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They could hear the familiar, upbeat footsteps, followed by the unfortunate off-key singing that followed, bouncing off the halls towards the locker room.
“If I had you, that would be the only thing I’d ever neeeeeeed!”
Luche slammed his locker door shut with more force than was necessary.
“You know, I get it. Singing can be great fun. But does he have to be so loud, and so off-key?” Luche sighed and rubbed his temples.
“Shut up Lazarus. We get so few pleasures, let him be.” Crowe chided as she finished lacing up her boots for warp training. “Besides, I think It’s cute.”
Luche rolled his eyes and walked off towards the training grounds as Pelna burst into the locker room.
“Oh! Shit, hey guys.” Pelna chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought everyone would be outside by now.”
Nyx chuckled. “Nah. But it’s fine. The rest of us don’t care how you sing.” he walked over and bumped Pelna on the shoulder, grinning. “Come on, hurry up and change so we can get out there.”
“Ahaaaha.. Right..” Pelna grinned back, quickly changed into his gear and followed them out.
Nyx had an idea come to him as they exited the locker room to meet up with the rest of the Glaives on the training grounds.
“Hey, Pel! Follow me as I warp? You’ll get it once we start.” Nyx smirked, and winked at Luche.
Pelna shrugged, interested to see what he had planned, while Luche eyed them suspiciously. Luche wasn’t overly fond of many of the plans Nyx came up with, and this made him wary.
Nyx turned, ran and warped up to the midway point on one of the pillars, and began to belt out a song. “I CAN SHOW YOU THE WORLD!”
Pelna laughed, ran and warped to meet him. “SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID!”
Thus began Nyx and Pelna warping around the entire grounds, singing very loudly, and horribly off-key, “I can show you the world.” The rest of the Glaives were dying from laughter below much to the dismay of Luche, who stood there with his arms folded across his chest, eyes narrowed at the two men.
Nyx warped back down first, Pelna following. Nyx slapped him on the back and grinned. “We need to do this more often. Did you see Luche’s face?” Nyx laughed.
Pelna grinned. He couldn’t remember the last time he had that much fun while on the job. “It was priceless. We definitely need to do this again.”
Libertus and Crowe were waiting for them near the entrance, smiles plastered on their faces.
“That was quite the show you two pulled off. I’m surprised Pelna didn’t lose his breakfast.” Libertus laughed. “You know how much of a weak stomach he has.”
“Oi, shut up you.” Pelna grumbled, before sticking his tongue out at him. Childish? Perhaps, but he felt too good to care.
Crowe rolled her eyes. “You’re pretty stupid sometimes, Lib, you know that? Anyway, you know it’s karaoke night tonight, right? Let’s get some drinks, we all can sing off key together.”
Luche just shook his head and went to leave, before Crowe ran over and stopped him. “Oooh no you don’t. You’re coming out, whether you want to or not. Besides, you owe us a round of drinks, unless you want me to leak those letters I found....”
Crowe smirked as Luches eyes widened at the threat, before narrowing. “Fine. But I’m not singing.”
“Yeah, yeah whatever. Eight o’clock tonight everyone!” Crowe yelled as they walked off the training grounds.
~~~~~~
Pelna was buzzing with excitement when he arrived at the bar later that night. Nyx, Lib, and Crowe were sitting at their normal table, while a very disgruntled looking Luche was getting them drinks.
Nyx spotted him coming in and grinned. “Ahh you made it! I wondered what had happened to you.”
Pelna shrugged as he sat down next to Nyx, watching Luche head back with everyone’s drinks. “I may have taken a longer nap than anticipated once I got back home.”
Lib eyed him. “You? Take naps? Since when?”
“Since warping all over the damn training grounds, following Nyx like a fool.” Pelna chuckled.
Nyx bumped against his shoulder and winked. “Yeah, but you liked it.”
“Guilty as charged, my friend.” Pelna smiled back.
In truth, Pelna had taken a nap and slept later than anticipated, but he also purposefully drug his feet getting ready because he was nervous.
He wanted to get up and sing.
Now, singing through the hallways, and during warp training, was one thing. No one was actively listening to him sing.
Singing on a makeshift stage in front of an actual audience, no matter how sober or drunk they were, was an entirely different daemon to deal with. Pelna wasn’t sure he could do it sober.
As they drank, they watched countless patrons get up and sing, some very well, some worse than Pelna singing in the halls. Watching others sing started to give Pelna the confidence he needed, and after his fourth beer, Pelna got up to request a song.
“Oh no. Please, no. Don’t sing Pelna. You’re a great guy, you fight well. But please for the holy Six, do not sing.” Luche began to beg him.
Nyx punched Luche on the arm. “Will you shut up? Let the man sing. I’m interested to see what he chooses.”
Pelna just rolled his eyes and made it to the DJ booth. He leaned in close to tell the man his song choice, and after a moment, the DJ nodded his head and gestured to the stage.
“Oh, this should be good” Crowe grinned at the others and sat back to watch.
Pelna slowly walked onto the stage, with a playful smirk on his face as he took hold of the microphone. The music slowly started to play and Nyx perked up, knowing the song Pelna was about to sing.
“Show me how… Show me how you like it done… You’re all mine, I’ll make you feel like you’re the one….”
Pelna crooned softly as he swayed his hips with the music. He watched as the whole room shifted their attention to him on the stage.
“Take off your clothes, give me your trust. Look me in the eyes and confess your lust…. Get on your knees… Beg me to stop… I promise I'll love you if you do it… So do it for me…”
Nyx adjusted himself in his seat and just stared, open-mouthed. What was he hearing? Pelna could actually sing, and he chose this song, of all songs, to showcase this talent.
“Pelna you sly dog…” Nyx whispered and smirked.
Pelna shifted his attention towards Nyx and gave a seductive smile as he kept singing.
“Give me your hand… I'll show you things you've never done…. Hold my head… I'll make you feel like never before…”
Nyx tore his gaze away from Pelna to glance around the table. Everyone held similar expressions of shock, confusion, joy, and even arousal, on their faces. He chuckled to himself before shaking his head and shifting his attention back to Pelna.
“Take off your clothes… Give me your trust… Look me in the eyes and confess your lust… Get on your knees… Beg me to stop… I promise I'll love you if you do it...So do it for me”
Pelna licked his lips and smirked again as he continued to sway at the microphone, with only Nyx in his view.
“Say my name… All I wanna do is hear you scream in pain… Say my name… I promise I'll love you if you do it… So do it for me...”
The song slowly ends, and Pelna never breaks eye contact with Nyx as he saunters back to the table.
The entire bar breaks out in cheers, wolf whistles, and clapping, which makes Pelna blush. He grins shyly and rubs the back of his neck as he sits back down.
The table just stares at him while he reaches for his beer. He looks between everyone, and cocks an eyebrow.
“Uh.. are you guys okay?” Pelna asks softly.
“Are we okay? What the fuck was that performance!? You’ve probably turned on every single person in this room.” Luche getured to the room while shaking his head.
“What other talents are you hiding from us, eh Pel?” Nyx looked him up and down.
Pelna smiled behind his bottle before taking another drink and winking at Nyx.. “Come over later and find out.”