[TV Rating: TOO HOT TO AIR! MIDNIGHT PAY PER VIEW EXCLUSIVE ONLY!]
The lights shut off, and The Lightner found themselves back on the main stage. The audience was gone and while the quiz show screen on the wall was still intact, the rest of the props had been replaced with the heart-shaped bed and hazy lighting from that first dream. Tenna's wire swayed behind him excitedly as the music changed to a sultry jazz number. "Unfortunately, we've decided to end the quiz portion," he announced with a grin. "But don't worry, folks! I guarantee you that tonight's program will still have a happy ending. We're airing a very special original film, exclusive to Mr. Ant Tenna's (After Hours) TV Time."
The Lightner played nervously with the bottom of their shirt. This was just a dream, but the idea of a bunch of people watching them do this still felt weird. He was just doing some silly fourth wall breaking, right? The audience was just their own head "watching" their dream.
Tenna eyed their facial expression for just a moment, and his antennas quickly emitted a few waves of static. "Looks like they're a little camera shy! Maybe we can start with a late night interview, just until you're ready to debut."
A long talk-show desk, a tasteful potted plant, and a fake city night background appeared in the upper stage, but Tenna instead sat down next to ____ on the bed. "I know the old stuff wasn't really your thing, so I'd like to do a little focus testing. If the pizza boys and lonely housewives aren't doing it, and the last dream wasn't right either, I've gotta learn more about what makes your clock tick."
He placed a hand close to theirs on the red velvet bedspread, and they crossed their bare legs at their ankles. "It's not that the last one was bad," they protested with a small smile. "It was...really nice, actually. I was just a little weirded out and thought it was real, you know? I was half asleep. But aside from that, you were...Wow, hehe."
The end of Tenna's tie curled up from their praise. He'd done great! Of course he had. They really had just been confused by his little editing "mishap." So from now on, he could just keep those tapes for himself as a special box set. "You're really adding some saturation to my colors! I'm so glad my premiere with you went so well." He swooned a little, and a few tiny cupids with TV heads fluttered around his own. "I've been doing a family program for so long that the spiciest thing I'd ever displayed was that raunchy music video channel."
"So you've never...?" The Lightner raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Did you learn all those moves from those porno channels? Because it seemed a lot more...I dunno." They shrugged. "You don't give off the vibe of a skeezy actor or anything. You were different from the scene I'd watched. More...you know, actually intimate. Especially when I got you all flustered."
Tenna's pixelated eyebrows shot up. "Is it not usually like that when Lightn--um, when people onscreen do the 18+ Tango?"
The Lightner scoffed. "Dude, it's PORN. Nothing about it is realistic. You're bound to have a few documentaries or something on the actual stuff that goes on in that industry, right? Especially with the explosion of the Internet and gooning."
With his outdated cable plan? He didn't even know what emails were! But TV wasn't supposed to be real, it was supposed to be better than real. Happy families always stay happy after their struggles. Couples always make up after the big misunderstanding. The hero always defeats the bad guy.
"Goons, huh? Maybe a pinstriped suit and a sexy noir setting is what we need." His red suit morphed into a striped getup, and a fedora based on what the jazz shadows loved wearing fell onto his head. The Lightner laughed, taking the hat off of his antennas and spinning it around their fingers.
"Trust me, they're not that kind of goon," they replied. "Maybe something more classic IS what I need. Something like an old-fashioned."
The Lightner tossed the hat aside and ghosted a few fingers over Tenna's belt buckle. A shiver of static ran through him and left their hair standing up. Whatever buttons they were pressing against, it'd given his form that extra "cathode ray tube" again that was painfully hard and sensitive. He'd never gotten to see one unpixelated before, much less HAVE one.
He hastily unbuckled it and bit his lip, eagerly making sure the cameras caught every angle of this. As good as it felt, he wanted THEM to feel good first. That was his purpose, after all. When they tried to slip off his belt, he caught them by the hand and without thinking, wrapped the belt around them to bind their wrists together. They let out a small squeak in surprise, and he smiled down at them. They'd liked it last time when he'd gotten a little "feisty" and manhandled them, right? The pixels making up his teeth seemed a little sharper, and his voice became a little lower. More confident. "A good host has gotta give their guest a warm welcome, right?" He took them by the waist and sat them in his lap, mimicking the gentle featherlight way they'd touched him just a few seconds earlier as he cupped their clothed sex.
They rubbed against his gloved fingers, gasping softly when he rested his other hand against their left breast. Immediately their nipples hardened under their t shirt, and Tenna's static was leaving the smallest shocks in all the right places as he held them closer. "C-can't get this kinda static from those newfangled plasma and HD TVs, can ya?" He felt them trying to push the waistband of their shorts down, and quickly made a few cable wires appear to pull them down to their ankles. "Don't worry, sweetheart! Let me do all the hands-on work. All you've gotta do is sit back and enjoy the show."
They rested their head back against one of his shoulders, letting out a small "mmm" of assent. He started rocking against them a bit the more he explored their inner thighs and exposed and uncensored sex. That first night had been so heavy with special effects like the smoke machine and the intentional hazy out-of-focus camera work that he hadn't even gotten to see much--just feel. But now he could see everything; he wondered if the censors finally had killed him and he was in heaven right now, with his very own angel.
The two Cupid Tennas from earlier flitted around to help lift up their shirt and toss it over the side of the bed, finally exposing their breasts. Tenna immediately moved his free hand to massage and grope them, enjoying when they squeezed their thighs together involuntarily from the new sensation. "I'm gonna have to swing by the wardrobe department later for a new pair of gloves," he remarked with a breathless laugh.
He'd never had anything this clear and sharp on his monitor before. All these sounds, sensations, emotions, they all felt so new. HE felt so new. Him, a dusty refurbished CRT that just a few days ago had been slashed in half and repaired by some kinda miracle and at least two entire rolls of electrical tape! Lightners and their souls really had a special effect on Darkners if they could bring out something like this.
____ managed to catch a glimpse of a bulge as Tenna started rocking against their body, and the static from his monitor began to increase and buzz softly. How did he even have a dick? Would it just be a bunch of wires? Would...would sparks come out? Then again, the logic of a dream didn't really bear much weight, especially in a sex dream. Besides, whatever he had down was bound to be worth getting hit with a view volts if it felt just half as good as his hands right now.
"I'm gonna...Fuck, I'm..."
Tenna's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't gotten to hear them uncensored since they'd yelled at him that morning when he'd shown scenes from when they'd first been together. This time though, it wasn't out of shock or fear. And it was all because of him.
"Can't wait to capture every inch of you riding out your big finish," he sighed happily. "I'm doing so well, aren't I? Tell me I'm doing good." He looked down at them with pleading eyes, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.
____ nodded, their eyes rolling back slightly as he went even faster and hit a particularly sensitive spot. "You are! You're doing so, so good," they insisted, panting with a slight smile. He was so cute when he acted needy, and just a little praise seemed to go a long way; immediately he grinned and his screen glowed a little brighter, and his hard-on rubbed against their body as he rutted against them. "God, please don't stop, I'm--"
They came with a squeal, their hands clenching from where they'd been tied up and their back arching. Tenna's antennas shot straight up and as soon as he heard them moan his name and felt them tighten around his fingers, he gasped at what he felt bubbling up inside of him. This was new and strange and so wonderful. He bit his lip as this new "accessory" of his twitched and vibrated between the back of their thighs, which dragged out their climax even further.
The static in his ears subsided after a few moments and he realized he could feel them shivering. Their head rested on his shoulder, and the two mini Tennas from earlier were happily flying around and throwing little heart-shaped confetti. An applause track played and Tenna tried his best to compose himself and placed one arm around his Lightner's waist; whatever that special effect was just now left him feeling just as shaky and sensitive as they were.
"No wonder they've gotta put these midnight specials behind a paywall," he murmured to himself. "This is...wowza!" He gave their body a loving squeeze and nuzzled their cheek with the tip of his nose, and another audience reaction played over the set to coo over what a romantic scene this was. "Did I make you feel this good on our first night together?"
When they were still silent, he looked down at them with a worried expression. Did he do something wrong somehow? Were they alright? He slowly and gingerly took his fingers out of them, eliciting a few soft moans. He felt them twitch and clench once his hand was free; the sensation alone made him bite his lip again.
They tilted their head back to look up at him, smiling with half-lidded eyes. "Mm...My hands," they finally said softly. "Can you untie 'em?"
In an instant the cables unwrapped, leaving their arms to fall down limply at their sides. They managed to find enough strength to turn around and wrap their arms and legs around Tenna, making his screen turn bright red and making the bulge in his pants spring right back up again. "Hehe...'Wowza' doesn't even begin to cover it," they panted. They felt an extra wave of static making their hair rise on end as they praised him. "Last time was good, but this was even better. And that was just your hands! I don't even know what's going on under that suit yet." They smiled playfully and kissed the metal frame of his head. "Best TV ever."
They snaked one hand lower and lower down Tenna's chest and waist before stopping a few centimeters shy of whatever he had pressing against their already soaked entrance. All it took was one playful squeeze before he came again with a startled gasp. He immediately wrapped his arms around them to press them up against himself, humping them shamelessly. It started vibrating again and his antennas wildly alternated between twisting, folding, and standing straight up.
The static and pleasure filling up his head took longer to subside this time, but when he came to, he saw and felt his Lightner clinging to him. They had moved their hands to rest on his chest, where they were absentmindedly playing with his shirt buttons. "I've got a feeling that I'm gonna wake up soon," they groaned. "And I've got a full shift, too. Ugh...If only you were real; I'd take a day off if it meant a few more hours in bed with you like this."
Tenna held them closer and felt the tip of his nose gently prod their skin. "Well...you COULD, kind of," he replied. "I wouldn't be able to be in the bed, but you could always take a day off and watch me on the couch! You could bring that little toy from your bedroom and find something spicy to watch on one of my Adults Only channels."
"Yeah, but it's not the same," they sighed. "I mean I know you're just a dream version of my TV, but I wish you could be with me like this when I'm awake: Your hands and your face and your..." They grinned and rocked their hips against his, making Tenna let out a whine from the overstimulation. "Your...Whatever-You've-Got-Down-There."
"Oh, don't worry about what I look like in the L--in the real world," he insisted. "It'd certainly be nice to see you put on a little show of your own in front of me. But out there, I'm just happy that you're watching me!" He nuzzled their cheek with his nose, making them smile. "I'll make sure you'll be a series regular from now on; whenever you go to sleep, I'll have you come into the studio instead of having any other uh, dreams." He didn't know how they'd react to learning about the Dark World and that while it wasn't quite reality, it wasn't a dream either. They'd given him such a scare when they'd turned him off after seeing themselves on the television last time. He'd only want them to learn the truth if there wasn't any risk of them abandoning him. If he played his cards right, he could even convince them to stay in the Dark World! But for now, these nightly guest appearances would work.
The faint sound of an alarm beeping started to echo through the stage. The world began to blur and fade away. Tenna cringed when he felt them start to wake up in the real world and disappear, and soon he was alone again. He kicked aside an empty prize capsule that had rolled by and sulked for a moment before going back to his desk and waiting to get a glimpse of them from their living room. Maybe they'd turn him on and watch something before they headed off to work. And even if they didn't, he could still stare at them lovingly through the screen until they headed for work.
