I Prefer the Mind Control Rewrite - Chapter 19
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This chapter is slightly NSFW.
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After Syra was finally done with me, she washed up got dressed. Only after that did she let me out of the funky glowstick handcuffs. While I was stretching myself out, Syra gathered up the clothing I had worn into Xan’s bedroom. She smirked at me. “There’s no reason you need these.”
I looked at her, confused. “Excuse me?”
“If we’re just going to hang around Xan’s apartment, there’s no reason you need to have anything on,” she said, holding my clothes to her chest. “I want to be able to look at you.”
“Okay,” I murmured. I felt my face flush at the idea of going around naked, but if she wanted me to, I had no problem with it.
I washed up, and we went downstairs. When Xan spotted us, he raised an eyebrow because I wasn’t wearing anything. He smiled, though, clearly not displeased with this particular turn of events. He checked me out, his eyes sparkling. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me why you’re naked?” he murmured.
After I took a seat on the couch next to Xan, he put an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him. “It was Syra’s idea,” I said. “Apparently she wanted to be able to look at me.” It was rather flattering that she thought I was hot enough to sort of steal my clothes.
Xan gave me a strange look. “And you don’t mind this?”
I leaned into him, enjoying the feel of his arm around me. “Why would I mind?”
“Because it’s certainly not usual on Earth to have someone take your clothes like, and it’s even less usual not to complain about it, if I’m not mistaken,” Xan said, pulling me closer.
I supposed it wasn’t. “Is that a problem?” I asked, looking into Xan’s eyes.
He smiled at me. “Oh, it’s not a problem at all. Just unusual, but a good kind of unusual. I like that you’re -- so cooperative. Not many humans would be.”
“I should probably take my mind control off you, but I had a good time,” Syra said. She looked towards me, though she didn’t move to take the control off yet.
I nodded. “Okay.” I felt the control slip from my mind. Now it was only Xan in my head.
My stomach suddenly seized up. “My parents!” I cried.
Xan startled at my outburst, but he didn’t let go of me. Syra remained perfectly calm.
“What about your parents?” Xan asked.
“He needs to tell them he’s leaving the planet, obviously,” Syra muttered, like it were completely fucking obvious. She sounded like she were almost going to roll her eyes.
“What -- what she said,” I murmured. “Not to mention I have to tell them I’m on academic probation.” What? That’s important too, author. Okay, fine, leaving the planet is a bit of a bigger deal.
Maybe they would understand? After all, they had eloped when they were my age, against my grandparents’ wishes. My mom still didn’t talk to her parents, and I had never actually met them. Apparently, they were several thousand different flavors of “do not want” and thus not actually worth knowing, though.
Mom and Dad had been dating for many years when they eloped, though. They were high school sweethearts, and they didn’t leave the fucking planet, like I planned to do. Was I crazy? Quite likely, as it had been mere weeks since I had met Xan. I tried to remind myself of this fact in a last ditch effort to convince my brain to behave sensibly and stay on Earth. It, of course, didn’t work.
“I should call my parents,” I sighed, reaching for my phone.
How the fuck did I start this conversation, though? I couldn’t exactly say “hi, I’m running away to another planet with an real live alien. And he’s a guy. That too.” Maybe I should start by telling my parents I’m bi? I pressed my hand to my forehead, sighing again, because I was in a situation where coming out to my parents would be the less explosive bomb to drop.
Xan looked at me in concern. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Not really, no,” I muttered. “This is not gonna be an easy conversation.”
I sat up straight and dialed my home number, hoping my parents would actually be there. The phone rang and rang. I thought it would go to voicemail. What the fuck kind of voicemail could I leave if that happened? You don’t know, author? I guess that one moment was the only time you’re ever gonna be helpful? Screw you.
To my surprise, my dad picked up. “Dylan? How are you?”
My heart fucking stopped, and breathing became almost impossible. How was I? Panicking. I was fucking panicking. “H-hi, Dad,” I managed.
“It’s nice to hear from you, but is there any particular reason you’re calling?” he asked.
I put the phone on speaker. “Not really. I mean, yeah, there is -- yeah, I have a reason for calling. Is Mom there, too?” I hoped I wouldn’t throw up or something. Yeah, I was that fucking nervous. I didn’t really anxiety-puke, but there was a first time for everything.
“Hold on a moment. I’ll get her,” my dad said. He sounded kind of worried, probably because he could hear how nervous I was. So much for making this go smoothly.
“Hi, honey,” my mom said. “Is something the matter?”
Xan and Syra remained silent, letting me handle this. If they spoke too soon, that might cause extra awkwardness. And we didn’t need any extra awkwardness.
I gripped the phone harder than I needed to and tried to find reasonable words to explain things. Are you sure, author, that you don’t have any for me? You’re sure? I hate you sometimes.
“Uh, Mom? Dad? I -- have something to tell you.” I could barely get the words out, but I continued, “And it’s kind of important.”
They said nothing. My parent were going to wait for me to actually tell them my big news. I sighed and took a deep breath, trying to bring even a little bit of steadiness to my brain. “I’m -- well, I’m kind of -- kind of...”
“Kind of what?” my dad prompted.
My face burned. I was glad my parents couldn’t see me. “I’m bisexual.”
A long paused stretch to what might as well have been infinity. I waited for the world to explode. My stomach twisted and turned as I anticipated my parents’ reactions. In theory, they shouldn’t care, but that was only in fucking theory.
“You told me nothing in those rumors was true. Oh, honey...you didn’t have to lie to us,” my mom sighed.
Those fucking rumors. You want to know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Let’s just say my -- a certain someone spread it around school that I was a “queer degenerate who would sleep with anything.” Fun times.
“We still love and support you,” Dad said.
“We do,” Mom added.
That was good to hear, but it didn’t actually do that much for the sick feeling in my stomach. The really big news was yet to come. “Th-thanks,” I managed, though my throat wanted to close up and my eyes stung. “But that’s -- it’s not why I called.”
“It’s not? You come to us with something like that, and it’s not why you called? Dylan, are you alright? And why did you hide this for so long?” Mom wondered. I could hear the fucking concern. It just made the next thing I had to say that much harder.
Why did I hide it? I didn’t really want to get into that. Maybe it was because I had no guarantee of my parents’ support, as I knew of kids whose supposedly tolerant parents had flipped out once they learned their kids weren’t straight.
“And I -- kind of met someone,” I said. I shifted nervously in my seat as Xan and Syra watched, seemingly waiting for me to tell them when they could speak.
“You did? That’s wonderful!” my dad said.
“There’s just, uh, one little thing -- my boyfriend, he’s not exactly...from here. I don’t mean he’s from another country. Xan -- he’s not human. Yeah, he’s kind of from Zimara.” My hands shook slightly as I waited for my parents to swallow that. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
“Are you serious? That’s -- well, I have no problem with where your boyfriend is from, as long as he treats you well. If this Xan does anything to hurt you, though, I’ll drop him into a pit of fire-breathing porcupines. I don’t care what kind of interplanetary incident it will cause,” my dad muttered.
Yeah, the weird threats were genetic. My dad once threatened to turn me into a turtle if I didn’t clean my room.
Syra’s eyes lit up with amusement at my dad’s threat, and even Xan kinda smiled, though he was the one who would end up in the porcupine pit.
“Wait, did you say his name was Xan? That reminds me, I heard the Zimaran Prince Xan was staying near your university. I wonder if your Xan knows him,” my mom murmured. “There aren’t that many Zimarans on Earth.”
Wait, since when did my mom know so much? Syra’s eyes sparkled like she wanted to laugh but was preventing herself from doing so. Xan’s expression was half amusement, half nervousness. He also blushed slightly, as if embarrassed by his station. He did kinda want to be normal, after all.
I felt my stomach twist again. “Yeah, they know each other. Because, uh, they’re -- they’re the same person.”
I heard a strange, muted thud through my phone.
“Ow, did you have to drop the phone on my foot, Todd?” my mom grumbled.
“Sorry, hon. At least it didn’t drop the call?” my dad said.
“If the phone is done assaulting Mom’s foot, I -- kinda have more news,” I mumbled, leaning back into the couch and desperately trying not to puke onto my phone. Smartphones might survive foot attacks, but they might not survive being puked on.
“What else could you possibly have to tell us?” Mom wondered. “You’ve already given us plenty of news. Wait, is this about the Zimaran throne competition? There are rumors that it’s starting early.”
How the hell did my mom know all this shit? “Yeah, it is,” I sighed. “Xan’s leaving Earth in, like, a week. And I’m -- going with him.”
There was another thud. “You hit the same foot!” my mom cried. “I love you, dear, but remind me to wear boots whenever we’re on the phone with Dylan.”
Only then did I remember I was fucking naked. My face burned, but my parents couldn’t see me, so it should be okay.
“You’re what?” my dad asked.
“Going with Xan,” I said. “I know, I know, running away to another planet is hardly sensible. But I’m doing it, because otherwise I’ll lose Xan forever. And I couldn’t stand that.” I looked at Xan, who offered a heart-stopping smile.
“We can’t stop you,” my mom muttered. “I can hear the conviction in your voice easily enough, and I know that kind of conviction. But if you’re going to do this, I want to meet Xan.”
Xan’s eyes widened, and even Syra looked surprised. I said, “You want to what?”
“Meet Xan,” she answered. “Surely you have time for a road trip?”
Xan nodded. I said, “We can do that.”
“Look, I have to go,” my dad said. “We’ll figure out the details of when you can visit us. I agree with your mom. I want to meet anybody who’s going to take my boy off-planet. Remember what I said about the pit of fire-breathing porcupines.”
I snorted in amusement. “I’ll remember, Dad.”
“See you later, honey. I love you,” my mom murmured.
“I love you, too. Bye, Dylan,” my dad said.
“Love you guys,” I said. I hung up the phone and looked at Xan. Maybe I should have told him to say something to my parents over the phone, but it might be better for them to meet in person.
We were going to take a fucking road trip. This should be interesting.
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written for 500themes prompt #241 - "To Carry You Along"
next chapter
This chapter is slightly NSFW.
---------
After Syra was finally done with me, she washed up got dressed. Only after that did she let me out of the funky glowstick handcuffs. While I was stretching myself out, Syra gathered up the clothing I had worn into Xan’s bedroom. She smirked at me. “There’s no reason you need these.”
I looked at her, confused. “Excuse me?”
“If we’re just going to hang around Xan’s apartment, there’s no reason you need to have anything on,” she said, holding my clothes to her chest. “I want to be able to look at you.”
“Okay,” I murmured. I felt my face flush at the idea of going around naked, but if she wanted me to, I had no problem with it.
I washed up, and we went downstairs. When Xan spotted us, he raised an eyebrow because I wasn’t wearing anything. He smiled, though, clearly not displeased with this particular turn of events. He checked me out, his eyes sparkling. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me why you’re naked?” he murmured.
After I took a seat on the couch next to Xan, he put an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him. “It was Syra’s idea,” I said. “Apparently she wanted to be able to look at me.” It was rather flattering that she thought I was hot enough to sort of steal my clothes.
Xan gave me a strange look. “And you don’t mind this?”
I leaned into him, enjoying the feel of his arm around me. “Why would I mind?”
“Because it’s certainly not usual on Earth to have someone take your clothes like, and it’s even less usual not to complain about it, if I’m not mistaken,” Xan said, pulling me closer.
I supposed it wasn’t. “Is that a problem?” I asked, looking into Xan’s eyes.
He smiled at me. “Oh, it’s not a problem at all. Just unusual, but a good kind of unusual. I like that you’re -- so cooperative. Not many humans would be.”
“I should probably take my mind control off you, but I had a good time,” Syra said. She looked towards me, though she didn’t move to take the control off yet.
I nodded. “Okay.” I felt the control slip from my mind. Now it was only Xan in my head.
My stomach suddenly seized up. “My parents!” I cried.
Xan startled at my outburst, but he didn’t let go of me. Syra remained perfectly calm.
“What about your parents?” Xan asked.
“He needs to tell them he’s leaving the planet, obviously,” Syra muttered, like it were completely fucking obvious. She sounded like she were almost going to roll her eyes.
“What -- what she said,” I murmured. “Not to mention I have to tell them I’m on academic probation.” What? That’s important too, author. Okay, fine, leaving the planet is a bit of a bigger deal.
Maybe they would understand? After all, they had eloped when they were my age, against my grandparents’ wishes. My mom still didn’t talk to her parents, and I had never actually met them. Apparently, they were several thousand different flavors of “do not want” and thus not actually worth knowing, though.
Mom and Dad had been dating for many years when they eloped, though. They were high school sweethearts, and they didn’t leave the fucking planet, like I planned to do. Was I crazy? Quite likely, as it had been mere weeks since I had met Xan. I tried to remind myself of this fact in a last ditch effort to convince my brain to behave sensibly and stay on Earth. It, of course, didn’t work.
“I should call my parents,” I sighed, reaching for my phone.
How the fuck did I start this conversation, though? I couldn’t exactly say “hi, I’m running away to another planet with an real live alien. And he’s a guy. That too.” Maybe I should start by telling my parents I’m bi? I pressed my hand to my forehead, sighing again, because I was in a situation where coming out to my parents would be the less explosive bomb to drop.
Xan looked at me in concern. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Not really, no,” I muttered. “This is not gonna be an easy conversation.”
I sat up straight and dialed my home number, hoping my parents would actually be there. The phone rang and rang. I thought it would go to voicemail. What the fuck kind of voicemail could I leave if that happened? You don’t know, author? I guess that one moment was the only time you’re ever gonna be helpful? Screw you.
To my surprise, my dad picked up. “Dylan? How are you?”
My heart fucking stopped, and breathing became almost impossible. How was I? Panicking. I was fucking panicking. “H-hi, Dad,” I managed.
“It’s nice to hear from you, but is there any particular reason you’re calling?” he asked.
I put the phone on speaker. “Not really. I mean, yeah, there is -- yeah, I have a reason for calling. Is Mom there, too?” I hoped I wouldn’t throw up or something. Yeah, I was that fucking nervous. I didn’t really anxiety-puke, but there was a first time for everything.
“Hold on a moment. I’ll get her,” my dad said. He sounded kind of worried, probably because he could hear how nervous I was. So much for making this go smoothly.
“Hi, honey,” my mom said. “Is something the matter?”
Xan and Syra remained silent, letting me handle this. If they spoke too soon, that might cause extra awkwardness. And we didn’t need any extra awkwardness.
I gripped the phone harder than I needed to and tried to find reasonable words to explain things. Are you sure, author, that you don’t have any for me? You’re sure? I hate you sometimes.
“Uh, Mom? Dad? I -- have something to tell you.” I could barely get the words out, but I continued, “And it’s kind of important.”
They said nothing. My parent were going to wait for me to actually tell them my big news. I sighed and took a deep breath, trying to bring even a little bit of steadiness to my brain. “I’m -- well, I’m kind of -- kind of...”
“Kind of what?” my dad prompted.
My face burned. I was glad my parents couldn’t see me. “I’m bisexual.”
A long paused stretch to what might as well have been infinity. I waited for the world to explode. My stomach twisted and turned as I anticipated my parents’ reactions. In theory, they shouldn’t care, but that was only in fucking theory.
“You told me nothing in those rumors was true. Oh, honey...you didn’t have to lie to us,” my mom sighed.
Those fucking rumors. You want to know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Let’s just say my -- a certain someone spread it around school that I was a “queer degenerate who would sleep with anything.” Fun times.
“We still love and support you,” Dad said.
“We do,” Mom added.
That was good to hear, but it didn’t actually do that much for the sick feeling in my stomach. The really big news was yet to come. “Th-thanks,” I managed, though my throat wanted to close up and my eyes stung. “But that’s -- it’s not why I called.”
“It’s not? You come to us with something like that, and it’s not why you called? Dylan, are you alright? And why did you hide this for so long?” Mom wondered. I could hear the fucking concern. It just made the next thing I had to say that much harder.
Why did I hide it? I didn’t really want to get into that. Maybe it was because I had no guarantee of my parents’ support, as I knew of kids whose supposedly tolerant parents had flipped out once they learned their kids weren’t straight.
“And I -- kind of met someone,” I said. I shifted nervously in my seat as Xan and Syra watched, seemingly waiting for me to tell them when they could speak.
“You did? That’s wonderful!” my dad said.
“There’s just, uh, one little thing -- my boyfriend, he’s not exactly...from here. I don’t mean he’s from another country. Xan -- he’s not human. Yeah, he’s kind of from Zimara.” My hands shook slightly as I waited for my parents to swallow that. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
“Are you serious? That’s -- well, I have no problem with where your boyfriend is from, as long as he treats you well. If this Xan does anything to hurt you, though, I’ll drop him into a pit of fire-breathing porcupines. I don’t care what kind of interplanetary incident it will cause,” my dad muttered.
Yeah, the weird threats were genetic. My dad once threatened to turn me into a turtle if I didn’t clean my room.
Syra’s eyes lit up with amusement at my dad’s threat, and even Xan kinda smiled, though he was the one who would end up in the porcupine pit.
“Wait, did you say his name was Xan? That reminds me, I heard the Zimaran Prince Xan was staying near your university. I wonder if your Xan knows him,” my mom murmured. “There aren’t that many Zimarans on Earth.”
Wait, since when did my mom know so much? Syra’s eyes sparkled like she wanted to laugh but was preventing herself from doing so. Xan’s expression was half amusement, half nervousness. He also blushed slightly, as if embarrassed by his station. He did kinda want to be normal, after all.
I felt my stomach twist again. “Yeah, they know each other. Because, uh, they’re -- they’re the same person.”
I heard a strange, muted thud through my phone.
“Ow, did you have to drop the phone on my foot, Todd?” my mom grumbled.
“Sorry, hon. At least it didn’t drop the call?” my dad said.
“If the phone is done assaulting Mom’s foot, I -- kinda have more news,” I mumbled, leaning back into the couch and desperately trying not to puke onto my phone. Smartphones might survive foot attacks, but they might not survive being puked on.
“What else could you possibly have to tell us?” Mom wondered. “You’ve already given us plenty of news. Wait, is this about the Zimaran throne competition? There are rumors that it’s starting early.”
How the hell did my mom know all this shit? “Yeah, it is,” I sighed. “Xan’s leaving Earth in, like, a week. And I’m -- going with him.”
There was another thud. “You hit the same foot!” my mom cried. “I love you, dear, but remind me to wear boots whenever we’re on the phone with Dylan.”
Only then did I remember I was fucking naked. My face burned, but my parents couldn’t see me, so it should be okay.
“You’re what?” my dad asked.
“Going with Xan,” I said. “I know, I know, running away to another planet is hardly sensible. But I’m doing it, because otherwise I’ll lose Xan forever. And I couldn’t stand that.” I looked at Xan, who offered a heart-stopping smile.
“We can’t stop you,” my mom muttered. “I can hear the conviction in your voice easily enough, and I know that kind of conviction. But if you’re going to do this, I want to meet Xan.”
Xan’s eyes widened, and even Syra looked surprised. I said, “You want to what?”
“Meet Xan,” she answered. “Surely you have time for a road trip?”
Xan nodded. I said, “We can do that.”
“Look, I have to go,” my dad said. “We’ll figure out the details of when you can visit us. I agree with your mom. I want to meet anybody who’s going to take my boy off-planet. Remember what I said about the pit of fire-breathing porcupines.”
I snorted in amusement. “I’ll remember, Dad.”
“See you later, honey. I love you,” my mom murmured.
“I love you, too. Bye, Dylan,” my dad said.
“Love you guys,” I said. I hung up the phone and looked at Xan. Maybe I should have told him to say something to my parents over the phone, but it might be better for them to meet in person.
We were going to take a fucking road trip. This should be interesting.
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written for 500themes prompt #241 - "To Carry You Along"
next chapter