a playlist you guys can listen to while you read if you want. You can find it on YouTube it's called Jace's set list. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll link it in the comments.)
I practice my songs as I wait for 7 o-clock to roll around.
"Hey Jace?" Thomas peeks his head in. I look up at him anxiety clear on my face.
"It it time?" I ask. He smiles widely.
"You have some fans here to see you before your set." He leaves and I set my guitar down. I walk out to see most of my favorite people all waiting by the stage. They grabbed the tables closest so they could have good seats. I smile brightly and step forward.
"JACE!" Amber cheers and rushes to me. She hugs me tightly and I find myself pulled into a crowd of my loved ones. Friends and family hug me and wish me luck.
"I'm so excited!" Sharkie, Penny, and Judy bounce with excitement while Greg chuckles.
"I can't wait to see you perform. You've got this." I smile up at him and he gives me a fist bump.
"How have I gone this long without hearing you sing pipsqueak?" Bel laughs as he and Lily hug me tightly.
"I hope I don't disappoint." I laugh back and waves his hand to say I won't. Cali hugs me tightly again tears of pride flow freely down her cheeks and Bel and Lily have to pry her off me.
Lithuania and Braxton almost make my heart stop.
Lithuania is wearing a low cut dress that hugs her curves in a way that should be illegal, her hair is done up in a half bun what hangs in curled and lands on her shoulders making my mouth water. Her skin seems to glitter in the low light. Her makeup makes her look more like a goddess than anyone I'd seen so far. She put Aphrodite to shame like this.
Braxton is wearing tight slacks that make me want to stare until my eyes dry up and pop out. His shirt seems to be missing but the vest he's wearing draws my eyes and I know that if I get up there any time soon I'll have to walk up with a pillow to hide how much they're affecting me.
"It worked." Lithuania chuckles.
"Huh?" Is all I can say. I wanted to say something cheeky but my tongue doesn't seem to work. They step forward and hug me tightly. They smell amazing.
"We got sick of waiting for you to make the first move so we wanted to speed up the process a little bit." Braxton's deep voice flows through me and I feel a certain part of my anatomy twitch. Lithuania chuckles.
"Is it working?" Her breath tickles my ear and I gulp.
"Yeah." I nod and my voice comes out high pitched.
"Good." They say together and I pull away, embarrassed.
"We believe in you honey. We'll be front and center." Lithuania winks and they head for their table. I find myself staring as they walk away.
"Hate to watch them leave but love to watch them walk away?" Bel laughs in my ear and I blush deeper and immediately turn to head for my makeshift practice room. I hear a chorus of laughter behind me and Sharkie makes noises of disgust.
I walk faster.
I get to my room and shut the door.
I sit down by my guitar and check the time.
Thirty minutes left.
"How do I make it go away?!" I whisper to myself exasperated as I stare at the front of my pants. I pause and start thinking about things that gross me out.
The memory of the Karen fills my head and almost immediately the tent in my pants is gone.
"At least I know I'm not in danger of being a serial killer." I think grimly.
I pick up my guitar, stuff my phone in my pocket, and peek through the crack in the door.
The room is a lot more full than it was before.
There's even people standing around the edges of the room.
"It's been a while since anyone has performed here." Thomas says as he approaches.
"I'm nervous. That's a lot of people." I whisper.
"It's normal. You have talent. Don't hide it kid. You've got this." I look at him and he smiles reassuringly. I nod.
"You've got some time. Why don't you find something you can turn into a bit of a ritual for before you perform." Thomas says, leaning on the wall by the door. "Some bands brush their teeth together before they go on stage, some gargle salt water. I even had a performer who would do yoga."
"Did it help them?" My voice comes out soft, scared.
"Yeah. Find your ritual." He smiles and heads out to warm up the crowd.
I close the door and sit on the floor in the middle of the room.
I close.my eyes and think back to the happiest moments I've had.
Laughing until I cried with Lithuania and Braxton in the elevator the first time they came to see my home.
The first time I played a song successfully on the guitar.
Watching the rain fall with Smokey and Justin while Summer slept in my lap.
Opening my eyes after performing for a room full of people to hear cheers and applause for my music.
"Five minutes kiddo." Thomas pokes his head in. I smile up at him.
"I'm ready."
***
I walk out onto the stage to almost a deafening roar of cheers and applause.
"Hello everyone, how are we all doing tonight?" I ask once I'm settled on my stool.
Another deafening roar fills the bar.
"I've got some songs prepared for you are you excited?"
Another deafening roar.
"I'm not." I laugh nervously and the room is filled with laughter. I shake off the nervous feelings and start to play my first song. This Is Me, from the Greatest Showman.
Once I finish the first song the cheers are louder than I thought could be possible.
I smile and wait for the noise to quiet a bit.
"Bit loud." I lean back theatrically and playfully clear out my ear with my pinky. The crowd laughs again. I chuckle quietly.
"Alright this next song is one I really love. I feel it explains how I felt when I first got to the afterlife. Trying to wrap my head around the fact my life had ended. I hope you all can find some salice in knowing that not all endings are bad endings. Even if they hurt for a while." I start playing my next song. It's Over Isn't It from Steven Universe.
The room goes silent when I begin to play and when I finish the song I hear sniffles before the crowd cheers once more.
Once I get to Turning Page I find I can't avoid looking at Lithuania and Braxton anymore.
For this song, when I sing.
I sing it to them.
I watch as their eyes fill with tears, they sway to the song and Braxton has his arm over her shoulders.
Their eyes stare into mine with a look that I have always dreamed of being on the other side of, and in this moment I know...
I never want them to stop.
***
I finish my set and bow lowly hearing choruses of 'encore' from the crowd. I bow again low and Thomas joins me on stage.
"What do you think my friends? One more song?" He asks the crowd and the roar that follows actually almost deafens me. I sit down to play one more song and the crowd quiets almost instantly. I feel in that moment I could hear a pin drop.
I begin to play 'A Thousand Miles' by Vanessa Carlton and I hear laughter and cheers from the crowd.
They sing with me for most of it and I watch as a bunch of them mimic the meme from white girls as they sing.
Once I'm off the stage I sit in the backroom taking a breath and I set my guitar down still hearing everyone cheering and laughing in the bar. I throw my arms up and do a little dance of excitement.
"I did it." I laugh to myself.
***
After everyone calms down and we move on to trivia night I find myself on a team with Braxton, Bel, Greg, Angel, and Asmodeus. I noticed as the trivia started that Lithuania and Braxton hadn't been the only ones do dress their best.
"Wait." I mutter to myself and Lithuania throws her hair over her shoulder and Braxton and I struggle to keep our eyes in our heads. It hits me why Cali and Sharkie ducked out so quickly when Lily leans forward to show off her cleavage to Bel who looks ready to leave the room.
"Don't look." Greg warns. "You've never been here for one of these but the more you look the worse we'll do." Greg groans as he pulls his eyes away from Penny who had flashed Greg her thigh from the slit in her dress as she called someone over to order another drink.
"What-" I mutter as Lithuania flutters her eyelashes at me and smiles. "I-"
Braxton grabs my thigh and I look up at him, dazed.
"We'll have our fill when we win muffin, now we've got to focus. Make them want us." He looks down at me and his eyes are molten, and a deep color that makes me sure that there's a tent in my pants again. He smirks. "Forgive me for being forward." He leans forward and kisses my cheek dragging his lips toward my ear. "Lithuania has expressed that she'd love to get you alone with us and I know it's gonna drive her crazy to watch me sit here with you. I hope we're not making you uncomfortable."
I gulp as his breath ghosts over my skin. He kisses my earlobe and all words fail me.
"Not at all." I whimper and I glance over at Lithuania to see her biting her lip and grabbing the edge of the table in a way that makes she sure she's about to break it in half. "I have an idea, if you're interested." I look over at Braxton.
"Oh yeah?" His voice shutters and I lean in to him a bit, I grasp the edge of the table and hear the other table creak as Lithuania struggles.
"How much would it rile her up if we kissed right now?"
Braxton smirks evilly and winks at Lithuania.
"Please don't." I can almost hear Lithuania whimper from the table next to ours, followed by the girls at her table begging her to look away.
"Very." Braxton smirks and leans forward. He engulfs me and kisses me with a passion that takes my breath away. All of the sounds of the room around us fade away.
He pulls away all too soon.
"You guys may have gotten one step forward two steps back." Greg laughs as him and Bel wave for the waitress in a gentlemanly manner that shows off their forearms. I can almost hear Lily and Penny's panties hit the floor as they groan.
Asmodeus has completely given up on paying attention to the trivia questions at this point.
I look down at the sheet Greg has been filling out and nod at the answers we have down. Only a few left.
We must have been distracted for a while.
Braxton's hand moves up to my thigh and my surprise at the movement has me jump. I look up at him a blush heavy on my face. He leans over.
"In a couple of minutes we're going to have you in a very compromising pose on our king size bed." I gulp and feel the front of my pants tighten uncomfortably. "In fact, with how impatient we're feeling we might just stop somewhere along the way, I think the elevator has an emergency stop button." I groan again when Braxton kisses my neck.
"They're announcing who won." Bel gasps as he stares at Lily.
Just glancing over at their table I can see that Lithuania is almost vibrating in her seat, her thighs pressed together so tightly it makes me wonder how they'd feel on either side of my head. She stares at us with the look of a hungry lioness hunting her first meal in days. I gulp and wink at her.
"Damn we lost." Greg mutters. I barely hear it but in that moment Braxton jumps out of his chair and Lithuania meets us in the middle. She presses herself to me, almost moulding her figure to me as she kisses me with a passion only rivaled by Braxton. I whimper when Braxton hugs me from behind. The tightness in my pants grows past uncomfortable and into painful as I feel how Excited Braxton is as hips hips press into my ass.
"Fuck. Let's go before we get naked in the bar." Braxton growls in my ear and they drag me through the door and into the hallway leading to the elevator. I realize as we jog to their apartment how hard it is to move with an erection so painful.
A/N: The next chapter is going to have smut. Please be prepared going in. I'll throw something in for those of you who don't want to read it so you can skip past it.
Thank you for reading my story. You all are amazing.