magic_fratboy

NOTE: Week two of Tommy's Dancing with the Stars craziness! This week, he performed this jive, give or take a few differences. Tommy did it better, and he didn't mess with her legs nearly as much. ;p Ziyah is zee_ali, and Stephanie is, again, effiecat.

Shit, we bombed.

That was Tommy’s first thought as he came off the dance floor with Stephanie’s hand in his, pulling her back against his chest to face the judges with his heart hammering and his breath coming in short, panicked gasps that had nothing to do with the exertion of dancing.

We bombed. I bombed. Holy crap, I’m going home…

“…okay, I *think* we’ll be able to hear from the judges. Tommy, maybe you can get some control here!...”

Once again, the audience was screaming, and he had no idea what to do with it. He was flushed with the dance, enough to hide his mortification over all the things he’d done wrong. It was almost a relief to take back the role he knew so well, to step away from Stephanie and spread his hands to the audience, addressing them like an old friend.

“Heyyyyy, come on! We gotta hear my scores sometime, no matter how bad they are!!”

( And now, to Bruno... )

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

==========

She’d forgiven him for the stunt, even though it had yet to take place…but she was still wicked pissed at him. It was probably why they were having sex so often.

( WARNING: some sexual content beneath the cut... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 472

"If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?"

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NOTE: Zee is zee_ali and is used with love and some permission.

“Why do you have to do this?”

“Because of you.”

He didn’t have to look at her jaw hanging agape to know she was shocked by his answer, but he looked up all the same, hands in his jacket pockets and fiancée standing before him with dark eyes so full of blazing fury he thought she might kill him just with her look.

He knew he was blushing, something he didn’t do quite as often anymore, but still his cheeks burned as he held up a hand to stop her from responding.

“Because you’re human, and you love me.” He pressed on, maybe a little too quickly out of nerves. “Because I’m strong enough to do it so long as I got you…’cause humans take risks, and that’s all I am: what humans are. That’s why I have to, that’s why I will: ‘cause of you. ‘Cause you take risks every day. You put your life on the line when you walk out the door, when you take a challenge…you put yourself out there every time you take a chance on some musical act-”

“Tommy Karras, this is *not* fair-”

“-or some dime-a-dozen Brooklyn boy who thinks he can draw and can’t tell a dirty joke without blushing.” He finished hotly, holding her gaze with a nod. “You remember him? I hear he’s doing some pretty amazing stuff now, all ‘cause you took the biggest fuckin’ chance of your life. He’s co-headlining at the Mirage, gettin’ married, had a baby girl…”

Pulling his hand from his pocket, he produced a black velvet jewelry box and opened it, displaying the sky blue topaz and sapphire necklace inside.

“…and remembered his girl’s birthday even though she thought he prolly forgot.”

He watched her face as she saw the necklace, knew he’d catch hell still for the whole Avalanche stunt, and still more hell for mouthing off at her…but for a second, he didn’t care.

He took a risk…and based on Zee’s face, he knew it was well worth the trouble.

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 340

"Ah! Where did I put my...Carbone Karras, I gonna tan your hide you keep your hands OFF!!!"

"OW!!! Kee-rap, Mom..."

"See? This is why I ain't cookin'." Tommy declared with a nod, shooting a smile at his father and daughter as he took a sip of his beer before bending over to pick up the sock monkey she'd just dropped. "Careful, Bunny Girl."

"Hummy, Tata." she informed him, patting her belly.

"Yeah, we know. Dinner's comin' soon."

Content to go back to making her sock monkey flap his arms, Tommy caught sight of his father's smile. Aunt Zephyr and Carbone had flown in for Thanksgiving, which his mom and dad were hosting this year. He'd heard that Channing might be by, but he wasn't sure if she was coming. Zee was flitting between helping in the kitchen and sitting with May and him, trying to do a little bit of everything. It was Mayilia's first Thanksgiving, and really their first Thanksgiving as a family.

"So, you ever gonna marry that girl, Tom Tom? Or you gonna stay engaged your whole life?"

Tommy laughed, shrugging. "Hey, we can't agree on a first dance song for the reception. I'm havin' way too much fun planning this thing, and I'm kinda glad it's gotten bigger than we expected. Zee wanting it, I mean. Besides, she's busy as shit with the way the band's blown up, and I got fuckin' TV offers coming in now..."

"If you boys are talking business, I gonna put you out the door with your wife, little brother!!"

Gregory Karras rolled his eyes, leaning back in the sofa to look at his sister. "All apologies, dearest!!"

"Spoiled man...hmph!"

Tommy just laughed, shaking his head as he set his beer down and picked up Mayilia. "C'mere, Bunny...let's go see what Mommy's doing."

NOTE: Takes place early in Tommy and Zee's relationship, shortly after the occurrence of this piece.

“I love you.”

“Love you, too, babe.”

“…I really do, you know.”

Ziyah’s insistence caused him to stop boning the chicken in front of him and look up, where she was leaning over the counterspace separating the kitchen from the dining area with her chin in her hand as she watched him cook.

“What brought this on?” he asked with a tilt of his head, reaching for a paper towel to wipe his hands.

She shrugged, sultry lips forming a thoughtful pout, too thoughtful for her casual pose and the quiet, easy domesticity of the evening. “I don’t know…I was just thinking about how we met.”

“That forum where you were goin’ on about how no man could chain you down?”

“Yeah, that. When I was still with Dio.”

( “I remember it, yeah. What about it?” )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 470
Partner: Ziyah Ambrogio (zee_ali) [Highlander OC]

NOTE: Backdated to last night. Stephanie is effiecat, Sal is we_standalone, Zee is zee_ali, and all were used without permission, but lots of love.

"My dreams have come true and I'm scared I won't know what to do with them."

===============

“Wait! Wait…I’m sorry, usually we’d end with the curtain calls, but something more important simply must be addressed tonight…”

“Jesus.” Tommy breathed, smiling in spite of himself as he moved to hide behind Stephanie in the throng still assembled onstage. He was shoved forward for his trouble, her merry giggle sounding in his ears.

“Ohhh, no you don’t, Birthday Boy. Go and get your cake!!”

He would have protested, but sure enough the stagehands were wheeling out a cake, gleaming white and shaped like a pair of handcuffs. Channing still had a microphone in hand and was beckoning him forward, talking all the while.

“…credit for the cake, but I can’t. This comes with love from your dear friend Claire, with all her best for your birthday. Come on, everyone, help me sing!”

( ..... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 635

NOTE: Ziyah is zee_ali and is used without permission, but heaping gobs of love. Takes place at the MTV Video Music Awards.

“And here I thought I was the daring one.”

Blushing furiously, Tommy rolled his eyes as he ducked out of the limo and hunched in on himself just a little. He felt self-conscious in just a vest, buttoned in front with no shirt beneath. Channing had helped him pick out the outfit, with the addition of the skull and crossbones fedora from Zee to top it off, and he felt like a piece of meat to say nothing of the cool air that touched his skin as they got out of the car.

“Just protect me, will ya?” he muttered, wrapping an arm around Ziyah’s waist as they started down the red carpet. “The media’s gonna kill me, I ain’t kiddin’.”

Ziyah just laughed, giving him a warm squeeze…then promptly released him as the crowd on either side began to scream his name. Mortified for a moment, gazing at the sea of faces touched him, drawing him forward to embrace people he didn’t even know, young and old men and women who somehow knew his name. Pain and ecstasy stalled him as he slowly shook hands and took pictures, signing a few autographs along the way.

( ..... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 727

Reason #47 why I love days off: finally got the chance to put the new Alice in Chains single on my iPod.

This shit's so good I can hardly stand it, and once again I find myself wishing Layne was around to sing it. I'm gonna see if Zee can work her contacts to get me an advance copy of the CD.

Now where the hell's my fiancee? For that matter, where the hell's my daughter and my animals?

...crap, gotta go. Zee just yelled: May's WALKING.

Out of me, into you yeah
You can hide it's just a one way street
Oh, I believe I'm in you, yeah
Open wide, that's right!
Dream me off my feet
Oh, believe in me

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NOTE: Backdated to last night. Zee is zee_ali and is used with some permission and lots of love.

For a week, he drifted between worlds. He slept, he healed, but awoke with wounds in places only Ziyah could see. In his eyes, in his heart…the damage had been done.

He found no nourishment in food and drink. Friends and family barely fed his need for power…even she, the woman he could finally call his own in all the ways that mattered, couldn’t give him enough to keep him going for long. Drifting between life and death, he knew in his heart that there was trauma left he couldn’t heal.

He didn’t know how to stop the bleeding, didn’t know how to fix it. No one did…so every day he bled out. Every day he got weaker. One day, he would lay down his head and never lift it again. He’d join his uncle forever in the eternal sleep that gave The Darkness cause for celebration. There was no stopping it…unless he found the key to open the lock. Too briefly, he’d freed Vincenzo Karras and liberated Carbone, if he could only free himself…

It didn’t occur to him until the night Zee helped him into bed and he realized how warm his hand was in hers. His skin had been so cool since that night, so empty and devoid of life, but when she finally crawled in and curled her body into his he felt a flicker of heat.

It hadn’t occurred to him that the power he’d shared with her so briefly during the ritual might have lingered. The key to his chains could lie in her.

( WARNING: Mild adult content beneath the cut... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 1,049

There’s not a day goes by that he can walk past her and not want…no, need to touch her. Sometimes it’s enough to deliberately bump into her or brush against her as they pass each other in public or around the house, or just twine his hand with hers in public, lay a hand on her shoulder or brush her hair out of her eyes. Sometimes he needs more, to wrap his arms around her, to drink her down like wine.

And sometimes, he needs more.

He can hardly look at her or even hear her name in those times, when the need is so great it’s like a beast clawing at him from the inside. That simple yearning for the split-second warmth of her can flare in an instant to that all-consuming hunger, and in those moments he feels more like an animal than a man. He can’t think, can’t move, can barely breathe for the fire blazing through him like summer lightning.

The fire dies the second he touches her.

When they’re finally alone and she’s his to devour, the flames wither to warm, comforting embers as his hands find her face. A kiss, a fierce embrace, and the hunger is satisfied. Sometimes it’s not, sometimes he takes her not because he wants to but because he has to, has to lose himself in the heat of her flesh before he’s full enough of her energy, her love, her lust. He has to have that moment when their souls don’t merge, but collide, objects reaching terminal velocity and shattering everything.

A hand, a kiss, an animal rut against the wall…there’s not a day that goes by that he can walk past her and not want, not need, not be consumed by the pure, dazzling supernova sharing his bed.

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 300
Partner: Ziyah Ambrogio (zee_ali) [Highlander OC]