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codyssfern · 5 years

Text

drinks and confessions

synopsis: you reunite with shawn at a party after being broken up

warnings: lots of swearing, some aggression, and a lil bit of angst

word count: 2k+

ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ:

“can’t believe you’re forcing me out the apartment tonight.” you say to your best friend, brian, as you two walk down the hall.

“y/n you’ve been in here for weeks!” he exclaims, “weeks, y/n and frankly me and the boys are worried.”

you roll your eyes, “it’s because one of your boys that i’ve spent the last month in hibernation.”

“shawn won’t be there tonight. he’s recording something with teddy at his place SO,” brian stands in front of you and places his hands on the side of your face, “put on a happy face, grab your purse, make sure there’s rubbers in it, and let’s get drunk baby!”

you burst out laughing. brian has always found a way to make you laugh even when all you wanna do is cry.

“rubbers? god you’ve spent way too much time in the america.” you laugh.

this goes on for about 10 more minutes before one of the boys finally picks you guys up. on the way you couldn’t help but feel like you shouldn’t even be going out in the first place, it was one of those gut feelings you got once in a while. even though brian said shawn was busy, you had a feeling he’d show up at the party anyway. you haven’t seen him in 3 months, almost 4 and you didn’t want to see him tonight.

“this place looks familiar.” you say as you get out of the car.

“it’s geoff’s holiday house.” one of the boys say.

you look at brian in disgust, “why are we at his house? he’s rude.”

“i know, i know but we really didn’t have another place to throw the party and one of the boys hit him up and well he said he had a spare house,” you start laughing not believing geoff actually said he had a ‘spare house’ “shut up. i know he’s ridiculous.”

the place was already packed when you went inside. you knew some people from back in high school and some from your first year at uni which surprised you.

“oh my god… lauren is here!” you whisper to brian as you walk pass her and into the kitchen.

brian shrugs his shoulders, “and?”

“she hates my ass! remember when shawn invited us to her prom and she freaked and ‘accidentally’ spilled punch on me?” you ask as you prepared yourself a drink.

brian was so used to you thinking everyone was conspiring against you all he could do was laugh.

“y/n, you think everyone is out to get to you.” he takes a sip of your now finished drink making you whine, “this drink is delicious by the way.” he smiles.

“you owe me one!” you yell at brian as he walks out the kitchen.

you feel a tap on your shoulder making you jump. when you turn around you’re met with some of the boys from earlier.

“i heard geoff has like 4 hundred worth alcohol in this house.”

you scoff, “what? no way.”

you start going through the kitchen cabinets until you find the one filled with alcohol and grab the first bottle you could lay your hands on.

“the mcallan 64,” you mumbled, “worth…$4,250?!”

geoff was so humble, you thought to yourself.

“if i spend $4k on alcohol, it better kill me.” you say making the boys laugh.

and you hoped it at least had some magical effect on you. you only agreed to go out because you were tired of getting drunk by yourself at home. you took the bottle of whiskey to the living room and sat down on the couch.

“y/n what’s up with you and the mendes dude anyway?” nick, from high school and also the dude who used to put garbage in shawn’s locker, happened to the first one to break the ice.

you sighed, “why? what’d you hear?”

“heard he dumped your ass for that other singer girl!” he laughs taking a sip of his beer.

well you certainly weren’t expecting that.

“sort of like you and kelsey right?” you put your hand on his thigh, “you know when she dumped your ass that one time cause shawn invited her on tour and well you know what happens when shawn invites girls on tour…”

nick’s friends started laughing. “bro you said you dumped her!”

nick shrugs his shoulder, “i did!”

“ONLY AFTER MENDES WAS BALLS DEEP INSIDE HER!”

everything happened so fast you didn’t even see when nick stood up and started beating the shit out the guy. you thought this was the perfect time to leave.

about 4 hours passed and you were already feeling drowsy. you also couldn’t find brian anywhere. you asked around and no one had seen him either, he was probably upstairs getting “busy” you still tried and called him. he probably had like 10 missing calls from you. nevertheless you sent him a text.

to: bri craig.

from: stupid y/n :)

dudeeeee i want 2 leave. i’ll be oytside pleasr hurrtgy!

you didn’t even care about the typos. you still pressed send.

“ugh what the fuck!” you yelled as you put your phone back in your pocket.

“someone’s drunk and cranky.”

geoff.

“go away geoff.” you start walking towards the house.

you hear him chuckle from behind, “baby, cmon! don’t walk away from me.”

“dude if you don’t leave me alone i swear i’ll-”

he grabs your arm, “you’ll what?”

“fuck off!” you try pushing him off of you.

by now people are starting to notice and geoff didn’t like that one bit. you kept tried to shift out of his grip but it only got tighterr.

geoff leans into you and says, “you’re too drunk. you need someone to take care of you.”

“she can take care of herself!”

suddenly your body hit the ground and you felt everything around you starting to spin. you hear people cheering and yelling and it made your head throb. but that voice from before, you recognized it.

“y/n?! y/n are you okay?”

you look up to see see brian, you nodded as he helped you up. thinking it was him who pushed geoff of you, you were confused when you saw geoff a few feet away from you still fighting with another boy.

“who’s that?” you squint your eyes.

brian, still with a arm around your waist to hold you up, says, “that’s fucking shawn!”

you were so confused and your head hurt so bad you felt like you could pass out at any moment. soon enough though, some of the boys finally broke off the fight. brian still didn’t let go off you.

“dude what the fuck was that?” brian asks the tall figure that was now walking towards you.

“he was gonna hurt her.”

brian clicks his tongue, “no i mean you! like where the fuck did you come from?”

“i always drive through geoff’s house on the way home and so i thought i’d stop by.”

you were amused as how to they were having a whole conversation with you standing there almost about to collapse.

“god did you get taller?” you ask patting his shawn’s chest and making him laugh.

brian was struggling to keep you up and shawn noticed.

“here,” shawn places an arm around your waist and the other around your shoulders, “i’ll drive her home.”

brian shakes his head no, “i-i i don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“brian… it’s me.”

“i know but you know you’re not exactly her favorite person right now.”

shawn sighs, “i just got punched in the face and ribs for her. i think she can learn to forgive me.”

“you’re bleeding!” you point to shawn’s lip.

brian chuckles as he lets go off you, leaving you in shawn’s grip. “call me when you get her home yeah?”

“course’“ shawn shakes his hand.

once you two start walking to his car or well once he’s dragging to his car you realize what was happening. you hadn’t fully processed the fact your ex-boyfriend just popped up out of nowhere, beat up a guy for you, and was now taking your drunk ass home.

“you know i think,” you start to shift in shawn’s grip, “i can walk home.”

shawn’s grip around your waist got stronger, “and i think you’re just drunk and can barely walk.”

“i can walk!” you blur out and manage to get out of his grip. he was quick though and he held onto your hand.

shawn groaned, “y/n slow down! that’s not the way home.”

in your head you thought it was but of course your head wasn’t properly functioning.

“can you just,” shawn gets in front of you, “get in the car and i’ll take you home yeah?”

you scoff, “aren’t you here to party? go get drunk! cheat on your new girlfriend while your at it! it’s your specialty after all.”

he places his hand on your lips shushing you, “would you shut up?! you don’t know what you’re saying.”

in a matter of seconds you saw everything upside down. took a minute to realized shawn had picked you up on his shoulder. you didn’t even fight it, you were really tired and frankly wanted to leave. you were surprised at how easily he managed to pick you up given that he was just in a fight and was probably bruised all over.

“put your seatbelt on and drink this.” shawn said once you were in the car. he handed you a bottle of water before starting the car.

you winded your eyes at how serious he sounded. you thought that maybe your comment before made him mad.

“i didn’t cheat on you, y/n.”

you look at him. hands gripping the steering wheel and eyes glued to the road. he seemed tensed.

“i don’t know that,” you take a sip of water, “i’ll never know that for sure.”

shawn was trying to think of ways to explain to you why he did what he did. explain to you that his hands have been tied for the past 3 months and that he’s being forced to lie to his family and friends.

“i’m telling you that i didn’t!” he turns to look at you for just a second, “i would never do that. especially to you! i loved you. hell, i still love you.”

you groan. how could he do this? just pop up out of nowhere and tell you that he loves you after being seen with another girl.

“my head hurts shawn and you keep fucking yelling,” you lean your head against the window, “just take me home. i’m tire-”

he cut you off, “it’s a contract okay? a contract that i was manipulated to sign and now i’m fucked! we’re fucked! i lost you.” his voice cracked.

no way. you thought to yourself. shawn would never sign a contract if he knew it wasn’t good for him.

“a contract? like those publicly stunt ones? or whatever their called.”

he chuckled, “a pr contract, yeah. andrew somehow manipulated me few months ago to sign it, he didn’t even let me read it and now i’m stuck.”

you nod your head as you let your brain process what has just been said. shawn never cheated on you and he couldn’t tell you what was going on because he was contractually compromised.

“you didn’t lose me.” you say under your breath.

shawn hums, “what?”

“me. you didn’t lose me. you never did,” you look at him, “as you can see i’m in car with you, letting you take me home when i’m supposed to be furious at you so no. you haven’t lost me.”

once you arrive at your place you beg him to come in so you could clean the cuts on his face and put ice on his bruises. takes him a while to say yes actually. he’s always given you space when you’re drunk, he used to put you to bed and then proceed to sleep on the couch.

“okay just keep it pressed on there lightly,” you instruct him as you let him hold the ice pack on his bruised ribcage, “don’t be rough or it’ll hurt.” you warn.

as you leave shawn on your bed and go look for disinfectant spray in your bathroom, he starts looking around the familiar place. chuckling as he sees the picture of the two of you at graduation on your nightstand.

“now i’m warning you,” you start as you walk back in the room, “i’m still a bit tipsy but this isn’t the first time i’ve cleaned your cuts while i have alcohol in my system.”

shawn laughs, “i got in a lot of fights back high school didn’t i?”

“thanks to geoff!” you defend, “don’t know why the fuck you even tried to be his friend to be honest.”

shawn groans as you kneel down and pressed down on his bruised thighs. you mumbled a soft “sorry” as you positioned yourself in front of him. you took the ice pack from him and placed it on the nightstand.

“you’re all good.” he smiles and leans in to your touch as you start taking care of his bruised lip.

the cuts weren’t as bad as you thought. the worst one was his lip, it was split and didn’t stop bleeding even when you spent like 2 minutes on it.

“did you mean what you said?” you break the silence.

he raises an eyebrow at you, “where?”

“in the car when you said you still loved me.”

you stood up and made your way to the bathroom.

“of course i did,” he followed behind, “i’ve loved you since i gave you that stupid car on your forehead.”

you shake your head and laugh, “oh no you haven’t!”

“i so have. you can ask literally anybody that knew us back then! ask my mom even.” he says as he sits on the bathroom counter.

you stand there looking at him. not understanding how even with a bruised lip and bruised abs eye he still looked handsome. it was almost annoying.

“are you gonna keep staring or are you gonna come over here and kiss me?”

you slowly made your way to him and placed your arms around his neck. “not sure it’s safe for me to kiss you with that bruised lip.”

“i don’t care.” he whispers before leaning in and leaving a soft yet passionate kiss on your lips. “i’ve missed you.” he admits.

you nod, “i can tell.” he tilts his head back making you laugh, “i’m joking! i’ve missed you too.”

he leans into your touch as you caress the side of his face. you really have missed him.

“let’s go to bed yeah?” you say softly.

he smiles, “let’s.”

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes imagines #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes request #shawn mendes prompts #shawn mendes smut #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes boyfriend #shawn mendes one shot #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn #mendes #mendes army

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letstalksymphogear · 5 years

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Symphogear, EP.7 (Cont.)

“i have not now, nor ever, liked this creepy ass church elevator.”

“kanade please get out of my head, just because im hungry doesnt mean you have to tell me every time i am”

Hibiki finishes getting a full body X-ray. She’s fine.

“that anime protagonist immunity is really kicking in well!”

“by the way, your wife is here! and she’s looking mighty miffed., as opposed to me, mighty milfed.”

“you dont strike me as a mother figure but ill play along for now”

“i just hope miku’s okay...”

“oh, she’ll be fine! see, i’ve seen these kinds of plots before. big secret revealed, another lover is shown, the victim watches as they’re thoroughly cheated on, and they get to lik-”

“please stop breathing”

Genjuro’s wasting away again in Margaritaville. Looking for some daughter to adopt. SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT THERE’S A, WOOOOMAAAAAN TO BLAAAAAAAAAAME, BUT HE KNOWS

XYLOPHONE RIFF

THAT’S IT’S ALL HIS FAULT

XYLOPHONE RIFF

“i hate it when he gets like this. jimmy buffets not a good look for him.”

“for once you and i agree. seeing the commander sulk like this like a middle aged perma-tourist is genuinely miserable”

“hey homies! im back and i brought some bitches! oh, jesus, why does this place smell like mistakes in miami?”

“its me. im sorry. every time i feel like i failed as a dad, my anti-dad energies manifest. imagine every midlife crisis rolled up into a single ball, smacked into the face for eternity. thats the depth of my pain for failing this girl.”

In a moment of positivity, the friendship between Tsubasa and Hibiki is cemented.

> Tsubasa has joined the party.

“FRIENDSHIP!”

“fweindship.”

“uuuuhhhhh... dadship? yeah thats close enough.”

“WE’RE ALL GOOD FRIENDS!”

“ya tiddies are ringing again, better go get it”

Ryoko also points out that Hibiki’s relic is fusing with herself at an alarming rate. This is important to keep in mind.

Meanwhile, at night.

Miku is posing in the motherly “you done fucked up, where have you been young lady” position. A cold scolding is coming.

“.........................hey miku......”

“you can come in. are you worried im gonna bite? you suplexed a car. that shouldn’t be an issue anymore.”

“miku, i.... i wanted to tell you.... but.... the plot wouldn’t let me, miku....”

“should’ve told the plot to fuck off anyway. now you’re gonna live with that. you’re sleeping... on the bottom bunk.”

“b.... b..... b...... b.... b...... bottom bunk...?”

They slept separately that night. God, this is so stupid. All of this is so goddamned stupid. “I’m so mad at you even though you saved my life.” This is just so. AUGH. THIS IS DUMB. KANEKO WRITE BETTER ANGST THAT MAKES SENSE THAT ISN’T THIS.

Meanwhile, far away from this garbage...

Chris, having been evicted from Fine’s McMansion, wanders the streets of mumblemumble aimlessly. Don’t be fooled by her new fancy dress. Basically, she’s a combat-competent hobo.

“no food. no home. no victories. this sucks. whyd you do it, fine? we coulda been great together. but no. ya fired me. now i look like im prancing the red light district with a highly advanced superweapon around my neck.”

“no... hibiki’s to blame. ever since that genderbent little mac showed up to fight me, it’s been all downhill. fine thought me a laughstock because i couldnt take out her oversized boxing gloves, and now she beat me while i had nehushtan. god... i wish i never met that damn hamster faced chubby cheeked nerd.”

“wait, whats that crying”

Chris spies two kids talking to each other, one of them crying. Chris immediately makes an assumption, believing the big bro is bullying his sis.

“hey! stop nicking her lunch money, twerp”

Chris currently is a firm believer of corporeal punishment.

But the sister deflects the blow. Chris can’t even defeat children right now. Truly, this is a record low for her. You know you blew it when even kids are schooling you on basic morality. She then tells the little girl to stop crying, ironically mirroring her brother.

The infamous double T-Pose maneuver. Chris, you might as well get a shovel and start digging your own grave.

“i keep doing bad things badly, and now im doing good things badly... when fine said i was bad... did she just mean im not talented?”

Chris, finally, does a good thing and helps these kids find their parents.

“yeah. hibiki saved a kid when she got her gear. guess what? bam! im saving two! that’s fifty percent more kid per kid saved. take that, weirdo.”

The kids call her out on Chris singing unconsciously, and Chris gets flustered over it. Dawwwwww.

Chris manages to get them to safety to their Dad...

...while brutally lying about it, making Chris look like a predator. There’s a very crushing irony at play here, given who Chris used to serve.

“ugggggggggggggggghhhhhh hes not even gonna payyyyy meeeeeee why the fuck did i dooooo thiiiiiiissssss”

“hey, you know. you kids have a really nice relationship with one another. care to give me tips on how to be an empathetic human being capable of making friends?”

“maybe we’re born with it”

“maybe its maybeline”

“maybeline...”

Meanwhile...

A cold wind blows through Lydian Apartment 69-L. (I don’t actually know if that’s their room number, I just made it up.)

“jesus take the wheel, because i’m jumping out the passenger seat to save this current wreck of a relationship”

“miku please i saved your life, doesnt that count for anything”

“you already killed me the moment you lied. also im taking the bottom bunk so i dont have to see your face coming down the ladder.”

“miku you cant hide in this depression den forever. i know i hurt you and im sorry for it, but please understand i literally couldnt do it. you saw there were punches and violence and stuff... i didnt want you tied to that...”

“what was that? i cant hear your apologies over my incredibly loud snoring. SNOOOOOOORE. SNOOOOOOOORE. SNOOO- fuck, i just swallowed my spit, fuck”

“i hope this cocoon of displeasure you’ve made for yourself lets you erupt into a butterfly of acceptance so i can fly with you again.”

“......thats not fair. you cant say those beautiful metaphors and get away with it. let me be mad... sniff... let me be mad...”

Sadness wafts in the den of lies Hibiki has been forced into.

No music plays. There is only heartbreak, and woe.

In the midst of this pain...

Ryoko loredumps about how the Symphogears work and are immune to the noise on her blog, ‘hornyonmainforscience.org’, her hybrid science journal slash kink zone. It’s mostly a recap with some pretty good soft techno beats in it.

“i made a custom brew of red bull, five hour energy drink, coffee, and cream. i call it gamer girl piss.”

“damn. that’s some good piss.”

She muses about how Hibiki has managed to break the limitations of her Symphogear, making her a totally unique specimen. Wait, where have we heard this before...?

Hey... Ryoko... let’s just... cool it a bit with the Hibiki pictures... come on...

Ryoko touches upon the Custodians and the Curse of Babel. We ain’t touching that shit until later, because that’s another shitfuck box of crazy just ready to jump us in a dark alleyway to rob us of our wits.

Back to Lydian:

“miku whats the answer to the first three multiple choice questions”

“B. A. D.”

“oh, thanks. huh, BAD.”

“yeah. you are.”

“mmm. taste likes dissapointment. just like my life.”

“hey table for two haha get it cause there’s two chairs and miku for the love of god, please, forgive me”

“ive surgically removed my eyes and drew eyelashes over them with sharpie so i dont have to see your bird bangs.”

“thats very rude to both me and my hair. also, wig.”

Even Hibiki’s meal is judging her. Mainly for not eating it. Fucking look at this. God, that looks amazing. Fuck, why did I write this while I was hungry.

“miku you cant do this forever. i might die and youll end up crying on my tombstone going ‘oh god, why, oh god’, and really, i cant live with myself if that happens. mainly because id already be dead by then”

The Anime Janai crew show up to break some icebergs with a goddamn sledgehammer. As the self-aware Gods of this realm, they got very tired of this poor display of angst, and have decided to directly intervene.

Nevermind. They came for her kneecaps, and they most certainly got them.

PLEASE. I’M BEGGING YOU. END THIS GARBAGE PLOT THREAD.

“look. imma lay down the facts. yall are gay. yall are in love. yall are angry for the wrong reasons. its nobody’s fault here but the writer. so please kiss and make up. pretty please.”

“kaneko... you fool... we all know what the original sin is. its your hack writing making this stupidity in the first place. let the pencil go, asshole!”

They bring up the fact that Hibiki isn’t doing her work and wonder if she has a job on the side, which isn’t allowed by the school. Miku gets annoyed and bails, with Hibiki running after her. Unfortunately, Miku runs faster...

“oh god miku not the rooftop whatever you’re thinking just dont do it! please!”

“no. i came here to angst, since this is the Maximum Angst Zone.”

“i..... okay! okay, that’s fair! rooftops are the perfect place to look sad while getting proper air ventilation, thats fine”

It really would have been better played if it was played off that she felt hurt not because of the lie, but because she felt like she could have helped her better having known the truth, and it being a self-loathing sort of scenario for not being there better for her and not fully understanding the risk at play.

But no, instead, we get this.

youtube

Absolutely obliterated. A heart ripped, shredded, and sent to the Shadow Realm.

The episode ends on that note, but has a post credit scene.

Naked. On an old timey telephone. On a computer. Wearing stockings and long gloves.

The main antagonist of the series, everybody.

She’s talking the best English possible to some random-ass American when suddenly bursting through the scene is none other than:

“I WANT WORKERS COMPENSATION YOU BITCH, BEFORE I UNIONIZE YOUR NAKED ASS”

“AND I WANT A GOOD REFERNECE FOR MY FUTURE EMPLOYER, AND ALSO A SEVERANCE PACKAGE SINCE I’M FUCKING HOMELESS”

“i paint my eyelashes with mascara made from the tar of freshly carbonated corpses manufactured through noise, what on gods green earth compels you to think id give a rats ass about you?”

“so you never cared, huh! you’re just a nasty naked hedonist trying to- trying to- what the fuck are you even trying to do?!”

“i want to live the dream every spicy little fossil like me yearns for.”

“I WANNA FUCK GOD!”

“how- what? what? how do you even- what? are you- do you want to be the pope? is that it? does the pope get to fuck god? are you- is this a larping thing? you’ve really been into larping lately! i don’t like this!”

“youve never read the old testament, have you. ass out, pussy bare, hips up and barefoot. that’s how god’s always liked it.”

“now get lost, punk. you tipped off my hand to genjuro and now you being here is going to ruin everything. if you still feel any semblance of devotion, eat one of your own bullets and call it a day.”

“it’s 2012 bitch, if the mayans dont get you, I WILL”

“what god gives, He takes away, and so do i. i built you from the ground up. your relic, which was good for jack shit on you. the nehushtan, which you failed to do anything with except zap a couple hundred people. stop wars? you’re a walking war, waged by me, for me. and your cartridge has just run out of bullets.”

“uh oh! hand’s acting up again! better bail before i send you back to smacktown where all the bitter little shittalkers like you strut around spending their lives being useless as hell.”

“ah fuck, im not dealing with no manos: the hands of fate bullshit again”

“and guess what else i got on motherfucker”

“i see the union efforts have officially been busted. understandable, have a nice day ma’am”

“LEAVE.”

“I’M GOING, I’M GOING”

#symphogear #symphogear season 1 #anime #recap #comedy

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itsworn · 7 years

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Brad Riekkoff Rebuilt his High School car with a 900HP Supercharged LS3

When William Shakespeare wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth”, he was unknowingly describing Brad Riekkoff’s relationship with his very first automotive love: a 1980 Trans Am he bought at age 16. Brad’s odyssey with the Pontiac began in 1991 with a trip to a local Jefferson, Wisconsin car show. He and his stepfather, Ike Roell, went there to find a suitable first car he could drive to high school and the lad was immediately drawn to the Trans Am, which was sitting on a trailer in the swap meet area with $2,500 written across the windshield.

“It was from Oklahoma,” recalls Riekkoff, “and had a very solid body. The engine seemed to run pretty good, but had a very bad exhaust leak, so it was noisy. We bought it, with my stepfather and I splitting the cost.”

Brad couldn’t wait to get home and replace the blown out header gasket so he could drive his cool new ride to school on Monday morning. Replacing the gasket went as smooth as a cashmere codpiece, but the fix revealed another, far more sinister problem.

“The obnoxious exhaust leak was covering up a bad rod knock, and this is where it all started!” By “all”, Brad means his love for working on cars, and ultimately, his path to West Bend Dyno, a high end speed shop that handles everything from late model tuning to complete builds.

Throughout high school Brad and his stepfather built several engines for the Trans Am. They also replaced the Turbo 400, installed 4.11:1 gears, and bolted on a nitrous kit. All things considered, the lad had a lot of fun with the car, and learned a great deal along the way. After graduating from high school in 1993, Brad had two vehicles- the Trans Am and a 1979 Blazer he drove to work every day. He couldn’t afford to keep both, so sold his half of the Trans Am to his stepfather, who put it into deep storage. In the ensuing years Brad started a family and started a business. Though the Trans Am was out of sight, it was never entirely forgotten.

“I had recently purchased a chassis dyno and started a part time speed shop called West Bend Dyno Tuning out of my garage. The local 4th of July parade was coming up and we decided to put a few cars and a float in the parade to represent the business. I had a thought and asked my stepfather if we could take my old Trans Am. The car still had the parking sticker in the rear window required at my high school back in 1993, and some of my personal belongings were still in the glove box! The fluids were changed and a few miscellaneous items were addressed and I took her out for a drive. The car was running great! I felt like I was 16 again and forgot that the old Pontiac did not like to be revved up past 5,500 rpm. Well a few burn outs later and the old bird had enough- it developed another rod knock!”

Modern LS engine swaps were just becoming popular at the time, so the crew at West Bend Dyno began the engine change. As the costs added up, Brad’s stepfather lost interest in funding it, so Brad took over the build and reached out to his suppliers for support. LS experts at Wegner Motorsports built a stroked and supercharged LS3 that produces 932 horsepower @ 6100 rpm and 938 lb-ft of torque @ 4,200 rpm at the flywheel on E85. To support all of that power, Wegner used a Callies Dragonslayer crank and Ultra rods fitted to Mahle pistons. Fully ported LS9 cylinder heads were assembled with Inconel stainless valves and PSI springs. With no good off-the-shelf option available at the time, Casey from Wegner built a killer front drive to work with the 3.3-liter Lysholm supercharger that includes a choice of four different upper pulleys that yield four different levels of boost. Aeromotive provided a fuel system capable of keeping the hungry LS engine fed. It includes an Aeromotive speed controller and Eliminator pump custom mounted in the stock tank. Fuel Injector Connection was tapped for 127-pound injectors. The squeezed intake charge is lit up by an ultra-reliable MSD system and waste gases are routed out via Stainless Works long tube headers, custom-bent three-inch pipes, and Borla mufflers. Lubrication is helped with a Daily Engineering dry sump system that uses Roots style scavenge rotors and spur gear pressure sections for greater efficiency. New wiring was sourced from Speartech and Painless Performance, and everything is kept cool courtesy of a large Afco aluminum radiator and twin electric fans.

With more than 900 horsepower on tap, serious driveline upgrades were essential. A twin-disk Centerforce clutch and Centerforce flywheel inside a QuickTime bellhousing channels the engine’s twist to a strengthened, Hurst-shifted T56 six-speed. The gearbox in turn spins a Mark Williams Chromoly driveshaft bolted to a 9-inch Ford aluminum Strange Engineering center section and, full-floating 35-spline Moser axles carry it to the wheels. Big Wilwood six-piston calipers squeeze 14-inch slotted steel rotors in the front, while four-piston Wilwood’s are paired with 13-inch slotted rotors in the back. Pressure comes from a 1 1/8-inch Wilwood master cylinder and a Wilwood proportioning valve. Forged Formula 43 RAD 10 wheels measure 18”x10” with a 4 ½-inch backspace up front, and 18”x12” with a 7-inch backspace in the rear. BFG g-Force Rival tires sized at 295/35ZR18 and 335/30ZR18 look right and do the job when called on to keep this car glued to the road. Mini tubs in the rear house the beefy tires without any rubbing.

To enhance handling, West Bend installed a Heidts PRO-G front subframe with Heidts suspension arms and spindles, and a Mustang II rack-and-pinion steering system. A Heidts four-link suspension setup, with modified mounting points to increase shock stroke, takes the place of Pontiac’s stock suspension in the rear. At all four corners, AFCO double-adjustable coil over shocks perfectly complement the Heidts suspension system.

Brad wanted to retain the general look of the Trans Am’s original interior, while trimming some weight and upgrading its functionality. He installed AutoMeter gauges in a custom fiberglass dash, Sparco EVO seats, and Ace Upholstery made door panels and a rear seat to match the front seats. Nick Gaylord, of Topline Design and Speed built a 12-point roll cage to increase structural stiffness, improve handling, and provide an extra measure of safety in this high-speed missile. The cage tucks nicely next to the body lines and even allows access to the T-tops.

As with the interior, Brad sought to upgrade the Trans Am’s body while keeping it mostly stock looking. Albert Melchoir of Carbon Kustoms supplied carbon fiber doors, front fenders, and front inner fenders, which collectively trimmed over 150-pounds from the car’s weight. To accommodate the big Lysholm supercharger, West Bend Dyno enlarged an original Trans Am turbo hood bulge. Jeff Miller, of Boyds Classics in Kewaskum, WI performed the body work and applied the paint.

“We worked hand in hand with Jeff,” recalls Brad, “to come up with the paint scheme for the outside of the car and the engine bay. We used a 10th anniversary paint scheme with a touch of carbon fiber on the hood, wheels and in the engine bay. The two-tone stripe along the bottom of the windows on the doors offered a perfect spot to list all of our supporting manufacturers logos that were printed by Randy Gremminger of Trend Setters.”

The build was completed in 2013, and true to his initial plan, Brad has run the car hard, both on the street and in organized competition. He’s also used it as a development and test platform for the Pro Touring parts West Bend Dyno sells and installs on customer cars.

“We’ve had respectable showings at many pro-touring events,” he tells us, “including the Optima Street Car Challenge and the Heidts Performance Challenge held at the Autobahn in Joliet, where we took an overall win. We continue to improve the performance of the bird as our shop test car, testing the products that we sell for pro touring type applications.”

Time is normally not kind to the beauty and exuberance of youth, as anyone who has been to their high school reunion knows, and the reality of one’s first love decades later rarely measures up one’s memory of her. There are however exceptions, and in Brad Riekkoff’s case, his first love looks and performs far better today than she ever did back in her high school days.

This 1980 Trans Am’s stock-appearing exterior belies the many performance modifications lurking under its skin.

Mini tubs enable the oversize wheels and tires that give this Trans Am its aggressively wide stance.

The understated nature of the blue and gray color palette contrasts with the extreme performance built into this Trans Am.

The high quality of Carbon Kustoms carbon fiber fenders and doors were a big help to Jeff Miller from Boyds Classics when he prepared the body for paint.

Heidts suspension on both ends delivers a pleasingly low stance.

Though it’s set up to maximize performance on a road course, this Trans Am is still civilized enough to drive anywhere.

With a 6-speed that goes from a 2.66:1 first to a .50:1 sixth, this car is as comfortable high speed highway cruising as it is on a twisty road course.

An OEM-style turbo hood bulge has been enlarged to clear the Lysholm supercharger.

Forged Formula 43 RAD 10 wheels and sticky Z speed rated BFG g-Force Rival tires provide maximum strength and grip.

Wilwood brake setup, featuring 6-piston front and 4-piston rear calipers, give excellent track and street performance.

The supercharged LS3 was built by Wegner Motorsports with forged internals, fully ported LS9 heads, dry sump lubrication, and an E85 fuel system.

Casey from Wegner Motorsports put together the engine’s drive system with four different size supercharger pulleys, allowing Riekkoff to dial in the level of boost he wants.

he surface quality of the carbon fiber inner fenders is apparent because they remain unpainted.

The interior still looks and feels largely stock, and thus remains a welcome reminder for Riekkoff of what it felt like to drive this Trans Am during his high school days.

AutoMeter gauges, 12-point cage, and Sparco seats and harnesses increase the car’s effectiveness and safety on both the track and street.

The post Brad Riekkoff Rebuilt his High School car with a 900HP Supercharged LS3 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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