the secret to your social chemistry

Dear Yuletide Writer

traincat — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:13:15 GMT

Hey, Yuletide writer! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I am SUPER EASY to please and I just want you to have fun writing, so please don't worry about this letter too much! Optional details are obviously optional. I'm the kind of person who prefers too much information over too little and who loves prompts and hearing what people love about the characters/series they picked, so I threw in a bunch of stuff. If you've got a different idea, you go for it! I'm just happy you're writing something for me!

Yuletide is basically how I do Christmas, so I like happy fic for it -- it's hard to go wrong with me with happy fic. The tone of some of the canons I requested (In the Flesh, Runaways) can run towards melancholy, so if you wanted to stay true to that, that's fine, but if you could find the silver lining in the clouds and keep it hopeful too, that'd be wonderful. I tend to be more interested in characters than plot or worldbuilding, but that doesn't mean fic heavy on either of those isn't welcome! Really, I just want you to have fun and be comfortable.

Some general likes: fluff, holiday fic, families both blood-related and found, friendship, relationship exploration, superheroes being heroic and good at their jobs, hurt/comfort heavy on the comfort, tropes like pretending to be married or found a baby or soulbonding because I'm a ridiculous person. I love AUs! The more out there the better -- if you ever wanted to write like, a space florist AU, Yuletide writer, I wouldn't say no. I love fic set in canon equally, though, so no worries if you're not an AU person!

And general dislikes: hardcore kink, noncon or dubcon, extreme gore, character bashing, characters humiliated in the name of humor, infidelity. For Yuletide I would prefer not to get fic that is unending angst, or darkfic in general. Porn is one of those things I'm weirdly picky about so I never request it, but if that's your thing, yuletide writer, I'm not adverse. I don't care for crossovers, but fusions between my requested fandoms are a-okay.

I'm Traincat on Ao3 and on tumblr so please feel free to rummage through either of those hangouts if you want to get more of a feel for what I like! I tag pretty consistently on tumblr, so all of these series would be tagged there by name.

Parks and Rec
Leslie Knope, Ben Wyatt

Leslie and Ben have one of my favorite relationships on television. I cry at their wedding every time because I just love their love so much! The crying at wedding stereotype, it's me. Any fic for them would be lovely -- futurefic (I'm all for President Knope), or an AU (Leslie Knope: Space Public Servant! I'm not going to lie: I would do unspeakable things for a fandom AU. I bet Leslie writes some great(ly questionable) politics RPF.) or just slice of life, I'm into all of it because they're so wonderful.

If you felt up for it, I would love a fic where Ben drags Leslie to a Star Trek convention only for Leslie to get SUPER INTO Klingon culture. Like, frighteningly into it. Because Leslie Knope would be the BEST Klingon warrior. If you know both fandoms and are down with fusions, I definitely wouldn't mind Pawnee dealing with the Rising in their own special Pawnee way. (Is Leslie's biggest issue with the Rising that it happened two years too early for Li'l Sebastian to rise? Never mind that he's a miniature horse. Has Ben been preparing all his life for this moment or are zombies one of those genres he's never really been big on? Is the nearest treatment center in Eagleton? I'm sorry I've ruined the zombie uprising.)

Basically, Ben and Leslie's love makes me cry, everyone on this show is wonderful and hilarious and I love that the show's humor is mostly based on people liking each other and being passionate about things and Ben is my favorite geek even if I suspect I would side-eye all his Trek opinions.

In the Flesh
Kieren Walker, Simon Monroe

I was joking that I should call this part of my letter "sorry I'm gay zombie trash" but it's too true to joke about.

I love how into Kieren Simon is, and there may have been some 3AM browsing through gif sets on tumblr, hands over my face, sobbing, "I just want them to be HAPPY," so, basically, any fic where they get to be happy would be fantastic and I would love you forever. I'm not going to lie, I have a huge thing for loyalty, so anything about Simon's newly reordered priorities at the end of s2 would be great. If if strikes you, I'd be interested in anything set between the scene in the GP's and the funeral. To me it looks like Kieren had a lot of hand in arranging the funeral and making sure it followed Amy's wishes to the letter -- what was Simon doing? (Was it a lot of hovering?)

Re: I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR (I actually do, I love Pearl so much), I love that nobody on this show is a cardboard cutout character, so if it strikes your fancy I'd be more than down with seeing other characters included. I'd love to see Steve and Sue adjusting to their son's new (older, undead, former high-up in the ULA) boyfriend -- or Jem? She and Kieren love each other fiercely, but there's a rift between them at the end of s2 that's not going to be crossed in a day. Does Simon's presence help or hurt that?

This is one of those rare fandoms where I'm picky about AUs (I'm especially not big on fic where they meet before they're dead), so canon fic is great, but if you have an idea for an AU that you're set on, go for it! I'm easy to please.

(Also, just saying, Yuletide writer: if you wanted to write 'warming up' fic where Simon experiments with being alive again by growing some truly questionable facial hair, that would be more than okay. Kieren with perpetual beard-burn optional but obviously lovely.)

Blue Beetle
Jaime Reyes, Milagro Reyes, Guy Gardner

These three are the best. I love love love Jaime and Milagro's sibling relationship, and Guy's, y'know, Guy-ness. If you wanted to, I'd love some ROADTRIP fic with Guy at the wheel and Jaime LESS THAN SURE about this adventure. (Milagro is TOTALLY SURE about this adventure. Khaji Da has reservations, and also the map.) Alternatively, I'd love futurefic where Milagro becomes a Green Lantern, Guy becomes a mentor and Jaime becomes a nervous wreck, or a Reyes family dinner with Guy as a guest.

I know I just keep repeating I LOVE EVERYONE in this letter, but I picked fandoms where I really do love everyone. Jaime's parents are basically the best parents in comics and they make me so happy. Paco and Brenda and their relationships with each other and with Jaime make me so happy! I love how Milagro is the perfect annoying little sister, but she and Jaime actually really love each other. Guy Gardner is my favorite Lantern ever and him interacting with teens and kids makes me the happiest.

Also I don't think this really needs to be said, but new 52 Blue Beetle never happened.

Gravity Falls
Stan Pines, Mabel Pines

Grunkle Stan being the okayest Grunkle he can be is my very favorite. I love HOW MUCH he loves these kids, in his special gruff way. I love his shady past! I love his con man ways. I always joke that I don't know whether I want to be Stan, or whether I want to marry him. (That's a lie: it's both. The answer is both.)

I love Mabel's everything but especially her enthusiasm and zest for pretty much everything. I'd love to see them teaming up to save the day (or Dipper, or the Mystery Shack, or THE FATE OF LOVE or whatever) or Mabel meddling in Stan's love life. Or maybe some nice boy wants to take Mabel out on a(n age appropriate) date and Stan is convinced that he's hellspawn and does everything in his power to ruin it out of grunkle-ly love. Or maybe Stan is in some kind of trouble and Mabel and her trusty pig companion are the only ones who can save the day!

I love Dipper a ton, but between the two twins in this case I'd really like the focus to be on Mabel. Everyone on this show is the best though so I certainly wouldn't say no to the rest of the cast popping up as long as the focus is on Stan and Mabel.

Runaways
Xavin, Gert Yorkes

I'd love a team-up between these two -- I realize the canon timeline makes that sort of difficult, so alternate timeline, time travel, or AU, anything that would allow the two of them to be awesome together would be fantastic. I don't really want shipfic -- my heart belongs to both Xavin/Karolina and Chase/Gert -- so much as fic where they get to interact, maybe solve crime, possibly save the world and probably bicker over Xavin's taste in Earth culture. I adore ridiculous superhero plotlines, so the more out-there reasons for Gert and Xavin being in the same place at the same time, the better.

I love ALL of the Runaways, and most of the Marvel universe too, so please feel free to include whoever you wish as long as Xavin and Gert are the focus! I love all the canon ships for this series, but I was never big on Nico/Karolina.

traincat — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 18:28:00 GMT

Reveals are up! I wrote four fics this year:

Running to Arrive

Iron Man: Armored Adventures (gen)

Agent Hill looked her up and down, lips pursed, one eyebrow raised.
“Come with me,” she started, and breathlessly Pepper cut in with, “If you want to live?”
The corner of Agent Hill’s eye did this little twitchy thing, which looked incredibly smooth and secret agent-y. Pepper wondered if they taught you how to do that in SHIELD classes.
Agent Hill sighed and rubbed a hand to her forehead and said, “Come with me if you want to see Director Fury.”
That was so much better than Pepper could have ever wished.

This was my assignment this year and it was one of those things where, you look at the prompt and you go, this is the fic I know in my heart I have always wanted to write. Armored Adventures is such a fun series, and one of the things I love most about it is Pepper, who wants to be a SHIELD agent and is just so enthusiastic about EVERYTHING!!!!! Trying to capture her energy was a fun challenge, and I hope I succeeded.

style is eternal,

Hawkeye (gen)

Clint came home to find teenagers sitting on the floor of his apartment. His dog was lying between them, getting skritches.
“I don’t think he likes the hat,” Kate said, holding something in her hands that looked like a giant satin triangle.
“Maybe the holes aren’t big enough for his ears,” the other kid, who Clint belatedly recognized as one of Wanda’s reincarnated brood, replied. “Pass the scissors?”
“Kate,” Clint said, coming up behind them. “And Kate's friend, Strange Teenager in My House With His Hands All Over My Dog.”

Look, doggie costumes are really cute, okay? This one was so much fun to write. Lucky's closet is probably way bigger than Clint's at this point.

Stay, Stay, Stay,

Young Avengers (Tommy & Eli, Eli/Kate/Tommy)

Teddy was cleaning when he found the sweatshirt.
“That’s Eli’s,” Tommy said. Teddy held it up to the light, frowning at it.
“Yeah,” he said. “Must’ve left it here, y’know. Before.”
Before Latveria, Teddy meant. He seemed strangely hesitant to say the word, like it might make Billy do something drastic, like hole himself up in his room and not talk to anyone. Like that ship hadn’t already sailed.
Tommy was sick of it.

A summary of my year: lies down, has Tommy Shepherd feelings. (Maybe more like: a summary of my life.) It's probably an understatement to say I have issues with the tone of the new run, so getting to write Tommy and Eli and Kate together again was like Christmas. In other news, I think I managed to limit myself to only titling one fic after a TSwift song this year, which is a great achievement.

Snow Day

Avengers Assemble (comic) (Carol/Jessica, Jessica & the Hulk)

“You fell through a dimensional rift,” Carol said. “We followed you.”
“Ugh,” Jessica said, planting her sharp chin on Carol’s shoulder. "Dimensional rift. That's just my luck."
There was a flurry of motion behind Carol’s back; she twisted around to find Jessica and the Hulk mid-fistbump.
“Do you guys have a secret handshake?” she asked.

Spoiler alert: I just really want Jess and the Hulk to have a secret handshake, and Jess and Carol to get married.

Happy Yuletide! (And Christmas, I GUESS.)

traincat — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 21:35:27 GMT

Yuletide is upon us!

Here's my first batch of Yuletide recs! These are the fics I received, which are all lovely and amazing and I want to roll around in them forever. Thank you so much to my Yuletide writers! I WANT TO MARRY ALL OF YOU. I can not say enough good things about any of them.

1. It’s All Relative(s) - Blue Beetle

Bianca Reyes teams up with La Dama and Peacemaker to rescue Jaime from an alien spaceship. IT’S EVERYTHING I’VE ALWAYS WANTED, with all the Reyes family feels I could ever hope for. The writer really went above and beyond filling my request. I was making flaily motions and squeaking under my breath the entire time I was reading it. Wonderful, perfect familyfic. <3

2. Dinner and a Movie (and Saving the World) - Young Avengers

Tommy and Eli team up to fight garbage slime monsters and then have dinner with Eli’s grandparents. Only in New York! Also, it’s not a date. (It’s a date.) This is ALSO everything I ever wanted and it’s a really lovely look at both Tommy and Eli and it really captured what I love about the original Young Avengers, especially Patriot. It gave me The Feelings. (True story, when I was trying to shake my presents, because I am that person, I was hoping the Eli/Tommy fic was for me and IT WAS. Yay!)

3. Radiance - Ultimate Comics Spider-Man

A lovely look at a canon divergent AU where Gwen has superpowers, complete with powerswaps. Gorgeous writing with wonderful voices (especially Gwen and Miles), and every mention of Jessica Drew was like a knife. Oh, my heart.

Dear Yuletide Writer

traincat — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 03:03:17 GMT

Dear Yuletide Writer,

You have an easy assignment because I am going to love whatever you write! I love it already! I have all the Yuletide cheer! The most important thing to me is that you have fun writing, so as long as that happens I will be over the moon.

Every year I tell myself I am going to make some very coherent, eloquent requests that clearly express what I love about these series and characters. It hasn't happened yet. This year isn't looking too good either. In these requests I mostly just screech a lot about THINGS I LOVE ALL MY FEELINGS. I'm the kind of person who prefers too much information over too little, so I threw a bunch of prompts into all my requests, but if none of them are to your taste, please don't worry about it! Again, I'm sure I'm going to love whatever you write for me. I love shipfic, and I am totally down with that for most of my requests. (I would really prefer gen for Orphan Black, which is the exception to my general "shipping, aw yeah" rule.) Slash, het and femmeslash are all cool. I also love gen! I would prefer plot over porn, but I'm flexible on that. I'm super easy to please.

General likes: fluff, holiday fics, families (both blood and found), friendships, relationship explorations, gen, casefic, superheroes being heroic and good at their jobs, hurt/comfort that is heavy on the comfort, generally happy fic. AUs are awesome! Write me coffeeshop AUs, college AUs, AUs where everybody is secret agents! Write me SPACE AUs. Or pirate AUs! AUs are great. If you don't want to write an AU, that's great too, because I love all of these canons a ton.

General dislikes: hardcore kink, noncon or dubcon, gore, character death, character bashing, characters being humiliated for the sake of humor, excessive angst. I would prefer not to get PWPs or otherwise very explicit fic. Some porn with plot is okay, if that's your thing, though. Excessive grimdark and tragic endings aren't my thing.

Please feel free to poke around any of my web haunts if you want to get a feel for my tastes! I'm Traincat here, on Ao3 and on DW, and I'm spandextales on tumblr.

Please no crossovers, unless you want to crossover any of my other requests with Gravity Falls. Because that would be wonderful.

Young Avengers
- Tommy Shepherd

Tommy is basically my favorite, I love him so much, I don't want to just babble endlessly about Tommy here but actually that's pretty much what I ended up doing.

I love how he wants to be a hero so badly. I love how he doesn't have feelings and doesn't hold hands, except for the part where he absolutely does. I love his relationships with the other YA members. I love his new friendship with David! I would love to see him getting to know the Maximoff side of his family some more, or a story set during the time he was living with the Kaplans. I would also love an exploration on his relationship with Billy (magic twins!), but I'd prefer the focus stay on Tommy, since Billy gets plenty of the limelight in canon. I would also also love something about Tommy's issues (and then he gets hugs?? please let him get hugs). I'm rambling on here but really I just love Tommy so I'd love any fic about him. AU where he's a supervillain who secretly wants to be a hero! Coffeeshop AU starring the world's fastest barista! We learned on volume 2 that he has the phone numbers for Eli's family, so they've obviously been in touch -- give me the story there? Or I always wanted to see Tommy and Cassie teaming up and being ~friends~. Or fic where he and David fight crime (or makeout or just go for more noodles). BASICALLY? ANYTHING WITH TOMMY.

For the record I'm totally happy to get gen, but if you feel like shipfic, that's awesome and I ship:

- Eli/Tommy
- David/Tommy
- Eli/Kate/Tommy, as an OT3. I'm not too fond of it as a triangle, or just Kate/Tommy.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
- Gwen Stacy

I love Ultimate Gwen Stacy. I love her attitude and her huge Hot Topic wardrobe. I loved her sibling-esque relationship with Peter in volume one. I love that she's still living with May Parker. I love that she and Miles are getting to know each other. Does Gwen ever get to superhero? Does she want to? She's down as "clone Gwen Stacy" now -- how does she feel about what happened to her? I just want her to be bffsies with Mary Jane, and I'd love to know her thoughts about Ultimate Jessica Drew. AUs are always welcome -- Gwen in a rock band! Gwen, secret agent! Gwen, intrepid girl reporter!

As far as shipping goes, I'm not crazy about her romantic relationship with Peter. I much preferred their dynamic in the first volume. I am more than okay Gwen/MJ! Or if you want to pair Gwen up with somebody else, that's cool too! Gen is also totally welcome. I'd love something about Gwen and May in Paris, or what they're doing now that they're back in New York.

Blue Beetle
- Bianca Reyes
- Jaime Reyes

Bianca is basically the best comic book mom ever, fact. I'd love to see her getting to be the hero for the day and getting to rescue Jaime! I love how much Jaime loves and respects his mom. I love how family is such a big part of Blue Beetle! I feel bad because this request isn't as rambly as the others, but I assure you, I'm just as happy to get BB as my other fandoms! It's one of my favorite series of all time and anything with Jaime and his awesome mom (or Bianca and her awesome son) would be welcome! If you feel like it, I'd also love Bianca teaming up with either husband, Peacemaker or La Dama to rescue the kids!

Orphan Black
- Alison Hendrix
- Felix Dawkins

What I really really want is Alison and Felix on a roadtrip, with guest appearances by Alison's playlist, but if you don't want to write that, basically anything with them is great!

Felix and Alison gave me feelings where I didn't expect them. I love how their relationship developed. Does he ever get to babysit her kids again? Do they at some point go through each other's wardrobes and make a lot of disparaging faces? Does he have to make another appearance as her acting coach? For something more dramatic and in the tone of the series, Alison is in a precarious place at the end of the first season (and Felix has an apartment full of clones). Give me what happens next? On the other hand, I am more than up for Felix and Alison just getting drunk together, or a fic where Felix compares and contrasts Alison and Sarah. He's basically running the Dawkins Home For Misplaced Clones at this point, how does he feel about all these women who look exactly like his sister but act completely different (except when they act the same)? Or Alison - her feelings towards Felix grow much, much warmer throughout the series, and she clearly views him as a confidante. I love the scene where she's hiding in the bathroom and refuses to talk to anyone but him, and his little smirk when he swans past her friends.

Basically you can write me whatever for Orphan Black as long as it features these two and I will be so happy. I would really prefer gen for this request, please.

Gravity Falls
- Mabel Pines
- Stan Pines

Stan and Mabel warm my heart. Give me awesome wacky adventures! Give me Stan caring a lot and not being able to express it! Give me Mabel caring a lot and expressing it through things like SPIN ART and MATCHING GLITTER SWEATERS. Give me casefic where Mabel and Stan have to save the day! Give me Mabel, Girl Detective, with her trusty sidekick, Stanford! Give me Stan in legal trouble and Mabel Pines, attorney at law! Give me Mabel with boy problems and Stan being awkward! Give me Mabel having a ~hot~ (age appropriate) date and Stan hiding in the bushes to make sure there's no funny business! Give me Stan having a ~hot~ date and Mabel being EVEN WORSE and trying to make sure everything goes PERFECTLY. Anything with Mabel and Stan, dear Yuletide writer. Gravity Falls is my shiny happy series and these two make me very very happy.

If you need any other information, please feel free to contact amielleon with whom I have a Yuletide pact. She knows my tastes super well and can accurately answer any of your questions. And she totally won't tell me anything, because she's no fun.

stolen from ammie

traincat — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 02:06:02 GMT

The f15s (fics in fifteen seconds) meme, because it looks like fun. Let's see if I can get it straight - sum up every chapter of every story you've written in two lines of script!

The Green Tie Affair
Tony: I think somebody magically kidnapped the Hulk.
Dr. Strange: *shows up fifteen minutes late holding Starbucks*

Keep Throwing Things and Slamming the Door
Johnny Storm: Oh woe I am in love with Peter Parker but he is in love with Spider-Man!
Peter Parker: Agh.

Scenes from a Wedding
Billy: Getting married is stressful!
Skrulls: Your seating chart displeases the empire.

the length and breadth of the sea
Johnny Storm: Oh woe my family is probably dead and America is sucky and full of dinosaurs and also Nick Fury's former sidekick is very attractive and bendy???
Peter Parker: Agh.

The Adventures of Jackpot and Zombie Girl
Mary Jane: Peter Parker is dead and I am miserable and everything sucks.
Gwen Stacy: LET'S FIGHT SOME CRIME.

Family Ties
Alfred: *steams blood out of the carpet*
Dick: *warm fuzzy family feelings*

Through the Mines
Eli: I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION kate why won't you e-mail me.
Kate: I DON'T MISS YOU JERK why won't you come back and fight crime with me.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub (A Bunch of Capes in the Tub)
Batman: This is a good way to connect with friends and enemies alike.
Everyone else ever: NO.

Following Weblines
Miles Morales: I am trapped in an alternate reality where Peter Parker is alive and Spider-Man and I am evil and WHAT IF UNCLE AARON WAS RIGHT??????
Peter Parker: ...Want a hug?

leave the gun on the table
Bucky Barnes: I'm a brainwashed assassin with faulty memories, a ton of undiscovered triggers and no clue what happened and I might kill you in the night without realizing.
Clint Barton: Hot.

people clint barton kissed for the mission (and one he'd know anywhere)
Clint Barton: I have magical kissing powers.
The rest of the Avengers: We're not the weird ones anymore!

Something Red, White and Blue
Steve: Seems to be an awful lot of fraudulent weddings going on around here.
Tony: *bats eyelashes*

all maps lead to el paso
Paco: Bro.
Kon: Dang, bro.

the lay of your lands
Johnny Storm: Oh woe, once upon a time...
Peter Parker: AGH.

grab a blanket, brother
Tommy Shepherd: Hi, my name is Speed and welcome to Jackass.
Moose: *is in Canada*

Gonna Be a Better One (A Thousand Miles to Your Door)
Tim: HOW DO YOU NORMAL.
Kon: I LOVE YOU.

The Masked Man (Who Has Everything)
Magneto: I'm not Batman.
Prof X: Uh, telepath?

surely shifted my way
Prof X: Are those doves.
Doves: *are doves*

By Any Other Name
Kon: I'm angry.
Lois: We're gonna work on that. Hold these lockpicks.

Hurricane Drunk
Roy: I don't know what happened to my life or why there are drunk teenagers on my couch.
Ollie: This is why you don't quit sidekicking.

Trials and Tribulations
Roy: I don't know what happened to my life or why the Justice League left me to babysit.
Ollie: This is why you don't quit sidekicking.

maps won't show us where we're going
Ike: So I think I want to get with Soren.
Soren: About freaking time.

The Code
Wally West: Fake date me for the bro code.
Dick Grayson: This is the worst decision I've ever made.

Party of Two
Johnny Storm: Oh woe it is my birthday and I am alone and friendless and undeniably hot get it that was a joke.
Peter Parker: ..................... agh.

Relative Terms (Or, Not Exactly Christmas Elves)
Billy: Reality warping is fun and easy!
Tommy: NO.

- bonus: works in progress -

untitled bridge crew weddingfic
Jim Kirk: So I accidentally married my entire bridge crew, but not all at once, so it's cool. Don't tell the admiralty.
Bones: Goddammit, Jim.

bucky barnes and peter parker friendship fic
Peter Parker: Why are you Cap's favorite?!
Bucky Barnes: STOP STALKING ME.

draw back your bow
Bucky Barnes: I'm still brainwashed and crazy.
Clint Barton: But also still hot.

post Fantastic Four 600 fic
Johnny Storm: Oh woe, I was dead a bunch of times in the Negative Zone and now I am back in my universe but connecting is hard and I may be traumatized. Bright side: own spaceship.
Peter Parker: (AGH.)

TommyDavid fic
Tommy Shepherd: I am having an existential crisis. Fight crime with me.
David Alleyne: That is the worst idea I've ever heard and I used to live with Cyclops.

(meme) slow clap

traincat — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:56:14 GMT

Post the first lines of your last 21 fics.

1. First things first, Johnny wanted to make it clear: he did not intend to sleep with that photographer.
2. “We’re going to die.”
3. The car pulls up in front of Mary Jane’s house at half past midnight and starts honking, three short staccato blasts followed by two long ones.
4. “There’s nothing to this blasted place.”
5. “You’re not going on patrol tonight,” Bruce said flatly.
6. Arkoniel had been perfecting the leaf spell for hours.
7. In the end, Teddy was the only one who came to see him off.
8. Grodd was halfway through a rousing rendition of Toucha-Toucha-Touch Me when he saw the bat-shaped outline hulking just beyond the shower curtain.
9. Fury gave them all a big speech before they left, and finished it with a finger pointed square at the team.
10. His first mission with the Avengers took him to Latveria.
11. The cough started on Thursday.
12. Clint has this thing.
13. In retrospect, it was all Dum Dum Dugan’s fault.
14. This was how it started: Paco, in Arizona, kidnapped and wearing leopard print.
15. Kaede’s first night on the job, she got tossed into a building.
16. Their second day off the Fantastick, John got in a brawl.
17. “This is your twenty-four hour warning,” Billy declared, throwing himself down on the couch.
18. If the world was ending, then kissing Kon seemed like the thing to do.
19. “He’s just so mysterious.”
20. Everyone knew it was coming, and probably sooner rather than later, especially after Sebastian Shaw’s death in that unexpected boating accident.
21. Sometimes Lois thought she should take up a safer occupation.

To top it off, some first lines from some current WiPs:

1. It wasn’t the worst day of Tony’s life, not by a longshot.
2. This was how Phil and May met for the first time, at 8:17 PM, in a corner mart in Queens, during a stick-up.
3. Clint made a promise, twice, and said that everything would be all right.
4. Steve Rogers’ plane took off at 5 PM.
5. The thing nobody, not even his master, understands is that Tommy watched it all happen.
6. “A spaceship has just crashed in a nearby county,” Hank announced at the door, so excited his fur was practically on end.

I have a lot of unfinished Marvel fic.

Things I have learned from this: I like starting fic with dialogue, but not as much as I thought I did. A lot of my opening sentences are pretty sparse. You can pretty much call all my crackfic from the first sentence.

(meme) fire embleming, send help

traincat — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:09:41 GMT

I am hip deep in future babies/support grinding and I have fic I need to write, so help me get the ball rolling:

Stump the Writer!

A -- go to the list of my fics (near complete list here, or there's my fic post and meme tags) and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. (Must be a full line, please -- no sentence fragments or speech tags or other such nonsense.)
B -- I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from.
C -- A fic snip to anyone who stumps me.

OR

1. Give me a pairing
2. Give me a text from last night.
3. I'll write you a short fic based on the scenario.

If you're not sure if I'll write a fandom/pairing/character, feel free to ask. Multiple requests are totally cool.

(meme) stolen from rethira

traincat — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:01:02 GMT

1.) Give me a pairing (does not need to be romantic)
2.) Give me a setting (AU or otherwise).
3.) I will write you a three-sentence fic.

Multiple prompts are more than cool!

(fic-ish) bad idea central

traincat — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:58:30 GMT

Yeah, there's basically no way I'm not going to regret this one. I blame you, bonnefois. Here's my card for trope_bingo:

(fic post) yuletide reveals!

traincat — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 03:08:27 GMT

Happy New Year, everyone! May it be better than 2012, which had its grand sendoff by flooding my basement with three inches of murky gross water that will not drain, and then forcing me to wade through it to turn the heat back on. Yay.

And it's Yuletide reveals! Which means I have to fess up and say that I wrote like, eight fic this year. Yeah. In my defense, I was doing some pretty heavy RL-avoidance. (In Yuletide's defense, everyone's prompts this year were amazing.)

So, from the top:

Ultimate Spider-Man (comics)

Following Weblines for LithiumDoll

“All you’ve got to do," Peter said, "is aim, shoot and swing.”

Miles Morales falls through a portal into Earth 616 and meets back up with Peter Parker. G, gen.

My assignment, which I loved writing. I read Spider-Men this summer, sitting in amielleon's hotel room and making squeaky sobbing noises every two pages while she silently questioned her choices in friends, so it was great to get to write fic for it, and writing Miles in 616 was a lot of fun.

The Adventures of Jackpot and Zombie Girl for LithiumDoll

"Get in the car, loser," Gwen says. "We're going superheroing." Gen, mentions of canon character death.</i>

And a treat for my recipient, for whom I could have written about a dozen fics, totally serious. Gwen and MJ fight crime! Jessica Drew's life is not a girl band! (That's a lie. It absolutely is.)

DCU [Justice League/Unlimited and Nightwing (comics)]

Rub-a-Dub Dub (A Bunch of Capes in the Tub) for rapacityinblue

“Holy cats!” Oliver said, dropping the sponge. There was still conditioner in his beard.

“I think you mean, holy bats,” Bruce intoned.

A bunch of times Batman ambushed people in the shower, and a time or two someone ambushed him. Gen.

Holy Yuletide popularity, Batman! There's not a ton to say about this one -- I had a lot of fun writing and I'm glad people are enjoying it.

Family Ties for takadainmate

A few times Alfred took care of Dick, and one where Dick took care of Alfred. Gen.

Young Avengers

Through the Mines for socktopuss

Two days later, Eli got a postcard from Madripoor. There was a picture of Kate on the front. She was holding a piece of paper with WISH YOU WERE HERE written on it in purple block letters, grinning at him with her sunglasses propped up on the end of her nose.

Eli and Kate stumble into the long distance thing, occasionally sometimes accidentally on purpose. Kate/Eli, mentions of canon character death.

I loved loved loved this prompt and had such a good time writing this fic. All my Kate and Eli feels. All of them. I will go down with this ship.

Scenes from a Wedding for arysteia

Billy and Teddy, getting married. More or less.

A disaster story, in six steps. Billy/Teddy, gratuitous weddingfic, with bonus minor Children's Crusade-fixit.

Tamir Triad

a shower of autumn leaves for Amielleon

In which there's a dress fit for a queen, a queen who would rather not be fit for a dress and some rather unusual weather.

Or, fatherhood, in two loosely connected acts. Tamir/Ki, gratutious sap with bonus gratuitous weddingfic. Thank you, Ammie, for introducing me to these books. ♥ You're the best.

Marvel 1602

the length and breadth of the sea for MizzMarvel

John Storm and Peter Parquagh find their way to each other, then try to find their way back home. Rated M, Johnny Storm/Peter Parker, with bonus dinosaurs.

I basically stalk MizzMarvel's Yuletide prompts like a cheetah stalks a wounded gazelle because they are the best Johnny/Peter prompts, so. If it's getting weird, MizzMarvel, you can tell me! If the similes are getting weird, you can also tell me! I promise I am not a total creep!

So that's Yuletide for this year. It was a blast, and thank you to everyone who left me feedback! ♥ It put a huge smile on my face.

(Yuletide) tabageddon III: tabbening

traincat — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:14:41 GMT

Happy Boxing Day! Or Merry The Day After Yuletide Opens. Or Merry Yuletide Madness! Depends on what you celebrate.

I got a wonderful Fantastic Four story for Yuletide, that perfectly fulfilled my request and then some:

Mushed: the one where Reed and Sue need alone time so Ben and Johnny take the kids of a EDUTAINMENT ROADTRIP. TO A MUSHROOM WORLD. And Val and Franklin get into trouble and then get themselves out of it! ♥ ♥ ♥ There are Moloids, go read it.

There are a lot of fantastic fics so far, and I have about a billion more I still want to read, so hopefully I'll get around to making a reclist soon.

Tabs. Tabs everywhere.

(fic) leave the gun on the table

traincat — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:58:41 GMT

title: leave the gun on the table
fandom: MCU-based Avengers
pairings: Clint Barton/Bucky Barnes
rating: M
summary: Bucky Barnes wakes up in the future, joins the Avengers, reunites with Steve, makes some new friends and some old enemies, gets called Robocop and tries to figure out the future, himself, and Clint Barton's middle name -- all while being haunted by his past and the things he can't remember, dreams of snow and a gun in his hand, languages he shouldn't know and the creeping suspicion that Black Widow knows something he doesn't.

Story on Ao3
art masterpost on Ao3

oh my god it's up okay I don't want to talk about it I'm just going to start drinking now.

So many thanks to my incredibly wonderful artist ptelefolone and my beta amielleon and to anyone who listened to me bitch endlessly about this for the past couple of months I'm sorry.

(writing) this is less suspect than it sounds? maybe?

traincat — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:31:14 GMT

So I don't know how many of you I've mentioned this to, but I have a fairly large Avengers fic being posted for the Marvel Big Ban in a little over a week. Here's a reason to be excited about it:

amielleon: so fun aside
amielleon: there is actually a certain type of amnesia that can be triggered by mind-blowing sex
traincat: -- hahahaha

(yuletide) dear yulesanta

traincat — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:06:13 GMT

Dear Yuletide Writer,

First off I just want to say that I want you to have fun writing. If you have fun writing, then I'm sure I'll love reading whatever you've come up with. ♥ I'm super easy to please. My requests this year are all super gen, so my apologies if you're a romance writer -- there are one or two where I'm totally cool with romance, so if you want to write it, go for it! I would really prefer gen for Gravity Falls and Fantastic Four, but I'm again I'm basically super easy to please and just getting fic makes me seal clap.

I threw a bunch of prompts below the cut, because I'm the kind of person who would rather have too much information than too little, but I was basically just tossing ideas at the wall. If you've got a different idea, go for it!

General likes: fluff, holiday fics, families (both blood and found), friendships, relationship explorations, gen, casefic, superheroes being heroic and good at their jobs, hurt/comfort that is heavy on the comfort, generally happy fic.

General dislikes: BDSM or BDSM dynamics, hardcore kink, noncon or dubcon, gore, character death, character bashing, characters being humiliated for the sake of humor, excessive angst. I would prefer not to get PWPs or otherwise explicit fic.

Please no crossovers, unless you want to crossover any of my other requests with Gravity Falls. Because that would be pretty awesome.

ETA again: You DO NOT have to include all my requested characters! I selected a bunch for each request, I know, but in most cases it's an either/or deal! Please do not feel pressured to write me a fic that includes all four if you have an idea that centers more around two or three! Please just do not feel pressured! I love you already!

1. Young Avengers
Tommy Shepherd, Eli Bradley, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff

I'd really love something about Tommy bonding with his mom and his uncle. I loved all his little comments to "Uncle Pete" in Children's Crusade, and how much he seems to want a race. I'd love him trying to get his superspeed bond on, or just trying to connect with these people who are suddenly his family. I contemplated putting Billy down as my fourth character, but Billy, as much as I love him, has this tendency to take over everything he touches, be it canon or fic, and I'd really love something about Tommy for a change. So I'd love fic about the both the twins bonding with Wanda and Pietro, as long as Tommy doesn't take a backseat to Billy.

Alternatively, if Maximoff Family Hour isn't your thing, I'd love any fic for Tommy and Eli. It always felt like there could be a really good friendship there, if it only had a little more time to develop. (Tommy pigtail pulls because he cares!) I'm fine with pre-Children's Crusade adventures, or post-Children's Crusade fic where the great thing about being a speedster is that it doesn't matter if your friend/teammate quits and moves away -- you can still totally bug them at 2 AM. Slash or gen is good! I'd love to see more Eli/Tommy fic, but I'd adore friendship just as much. Eli/Kate/Tommy OT3 is also good, so long as it's balanced and not two members > the third.

Please please please no incest between Wanda and Pietro, no matter how slight, it just really isn't my thing. I'm not crazy about Tommy/Kate without Eli, either, and while I adore Billy/Teddy I'd prefer they not be a main focus.

2. Fantastic Four
Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm

Franklin and Val! <3 I'd love anything with them, whether they're saving the day or even just a fic about what it's like to be the children of incredibly famous superheroes, growing up in the Baxter Building. If you're up to it, I'd love them going on some kind of roadtrip-y adventure with Ben and Johnny. (Do they hit up all the intergalactic fast food joints? Is there a universe's biggest ball of twine? Do Ben and Johnny argue the entire time about who's the fun uncle?)

A couple of things: I think Franklin's powers are super cool, but if you're going to include them I'd prefer they be more on the hijinks/saving the day side of thing (the gun at the end of FF: Dark Reign is a great moment, for example) than, uh, Onslaught. I love Val's relationship with Doctor Doom. I'm one of the 0.1% of Marvel fandom who actually really likes Reed Richards and the Reed/Sue relationship, so no bashing the kids' parents please. I like the kids hanging out with other kids, so if there's anyone who strikes your fancy, go for it.

If the kids are absolutely not up your alley, I dig Ben and Johnny friendship stories too. I'd strongly prefer gen for this fandom, but some relationship hints are okay. No breaking up Reed and Sue and no Johnny/Lyja or Johnny/Alicia, please.

3. Blue Beetle
Bianca Reyes, Amparo "La Dama" Cardenas, Jaime Reyes, Brenda Del Vecchio

I'd really love a team-up between Bianca Reyes and La Dama. I love non-superpowered people rescuing the superheroes in their lives, so maybe something happens to Jaime and Brenda (kidnapped by supervillains? lost in another dimension/an alien spaceship/some jungle?) and they have to go save their kids. Or maybe something closer to home happens and it requires a team-up! Maybe there's asskicking. Maybe they get drinks afterwards. I'd be more than happy if Alberto and his shotgun came too, but I'd prefer the focus to be on Bianca and Brenda's Tia Amparo.

Alternatively, I love Brenda and Jaime's friendship a lot, so I'd be happy to get a fic with them either teamed up to solve a mystery/fight crime/superhero stuff or just hanging out. I love Paco a ton too so feel free to include him if it strikes your fancy! I'd prefer no romance between Jaime and Brenda, though I'm plenty cool with background Paco/Brenda. Basically I just really love Jaime and his supporting cast, especially his family and Brenda "Anger Girl" Del Vecchio, so I'll love anything with them. I love the series' happy, hopeful sort of tone -- bad stuff happens, but Jaime has his friends and his family and his annoying little sister (Milagro! ♥ ♥ ♥) and they're all there for each other.

No DCNU!Blue Beetle canon, please. Everything about it makes me either ): or >:(.

4. Gravity Falls
Mabel Pines, Wendy Corduroy, Grunkle Stan, Robbie

In my heart of hearts, I would really love a situation where Mabel has to team up with Robbie. Did unicorns kidnap Wendy and Dipper? Does Robbie want intel on his 12yo nemesis, only to have his "totally ninja" spying thrown off by Mabel (and then there's a yeti)? Does Mabel have the (insert some sort of musical talent here) of ~an angel~, just when Robbie's band needs a new member? Maybe, I don't know, they get trapped in a haunted castle. If they somehow end up being buds that would be amazing.

Or really, anything with Mabel and Wendy would be great, or Mabel and Grunkle Stan or just Grunkle Stan. Grunkle Stan is basically the best and also my new role model so I would love anything about him.

Alternatively, five words: Mabel and Waddles save Christmas. Or Summermas. Monopoly Night (that's not how real estate works, Grunkle Stan!). Mabel and Waddles save anything.

If you got matched on one of my other fandoms but for whatever reason don't feel like you can write it, I'd suggest watching Gravity Falls. Actually I suggest watching Gravity Falls anyway. It's not very long at the moment and utterly, utterly charming. Everyone should watch the first episode.

ETA: If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask amielleon! We have a Yuletide pact and she can report accurately on my likes and dislikes without spoiling anything for me. Likewise, if you're here because of amielleon's letter -- don't hesitate to ask me anything! I promise, my lips are sealed.

(meme) aint got no come on lines

traincat — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 03:55:35 GMT

Yuletide nominations are up! Yay! It's shaping up to be the busiest time of the fandom year. Also I haven't updated in ages so have a meme:

Pick a trope from this list and provide a fandom/pairing and I'll tell you something about the story I'd write for that combination (i.e. write a snippet from the story or write not!fic or tell you the title and summary for the story I would write)

1. genderswap
2. bodyswap
3. drunk!fic
4. huddling for warmth
5. pretending to be married
6. secretly a virgin
7. wingfic
8. cross-dressing
9. forced to share a bed
10. truth or dare
11. historical AU
12. accidental-baby-acquisition
13. apocalypse fic
14. crossovers!
15. High School / College / Band AU

(writing) dream name dream job dream beard

traincat — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 02:26:45 GMT

You know you've officially hit the wordpadding zone when you find yourself referencing Jackson Galaxy: Cat Behavior Specialist.

Also, this is the second time I've written something with more than one line about a wall-mounted fish, but the first time it's ever been framed in the context of a come-on. Uh. I'm proud?

(meme) stolen from rosage

traincat — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:50:35 GMT

On vacation! Hotel has internet, but it is maybe not the most reliable. Regardless, my goal this week is to WRITE STUFF, so to get the ball rolling -- prompt meme! I'd really appreciate them.

Give me a character or pairing and one of the following words, and I will write you a drabble or shortfic. (If you're not sure if I'll write a fandom/pairing/character, feel free to ask.)

Faith
Hope
Wrath
Love
Acceptance
Denial
Rejection
Emptiness
Loss
Gift
Family
Breathe
Run
Fear
Will
Sanity
War
Happiness
Serenity
Magical/Magic
Silence
Speak
Sheets
Music/Song
Shadow
Light
Cry
Flowers
Grave
Space/Cosmos
Shatter
Healing
Dreams
Nightmares
Breathlessness
Flight
Enemy
Snow
Reach
Fall

(If none of the themes appeal to you, feel free to request something different!)

(meme) stolen from mizzmarvel

traincat — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:07:29 GMT

1. Pick a pairing or a character
2. Ask me my particular head!canon regarding something about them
3. Post to your journal to share your own head!canon!

In the meantime, writing angst, writing angst, all day long.

(fic post) Something Red, White and Blue

traincat — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:16:56 GMT

Hey look, I wrote Avengers fic! With... 24 hours before the movie comes out over here. Okay, self.

It's also weddingfic. Yeah I know how surprised everyone must be.

Title: Something Red, White and Blue
Fandom: The Avengers
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Steve Rogers is always the groomsman and never the groom. Tony Stark hates feelings and ancient alien prophecies.
Or, five weddings Captain America attended, and one he crashed. Not necessarily in that order.

Here@Ao3

Going to midnight premier tomorrow, fingers crossed! And dressing up as Black Widow because this is my Harry Potter.

stolen from rosage

traincat — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:05:11 GMT

1.) give me a character or pairing.
2.) give me an au setting.
3.) i will write you a three-sentence fic.

Give me something to distract myself from sobbing endlessly over this Avengers fic, please?

I am bad at updates.

(shameless pimp post) orbs like emeralds onto a moonless night in Geneva

traincat — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:35:14 GMT

Okay, so, how many of you have always wanted to write your own self-insert/Sue fic, but lacked the time, motivation or complete lack of shame? (Note: nobody is legally obligated to answer that. We're all friends here. The first step is admitting you have a problem.)

Have no fear, amielleon has your solution here:

The Self-Insert Fanfiction Generator (Or, Suegen)!

It was originally created for Fire Emblem fandom, but it's totally customizable and usable for whatever you want. Also, it's not only a Sue generator. You know that rarepair you desperately want fanfic for but nobody writes? You can totally generate the fic you've been craving and then cry about it. (Not that I did that or anything.)

There's a premade Johnny Storm for your Mary Sue to bare her soul to. Just sayin'. Also also, she let me write a scene for it. :D

(meme) stolen from Ammie

traincat — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:36:56 GMT

Stump the Writer!

A -- go to the list of my fics (near complete list here, or there's my fic post and meme tags) and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. (Must be a full line, please -- no sentence fragments or speech tags or other such nonsense.)
B -- I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from.
C -- A fic snip to anyone who stumps me.

Also, this. Offer me comfort in my hour of need, while I weep endlessly and browse the internet through my phone?

(I'd prefer it if we stuck to stuff posted under this penname, and you know. Stuff actually posted. If you give me significantly older lines, I'll probably won't be able to guess through my wails of shame.)

(general) >:(

traincat — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:31:51 GMT

Computer issues are officially a go. Can't actually really use it right now -- managed to get into long enough to get my stuff off, but uh, yeah. Might be kind of quiet for a while!

(fic) between the lines

traincat — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:10:07 GMT

title: between the lines
series: Fire Emblem 9/10
pairing: Ike/Soren
rating: PG
notes: For amielleon. h/c coldfic, modern AU, basically 300% schmoop. Seriously, I'm not kidding. It's all either touching or like, longing glances and a lot wanting to touch. Respectable reading, this is not. (Although apparently Ammie says otherwise.) Happy late Valentine's Day, Ammie. ♥

(Also I kind of wanted to read this over a few more times and maybe tinker with it a bit but uh if you've talked to me tonight you've probably heard, but I'm having ~computer issues~, so I wanted this up already in case they got worse.)

The cough started on Thursday. It wasn’t deep, but it was nagging, and it dogged Ike from class to work and then from work back to the apartment. It announced his arrival when he had to pause in the doorway, fist raised to his mouth, sound echoing in the narrow hallway.

The distant click-clack of Soren’s fingers on the keyboard stilled, then resumed.

Ike hung up his thin jacket and the scarf Mist had given him for the holidays.

--

He ached in the morning, head throbbing and shoulders stiff. He’d woken up a few times during the night, unusual for him, but Soren’s cold feet against his calves and the noise from outside had made it easy to ignore the scratch in his throat and the itch in his lungs, lulled him back to him sleep.

Soren was gone already, doubtlessly on his way to his first class.

Ike stumbled his way through a quick shower, water cold in an unsuccessful attempt to clear his head, and a quicker breakfast. He felt too big for their small apartment, bumping his shoulder against the doorway and nearly swinging the cabinet door straight into his head.

He didn’t fare much better outside, but at least the fresh air was cool against his face on his walk to the bus stop.

--

Soren woke him up in the evening, a cool hand across his forehead. Ike blinked, once then twice, groggy. He was hot but clammy at the same time, his shirt sticking awkwardly at the collar and under his arms. His mouth was dry; he licked his lips and they cracked under his tongue, rough.

Soren frowned. His fingers were cold and Ike missed them when he withdrew, sitting on the edge of the couch with his hip against Ike's side. If Ike wanted, he could reach out and lay a hand on Soren’s skinny knee. He did want, but his hands stayed where they were.

“How long have you been sick?” Soren asked.

“I don’t get sick,” Ike replied. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. He couldn’t remember the last time he was really sick – not the sniffles caught during elementary school or the lone food poisoning incident of senior year –, not well, anyway.

He’d been very young. He knew because he remembered lying in bed while his mother sang to him.

“Hm,” Soren said, raising an eyebrow. “I think your fever disagrees.”

--

Soren pressed two pills into his palm and set a glass of water down on the coffee table.

“Really,” Ike said, scowling a little, “I’m fine.”

Soren crossed his arms and scowled back until Ike swallowed the pills.

“You should sleep,” he said, bending down and reaching out like he was going to brush Ike’s hair back again. His fingers twitched, and then he withdrew. “I… you’ll need fluids. Something to eat.”

“I’m not sick,” Ike said, pressing the heels of his hands over his eyes. He let his hands drop after a minute, just as Soren was coming back in through the kitchen doorway. He had that look on his face, the one he got when something wasn’t going to according to plan.

Ike hated that look; he always wanted to take Soren’s face between his hands and wipe the frustration away, somehow, thumbs trailing across Soren’s cheekbones. He’d done that once and Soren had shivered beneath his touch, eyes falling closed, and Ike could see it now in sudden hot-cold rush.

His head spun and he pitched forward, coughing into his fist more out of a need to do something than anything else.

Soren watched him with his mouth a narrow line, lips pressed together until they were bloodless.

“I need to go out,” he said, taking Ike’s old football hoodie from the back of the couch.

Ike started to rise. “I’ll go with you.”

Soren was in front of him in an instant. He laid his hand against the center of Ike’s chest, long pale fingers a comforting weight through Ike’s t-shirt. He pushed; Soren wasn’t strong enough to move Ike around, not if Ike didn’t want to be moved, but he went with the motion anyway.

He sat back down heavily and Soren huffed out a sigh. He shrugged on the hoodie – it hung past his thighs and the tips of his fingers, laughably big in the shoulders.

“I’ll only be gone a little while,” he said. “You should try and rest.”

He took a step towards the door, and then hesitated. He doubled back and grabbed the remote from the top of the television, leaving it next to Ike. Ike, in turn, grabbed Soren’s wrist as he pulled back, curling his fingers underneath the hoodie’s sleeve.

Soren’s wrists were thin and Ike could fit his hand around them easily, but he just pressed his thumb against the soft skin, stroking over the bone.

“It’s raining,” he said. Soren’s wrist slipped from underneath his fingertips and he was watching Ike, eyes guarded underneath his lashes. “Take my bus pass.”

--

Ike slept fitfully. He woke often, and every time he was convinced that hours had gone by, that Soren was still gone and he’d start to struggle to his feet, to go out and find him, before catching sight of the clock.

In the end he turned the game on and half-watched, lying on his side with his feet hanging off the edge of the couch. Daein’s Butchers versus Begnion’s Dracoknights, at the Dracoknights’ hometown stadium in Sienne.

Boyd had invited him over to watch it earlier in the day. Ike’s head had already been throbbing at the temples and he’d grunted out some excuse, not wanting to spend the afternoon in Boyd’s dorm with Boyd’s roommates.

Even the promise of an Oscar-catered event hadn’t been enough to sway him, sitting in the middle of class feeling like he’d clashed heads with a battering ram.

It would have been different, a few years ago. His father never missed a game, if he could help it. Especially not one this big. He favored Gallia and Crimea, but Daein games were always watched with a special sort of intensity, a hand resting at the crook of his bad arm, kneading the muscle like it pained him.

“You have to really watch Daein play,” he’d say, his voice a deep rumble. Then he’d point at the screen and continue, saying something like, “There, watch that. Did you see Lanvega make that pass?”

Ike’s chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with his pounding headache or the cough that wracked his chest until he felt like he’d been tackled by an entire team. He shut his eyes and turned his face against the sofa cushions.

--

The quiet click of the door roused him half an hour later. He ached in a way he hadn’t since that one game in high school. Being tackled in freezing rain hadn’t been fun. He felt about as warm, too, teeth clinking together.

A hand through his hair, ice-cold fingers against his forehead and scalp.

“Go back to sleep, Ike.”

--

The next time he woke, the game was halfway over, and the Dracoknights’ lead was flailing. Levail knew his strengths and weaknesses and he played to them, but he was no Zelgius. Zelgius had been gone for a year.

He raised himself up on his elbows first and pressed a hand against his face. His head felt filled up with cotton, stuffy and hot.

There were noises coming from the kitchen, clinking sounds and Soren’s quiet, even footsteps. Ike dragged himself up off the couch. His shirt was damp all the way through with sweat, sticking to his stomach; he shucked it, shivering when the air hit his skin.

The kitchen archway was narrow and a little lopsided, higher on the left than the right. Ike had been meaning to fix it, but there’d been school and work and a variety of other things piling up. There were his dad’s tools, still in the garage back home.

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to go get them yet.

Soren stood over the stove, long hair tied back and the sleeves of his shirt bunched up around his elbows. Ike put his hand out against the door jamb and just watched him, following the line of his back and the fall of his hair.

Then the cough snuck up on him again, tickling in his throat before settling square in his chest. Soren turned and frowned.

“You shouldn’t be up,” he said. His eyes flickered over Ike’s chest. “You definitely shouldn’t be shirtless.”

Ike made a noncommittal noise, shoulders hunched as he continued to cough. Soren’s frown deepened; he left the stove and brushed past Ike, moving down the hall and into the bedroom. He came back a moment later with a new shirt, old but clean. Ike took it from him and shrugged it on.

“Are you cooking?” he asked.

“Go lie down,” Soren replied, and Ike supposed that was that.

--

The soup Soren brought out was hot, steam curling up, and Soren’s fingers were pink when he peeled them away, letting the bowl rest on the coffee table. Ike’s gaze lingered on them until Soren slipped out of sight. He tried to follow him, shifting on the couch and staring over his shoulder, but Soren only shot him a look.

Ike turned back to the soup. It tasted mostly of salt, burning his tongue, but he ate it anyway.

Soren came back after a moment with the blanket from their bed. He draped it across Ike’s shoulders, clever fingers overly careful as he tucked in the edges.

“Last time I was really sick, my mom made soup,” Ike said. It was the only clear memory in the haze of his early childhood – his mother’s soft voice singing a lullaby, her cool hands and a bowl of soup.

Soren was quiet for a long moment, settling down on the other side of the couch.

“So you admit you’re actually sick, then,” he said. Ike snorted as best he could considering his sinuses felt filled up with cement.

Ike laughed, bone dry, and it turned into a cough somewhere in the middle.

“Hers was awful, too,” he said around another spoonful. Soren made a noise that might’ve been amused.

“It’s from a can,” he said, sliding Ike a long slow look.

“So was hers,” Ike replied. Soren huffed, not quite a laugh, and it did a better job of warming Ike than the blanket and the soup combined. “My mother could burn water. The soup never stood a chance.”

The couch was narrow. Most of the time it felt far too small for Ike alone, but now Soren sitting on the other end felt like a whole world away. He wanted Soren next to him, pressed up against him or maybe on top of him, all of that slight weight pressing down and reminding Ike that Soren was there.

“Ike?”

He blinked; he’d been staring, he realized belatedly. Soren was staring back, concern open on his face, and that ached more than all the coughing, the pounding headache, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I’m fine,” he said. Soren didn’t look convinced. He amended, “I’ll be fine.”

Soren nodded. Ike’s bowl was mostly empty, nothing left at the bottom but the salty dregs of broth, so he put it down on the coffee table. He switched the game back on, more out of a need for noise than anything else.

Begnion was leading, but Daein was close behind. Ike watched as Levail fumbled the ball. The camera panned over Jarod’s face, angry to say the least, and then back over the field. The screen was bright and Ike ended up leaning back against the couch, head back, eyes closed.

After a few moments, he felt Soren shift closer. Then there were those cold fingers again, ghosting over his face. Ike kept still and Soren pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, and then his neck.

A lock of Soren’s hair slipped free and tickled his cheek; he made a noise in spite of himself.

Soren pulled back like he’d been burned. Ike wrapped a hand around his arm, reeling him back in.

“Come here,” he said, and then frowned and let go. “No, wait. Don’t. Probably contagious.”

Soren huffed again. His hands came to rest on Ike’s chest, tentative, thumb brushing his collarbone.

“I don’t care,” he said.

“I care,” Ike replied. Soren shot him a look, sharp and even and just like the kind he used when Ike got them lost on the road. He spread his fingers wide on Ike’s chest.

“Ike. If you want me to be close to you, then,” he said, “that’s what I’ll do.”

Ike swallowed; his throat ached, but he couldn’t be sure it was the cold talking.

“Of course I want that,” he said.

--

Ike awoke to a half-lit room. The television was off and it was dark outside the windows, but the hallway light was still on and it filtered softly across the floor.

Soren was stretched out underneath him, Ike’s head pillowed on his bony shoulder. He had one arm around Ike’s back, skinny fingers spread out over his side, thumb moving in small circles. Not asleep, then.

“What time is it?” Ike asked, lips moving against the fabric of Soren’s shirt. Soren’s thumb stilled, then resumed those little circles, pressing in a little harder. Ike groaned; his eyes slipped shut again.

“Late,” Soren replied.

“How late?” Ike pressed. Soren pressed the back of his free hand to Ike’s forehead, just the barest ghost of a touch.

“Very late,” Soren said. “I think your fever’s broken.”

Ike made a noise of assent, more an excuse to move his lips against Soren’s skinny chest than anything else. “Probably one of those twenty-four hour bugs, huh?”

Mist had come down with those a lot, when she’d been little. Ike remembered her trailing around the house with a blanket over her shoulders like a cape, sniffling and miserable. He remembered being annoyed, too, because he’d always be called into the house to keep her company. He’d end up sitting at the tiny handcrafted table in her room, surrounded by stuffed animals and plastic tea cups filled with lukewarm tap water.

He’d mostly gotten sneezed on a lot.

“Probably,” Soren said, interrupting his thoughts. He ran careful fingertips through Ike’s damp hair, carding it away from his face. “You should go back to sleep.”

Ike wanted to say something back, to keep Soren talking, but the way Soren dragged his fingernails lightly across his scalp was distracting, and the rise and fall of his chest soothing. He mumbled something and Soren might have said something back – Ike thought he said something back – but he was already drifting off.

--

The cough lingered in the morning, but it was light and his head was clear. Breathing through his nose was something of an issue, but Ike had never turned down a challenge.

The guilt, though, that was new, blooming bright in his chest when he woke up late – later than Soren’s first class – still stretched out on top of Soren.

He felt it again after the shower Soren all but shoved him into, standing in the kitchen and watching Soren. He stretched like a cat, arms high above his head, then rotated his shoulder and frowned.

Maybe if Ike hadn’t known him, he would’ve missed the wince.

“Sorry,” he said. Soren turned to look at him.

“You look better,” he said. “Sorry about what?”

“Your shoulder,” Ike said. “Crushing you. Making you late for class. Take your pick.”

The corner of Soren’s mouth twitched, and if Ike didn’t know better he might’ve thought that was a smile.

“You don’t have to apologize for anything,” he said, reaching out to wrap his small hands around Ike’s wrists. He pulled him forward, gently but surprisingly steely, like he’d pushed Ike down the other night.

Ike grunted, noncommittal. He wanted to lean down and kiss Soren, place one hand on the side of his face and curl his fingers into that long dark hair, but he didn’t, not even when Soren tipped his face up, half-expectant.

“I’m probably still contagious,” Ike said. Soren’s smile did widen, then, as he stood on his tiptoes and placed a tiny kiss against the corner of Ike’s mouth.

“I’m not worried,” he said, and Ike relented. He caught him and held him, one hand around his upper arm and the other brushing his hair back, behind his ear.

“I’d do the same for you,” he said. He wanted Soren to hear that. Soren stared at him for a long moment, eyes shadowed. Then he placed his feet back down firmly on the ground. Ike released his grip and Soren went back over to the stove.

“Tea,” he said, “and toast. It’s easy on your stomach.”

Ike pulled up a chair at their tiny, rickety table, still feeling too big and ungainly in their kitchen. He watched Soren pluck the bread from the toaster and pour out the tea, still with that one lock of hair behind his ear.

“Ike,” Soren said, and Ike’s gaze snapped back to his. Soren gave him a knowing look – not quite a smile, but somehow a hundred times better. “I know.”

“Yeah?” Ike said, and Soren nodded. Ike reached out to take the tea from him and said, “Good.”

(meme) like riding on your motorbike

traincat — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:04:28 GMT

We (in only the most royal sense, and also in the sense that I will whine about this to anyone) are attempting to make the Robin!Alex fic happen again. The first scenes are so hard, and I don't know whether I'm overselling the surprise!villain. I request distraction, via meme! (I keep thinking if I can just, you know, write stuff, than I can write THIS stuff in particular, too. Help me test the theory!)

There are three choices. Option A, option B, or both.

A)
1.) Give me a pairing.
2.) Give me an AU setting.
3.) I will write you a three-sentence fic.

B)
1. Give me a pairing
2. Give me a text from last night.
3. I'll write you a short fic based on the scenario.