I was an awkward kid back in the day, and among other things I searched around a lot for who I thought I might be, and something about the whole Goth aesthetic kinda chimed a note with me. I liked a bunch of the music, too (Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie & the Banshees, great stuff), but there was never ANY of them I loved more than THESE GUYS. Years since I left the whole Goth thing behind after I finally became (relatively) comfortable in just being me, these guys are STILL one of my VERY favourite bands to ever ply their trade, and these are my top tracks from them …
10. DREDD SONG (Join the Dots: The B-Sides & Rarities)
There are VERY FEW real redeeming features to the bloody awful Sylvester Stallone movie of the classic Judge Dredd comics, but this is VERY MUCH one of them. This came about because the band’s phenomenal frontman/main creative driving force Robert Smith is a HUGE fan of the comics, and is SO BLOODY FANTASTIC that it ALMOST redeems the crappy movie it’s attached to. Dark, edgy, moody and really quite beautiful, this is WAY better than anyone had any right to expect.
9. CLOSE TO ME (The Head On the Door)
There’s nothing I love more than The Cure’s thoroughly irrascible sense of FUN, and this is definitely one of the very BEST examples of them fully indulging in that. It’s a wonderfully lovable track, full of fuinky little elements (particularly in the jazzier elements present in the later remixed version which injects a brass section, and I love the way that, instead of relying on samples or keyboards for that, when they’re playing live Robert Smith always just SINGS the trumpet solo himself). But, this being The Cure, there’s also a darker side to the song, a deep creepiness when you listen to the lyrics …
8. PICTURES OF YOU (Disintegration)
Feelings of nostalgia, regret and frustration are writ large upon one of the strongest standouts on what is pretty much the band’s BEST album, with Smith waxing most lyrical indeed about a fire that swept through his home, destroying many of his mementos of his wife, Mary Theresa Poole, only for him to later find a photo of her in his wallet. It’s a haunting song, but also tentatively hopeful, a think of truly fragile beauty.
7. LULLABY (Disintegration)
You don’t get much more memorable than this one when it comes to Cure tracks, Robert Smith bringing his horrid nightmares borne from the damaging childhood stories from his rather malicious dad to vivid, cathartic life in this wonderfully weird and deeply twisted jet black fairytale about “the Spiderman”, which also resulted in the band’s VERY BEST music video.
6. DISINTEGRATION (Disintegration)
You should know my rule by now, if you got a title track on your album it BETTER be a proper corker, and this one from what’s pretty much their best album is one of the very best examples I’ve EVER come across over the years. It’s a beautifully powerful track, Smith singing of the depressive downward spirals that often grip him that he tries to battle through his creativity, but musically this is a stangely moving and even somewhat uplifting piece of work, full of spiky experimental wonder and magic.
5. A FOREST (Seventeen Seconds)
Without a doubt the VERY BEST of their early material, this beautifully stripped back superdark masterpiece of edgy early 80s alt rock precision is powered by a phenomenally relentless bassline from masterful bass player and ubiquitous founder member Simon Gallup, one of the very best in rock music history as far as I’m concerned. A perfect example of The Cure at their most full on GOTH.
4. BURN (The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Boy, this one ALWAYS takes me back … back in the day, when my town still had a really great rock club where we could dance to all our favourite music and get a decent drink, this one was always GUARANTEED to fill the dancefloor. This is BY FAR their best soundtrack contribution, a perfect standout fromone of my very favourite movies EVER. I just fucking LOVE THIS SONG …
3. JUST LIKE HEAVEN (KIss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me)
Occasionally you get a genuinely HAPPY song from these guys, and this is an absolutel corker, a blissfully happy-go-lucky track that dances and flits about gleefully as Smith sings about the joyful euphoria of just being in love. This is the boys are their most sweet, light and whistful, and so much fun because of it.
2. IN BETWEEN DAYS (The Head On the Door)
Despite being about the breakup of a relationship, this is another wonderfully happy song from ther boys, Robert Smith hopping about with clear musical glee as his sinks his teeth into some enjoyably effervescent vocals and enthusiastically catchy guitars. Forming the perfect opener to one of their very best albums, this is about as fun as The Cure gets.
1. FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA (Wish)
My very favourite Cure track of them all sits comfortably at the heart of my OTHER favourite album of theirs, but even better this is (RIGHTLY SO) one of the core fixtures in their live shows and ALWAYS brings the house down in spectacular style. Powerful, palpable and darkly seductive, this is as good as The Cure gets, the band at the very height of their powers and every single one of them coming together with utmost preceision to create something truly magnificent …
TITLE OF STORY: Just Like Heaven CHAPTER NUMBER/TITLE/ONE SHOT: One shot AUTHOR: FadingCoast WHICH TOM/CHARACTER: Actor!Tom GENRE: Romance. Erotica. Reader Insert. FIC SUMMARY: You’ve been dating Tom for a while. But what Tom doesn’t know is that you’re a vampire. As in an immortal, blood sucking, creature-of-the-night vampire. RATING: Explicit || NC-17 PAIRING: Tom/Vampire!Reader WARNINGS/TRIGGERS/AUTHORS NOTES: Explicit sexual content. Minor mention of blood. FEEDBACK/COMMENTS:
Feedback is always appreciated!!
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You’ve been dating Tom for a while.
You met him through some mutual friends and clicked rather fast. Probably your extensive knowledge of Shakespeare helped.
What Tom doesn’t know is that you’re a vampire.
As in an immortal, blood sucking, creature-of-the-night vampire. One who actually knew Shakespeare.
Vampires have been around for as long as society exists, and have been accepted as part of society in recent years. Sort of. There’s people who are against your kind, and vampires who think themselves above humans. It has been rough, so you decided to keep your supernatural status to yourself.
At first, it goes pretty well. You always go out together a night, and you’re gone before sunrise. This arrangement works for both of you: no day dates meant no press exposure for him and no UV radiation for you.
But when things inevitably got heated, you were in trouble.
First time it happened was behind the club you were both attending. He had invited you cause he knew of your love for karaoke and one of his friends was celebrating something. Several songs and even more drinks were lowering your inhibitions. You had to go to the bathroom, to get some sense back before you gave away yourself. But Tom was waiting outside for you, with a look that offered so much. You couldn’t help following him outside, and heated kisses turned into wandering hands and dry humping against a wall.
You saw it. Actually, you heard it before you saw it. He was kissing and nipping at your collarbone, displaying it in full glory. That vein on his neck, right on top of his artery. Pulse so fast his skin was moving in sync with his heart beat.
You could feel your fangs growing with desire and hunger. Hunger that nearly clouded your senses.
You pushed him away and basically ran away.
After a few deep breaths you managed to calm down, just in time for Tom to catch up with you. You were able to come up with a cheap excuse: you didn’t want to rush anything, and got a little bit freaked out. Which was true, but for a whole different reason.
Tom believed you, and apologized profusely in his usual Tom way.
Second time it was during on a ride back home. You couldn’t get your hands off each other, and again, you could hear his pulse. His shirt collar managed to hide part of the vein, but the smell was driving you crazy. This was your own fault: you shouldn’t be giving him a near handjob on the car!!
Having to divert your attention to something else, you ended up sucking him off right there in the car while he was driving. Tom nearly crashed, but it was worth it. He calmed down considerably after he came in your mouth. The vein was still there, but not as noticeable, and his pulse stopped racing.
After that day, your sexlife flourished. You couldn’t excuse yourself anymore with “this going too fast”. And the result was both pleasure and torture for you. You loved his body on yours, you loved the way he worshipped your body in every way. Damn, you even loved the way he teased you endlessly when you had the time. But you couldn’t enjoy it completely, knowing you had to keep some form of self control. Otherwise you’d feed off him and blow your cover.
You had to get creative. Foreplay wasn’t an issue, neither was oral sex. Actual intercourse was the problem, so you made him fuck you on all fours most of the times. Tom didn’t like it very much, he craved to stare into your eyes as you came undone, but he obliged anyway.
In that position, his pulse fell right into your ear, but at least you didn’t have to look at him and you could easily hide your fangs, which inevitably popped out when you were near your climax, and didn’t have to explain your lack of heartbeat.
You longed to bite him. Your instincts were telling you to bite him. You knew it would make the whole experience a million times better. But you didn’t want to hurt him, and most of all, you didn’t want him to hurt you.
Tom was everything you wanted. If you ever had to face rejection from his part, you might as well take a nap in the sun. Both of you had touched the subject, and so far it looked like Tom didn’t have any issues with vampires. But many people said they were fine until they were face to face with your kin.
So you kept lying- no, omitting this rather vital piece of information from him, wondering how much longer you could keep the facade.
Things were getting serious, and you were running out of excuses. Sunscreen and UV protection clothes could get you only so far, and an indoors picnic just wasn’t the same.
Once or twice you thought about ending it, but you craved him so bad, it was painful. His smell was engraved in your brain. The rhythm of his heartbeat when he slept was your lullaby. His accelerated pulse when he was fucking you was your drug. The taste of his skin, the warmth of his breath, the soft electric thrum of his touch, the soft texture of his hair… everything about him was perfection. If you had a functioning heart, you were sure it would’ve exploded by now.
You couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
Things settled in a comfortable routine when Tom started rehearsing longer hours during the day. But you should’ve known it was just the calm before the storm.
After his opening night party, you arrived to his apartment tangled up into each other, as usual. In no time, you were being pinned against the wall, kisses furious and passionate. Grinding unapologetic. You wanted to get this on the bed, but Tom didn’t let go of you. Instead, he clawed at your clothes desperately, garments falling at your feet and flung away. His arm ended up hooking the back of your knee and you gave up protesting when Tom buried himself deep in your cunt.
Control slipped from your grasp with each thrust. You wrapped your legs around his waist as he fucked you into the wall. You clawed his back, pushed with your legs, anything to keep your focus off his yugular and the pulsing artery beneath. You pulled on his hair, forcing him to kiss you.
The closer you were to you peak, the harder it was to keep control. Tom had the habit of burying his face on your neck right before he came. He was close now, you could feel his cock quivering inside of you. He grunted loudly, reaching in between your bodies and working your engorged clit with his thumb, eager to get you to come with him.
You were losing it. You could smell the blood, right there. That vein on his neck, less than an inch from your lips, seemed to glow. The smell of blood and sex was fogging your senses. Your fangs popped out. You bit your lips in a useless attempt to stop yourself.
You were close, so close to your peak, your brain was shutting off. Everything grew darker, except the glow of that vein on his neck, and the fast rhythm of his carotid.
It was too much. You closed your eyes and gave in.
In a fast move, you sank your teeth on the vein. His blood poured out and you drank greedily, the metallic taste on your tongue pushing you over the edge of the most powerful orgasm you’ve had in the last decade. The buzzing in your ears muffled the howl Tom gave, but you did feel him twitch inside of you as he also came, stuttering and shaking. It was a miracle you didn’t crumble to the ground.
You both panted, still tangled into each other. Your fangs were still in his neck when you blinked back to reality, and withdrew. Tom pulled back and stared at you curiously, noticing the small drop of blood on the corner of your lip.
Your fangs were still out, so you pressed your lips together while you unwrapped your legs from his waist. When Tom slid off you, your still sensitive cunt made you whimper, and your mouth fell open.
His face went from curious to mildly shocked: Tom had seen your fangs.
His hand flew to his neck, feeling the two small punctures and the little blood left. You covered your mouth with your hand and pushed him away as you felt your eyes water.
“I-I am–” You gulped. “I’m sorry…” You said in a little voice. “I didn’t-”
You couldn’t look at him anymore. You know he’s going to panic. He will call you names. He will yell monster, freak, aberration, abnormal… You’ve seen it before, you know the drill. Tom is going to cower from you, demand you leave his house, and leave his life.
You just can’t take it, not again. Not from him.
As fast as you could you gathered your scattered clothes, avoiding all eye contact.
You were positively sobbing as you struggled with your clothes. You nearly ripped your undershirt in frustration. But two arms wrapped around you and trapped your back against his chest.
“Stop.” Tom said softly.
“I’m sorry.” You sobbed again.
Tom made you turn around and made you look at him. There was shock in his face, yes, but also curiosity and wonder. Where you had expected hate and disgust, there was nothing but amazement.
“This explains so many things.” Tom said, caressing your lips open and grazing his thumb over the point of your fang. The intimacy of the gesture made you gasp. “Why you weren’t available during the day, why you insisted on not spending the night here…” His hand traveled down your neck to your chest. “Why I wouldn’t feel your heart…”
You gulped hard. “You’re– you’re not– afraid?”
“I rather believe you weren’t trying to hurt me.“ He said with a smile, eyes still looking at your fangs. “After all the trouble you went through not to do it.”
You smiled between your tears letting a shaky breath out.
Tom looked straight into your eyes, all serious now. “Do you love me?”
“W-what??!?!”
“Do you love me?” He repeated, holding your hands so you wouldn’t step back.
Did you? What a stupid question! Of course you did! If you didn’t you wouldn’t have done so much to keep from hurting him!!
You swallowed hard. “Yes.”
Tom smiled. Grabbing the back of your head he pulled you in for a kiss. Soft at first, running his tongue on your lips, asking for entrance. The taste of his blood and the lingering smell of sex in the room were causing your fangs to still be out, so you didn’t want to give in just yet, but his hand softly treading your hair made you melt.
You opened your mouth and his tongue was immediately exploring your fangs. You nearly forgot how to breathe. He pulled away just as breathlessly, and smiled.
“I actually like those, a lot..” He said.
You had to roll your eyes. “Well, they won’t go away for a while.” Instinctively, you covered your mouth, but Tom linked your hands with his, and kissed you again.
This second kiss was successful in relaxing you. You curled your arms around his waist, making you suddenly aware of your and his nakedness. It was oddly comforting and intimate.
“I have a few questions.”
“Oh, boy!” You giggled.
“Do you actually need blood to live? I’ve seen you eat regular food.”
“Is not really that necessary. I can get by with really raw meat and smoothies. But blood is obviously better.” You explained. “So no, I won’t accidentally drain you. A few gulps every once in a while are enough, and it doesn’t need to be human. Pork tastes really similar, in some cases…”
Tom nodded, something playful shining in his eyes. “Mirrors?”
“Not modern ones.”
“Pictures?”
“You have selfies of us in your phone!!”
“Garlic?”
“I’m not particularly a fan…”
“Crucifixes?”
“Propaganda.”
Tom giggled and held you close. His scent was enveloping you, you could feel his heart softly thrumming against your ribcage. His hand slowly caressing your hair was soothing and reassuring. Your fangs finally retracted.
“Last question.” He whispered. “What do I taste like?”
