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rsadelleThere's no current WIP meme going on (that I know of, anyway), but I made a comment yesterday about how many things I have in progress and thought I would post little bits from each of them. For the purposes of this post, "in progress" means I've written something of it in the last month or it's in the editing stage and I actually intend to edit it. This is only fan fic and excludes my novel.
WIPs
They don't play when Evie's there, but Bill still wraps his fingers around Mike's wrist and squeezes.
The trip tired Mike out, but now he's wide awake.
"Tomorrow," Bill says, promises. "After Evie goes to school."
*
"It didn't bother you when I was just a girl in your band." Victoria glares at him. "No way in hell you're going to do this fucking macho bullshit."
"Guys," Alex says, "why don't we all take a chill pill."
"Stay out of it," Victoria snaps at the same time Gabe says, "Back off, Suarez."
*
Introductory pleasantries taken care of, Mike sat in the chair across from Kevin and accepted a cup of tea from Mrs. Jonas. That initiated another round of pleasantries, none of which consisted of any substance.
Mike preferred not to pay calls to people other than his intimate friends for the very reason that he found such pleasantries deadly dull. The whole ritual of polite conversation held nothing of interest for him. Despite that, he was fully capable of carrying on such a conversation, and he did so while taking every possible opportunity to speak to Kevin. If he were to be stuck in this courting ritual, the least he could do was do credit to his name.
*
Cash is actually the first person he tells. They're hanging out on Cash's couch with Chinese food and beer. Cash is doing that thing where he talks on and on about everything: some girl he fucked, his new band, the amazing tacos he had last week.
Alex doesn't bother waiting for a break, just talks over him. "I hooked up with a guy." It's kind of funny the way Cash's mouth snaps shut.
Cash is Cash and he's never silent for long. "Really? I never thought you'd be the one to go gay."
*
Mike almost laughed at the look on Kevin's face, but the stack of envelopes kept him from doing it. He shifted enough to get at his pocket knife, flicked it open, and handed it over to Kevin, handle first.
Kevin took it from him and slit open the envelopes one by one. When he was done, there was an array of acceptance letters spread out over the table: UCLA, University of Chicago, Rutgers, University of Texas.
"I got into all of them." Kevin stared down at the table, and then looked up at Mike. "All of them."
*
"What is up with you this morning?" Kyle asks.
Andi tells him, "Matt won't have sex with me," and Stu nearly spits out his juice.
"Was that even an option?" Ryan asks while Stu wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Apparently not." Andi takes the plate Matt hands her and sits down with a thump.
"Well," Matt says, sitting across from her, "it didn't work out so well for me the last time."
*
After Mike's been ladling soup for long enough that he's glad swimming keeps him strong, the guy who's in charge tells him that since things are slowing down, he can go mingle.
Mike's not sure exactly who he's supposed to mingle with, but he grabs a plate and loads it up with the cookies on the tray in the kitchen and takes it out into the room. He sits across from the guy he noticed earlier and puts the cookies in the middle of the table. He takes one and gestures at the guy to help himself.
*
"'I want to feel you from the inside' is at least as respectable as anything you teach."
Kevin had no idea what they were talking about, but it had the feel of a familiar argument.
"Too vulgar," William said.
"How is it any different from 'batter my heart, three-person'd God'?"
William laughed. "That's religion, not love, and it's not on the syllabus for this class." To Kevin he said, "Mike has very definite ideas about poetry. Before he was the scourge of the economics department, he minored in English. We were both in Thompson's seminar a couple of years ago, and he fought with Thompson about that all semester."
*
It's Butch who calls and says he has an opportunity for him. "I'm emailing you some details."
Mike opens up his laptop, and laughs when he sees that Butch has sent him information about the Jonas Brothers.
"It's for real," Butch says. "One of their guitarists got married or some shit, and they're looking for a new one."
*
Greta pushed her hair back from her face. "Whew! This is going to take a lot, isn't it?" She was smiling as she said it. "It's a good thing my boyfriend's band is on hiatus right now. He'll be making me dinner all through shooting."
Victoria found herself admiring how casually she'd managed to slip that into the conversation.
*
There's a startled noise from the hallway.
"Hey, dude," Adam says. "Were we being kinda loud? Because it's going to be this way a lot. Oh, uh, this is my roommate, Kevin."
"And this," Bill says grandly, "is our very dear friend Michelle Stephanie Carden."
"It's Mike," Mike tells Kevin, who looks bewildered by them all. "Bill used to be my best friend, but now he's just a dick."
*
He keeps grinning in the car home, and he's the oldest, so when he gets home, he gets to tell Frankie to get off the Wii and let him have the TV so he can watch Animals of Africa. The zebras do look cool running, and he cringes when the lions take down one of them.
He pauses the show and texts Mike: Watching Animals of Africa. Lions killing a zebra. :(((((
He hits play and watches until his phone buzzes, when he pauses it again.
circle of life, the text from Mike says.
*
They're at a party, and Kevin looks over to see Dani talking to a man he doesn't know. It hurts more than he expected to see her laughing with someone else. She waves him over and introduces him to Mike.
"He plays guitar, like you." Dani puts her arm around Kevin's waist, and smiles up at him.
Mike is pretty cool, and they talk guitars and music for a while. Before someone comes to drag them away, they make plans for Mike to come over for dinner on Wednesday.
*
Works Not (Yet?) In Progress
These are bits from things I'm not actually writing (yet?) but keep thinking about.
*
(From a space AU)
Gabe stops listening to Naomi's fussing because in the center of the room William is facing off against a girl Gabe recognizes from her photo as Captain Gomez. She looks younger in person.
Gabe leans against the doorway in a pose that should look casual but is actually born of necessity; his knees have gone weak with relief, and he's not sure he can stand unaided.
"You can't do this." Gomez actually stomps her foot like a child having a tantrum. "You're supposed to be a present for Demi. She thinks you're pretty."
"A lot of people think he's pretty," Gabe drawls. "They don't all get to have him."
*
(From a different space AU)
Mike stops smiling entirely.
William sits in Pete's office and spills his regrets across Pete's desk.
Pete says, "Stop it. You did a good thing, and he knows he can be happy now."
William knows that finding Frankie's family was the right thing to do, but he has a hard time remembering it when they just took him away from Mike.
Butch brings in a guy named Michael who couldn't have been a slave for very long because he doesn't hide his delight in the garden.
By the time William leaves again, Mike and Michael are working side by side in the garden, and there's a hint of a smile around Mike's lips.
Pete's messages say, "You're being an idiot," and he keeps sending pictures. In the first one where Mike's smiling again, he's in a greenhouse with Michael.
*
(From the comfort fic of my heart)
Gabe wakes up alone to a house too quiet for the residence of a three-year-old. He gets dressed and finds Christine in her studio.
"I took Evie to preschool," she tells him. "She goes three days a week, no matter who's visiting. Would you like some coffee?"
Gabe says yes, and they leave the house. Christine links her arm through his and tells him gentle, easy stories about the neighborhood, the house, and Evie while they walk the half mile to a coffee shop where Christine won't let him pay.
"We're taking care of you," she says. "That includes buying your coffee."
WIPs
They don't play when Evie's there, but Bill still wraps his fingers around Mike's wrist and squeezes.
The trip tired Mike out, but now he's wide awake.
"Tomorrow," Bill says, promises. "After Evie goes to school."
*
"It didn't bother you when I was just a girl in your band." Victoria glares at him. "No way in hell you're going to do this fucking macho bullshit."
"Guys," Alex says, "why don't we all take a chill pill."
"Stay out of it," Victoria snaps at the same time Gabe says, "Back off, Suarez."
*
Introductory pleasantries taken care of, Mike sat in the chair across from Kevin and accepted a cup of tea from Mrs. Jonas. That initiated another round of pleasantries, none of which consisted of any substance.
Mike preferred not to pay calls to people other than his intimate friends for the very reason that he found such pleasantries deadly dull. The whole ritual of polite conversation held nothing of interest for him. Despite that, he was fully capable of carrying on such a conversation, and he did so while taking every possible opportunity to speak to Kevin. If he were to be stuck in this courting ritual, the least he could do was do credit to his name.
*
Cash is actually the first person he tells. They're hanging out on Cash's couch with Chinese food and beer. Cash is doing that thing where he talks on and on about everything: some girl he fucked, his new band, the amazing tacos he had last week.
Alex doesn't bother waiting for a break, just talks over him. "I hooked up with a guy." It's kind of funny the way Cash's mouth snaps shut.
Cash is Cash and he's never silent for long. "Really? I never thought you'd be the one to go gay."
*
Mike almost laughed at the look on Kevin's face, but the stack of envelopes kept him from doing it. He shifted enough to get at his pocket knife, flicked it open, and handed it over to Kevin, handle first.
Kevin took it from him and slit open the envelopes one by one. When he was done, there was an array of acceptance letters spread out over the table: UCLA, University of Chicago, Rutgers, University of Texas.
"I got into all of them." Kevin stared down at the table, and then looked up at Mike. "All of them."
*
"What is up with you this morning?" Kyle asks.
Andi tells him, "Matt won't have sex with me," and Stu nearly spits out his juice.
"Was that even an option?" Ryan asks while Stu wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Apparently not." Andi takes the plate Matt hands her and sits down with a thump.
"Well," Matt says, sitting across from her, "it didn't work out so well for me the last time."
*
After Mike's been ladling soup for long enough that he's glad swimming keeps him strong, the guy who's in charge tells him that since things are slowing down, he can go mingle.
Mike's not sure exactly who he's supposed to mingle with, but he grabs a plate and loads it up with the cookies on the tray in the kitchen and takes it out into the room. He sits across from the guy he noticed earlier and puts the cookies in the middle of the table. He takes one and gestures at the guy to help himself.
*
"'I want to feel you from the inside' is at least as respectable as anything you teach."
Kevin had no idea what they were talking about, but it had the feel of a familiar argument.
"Too vulgar," William said.
"How is it any different from 'batter my heart, three-person'd God'?"
William laughed. "That's religion, not love, and it's not on the syllabus for this class." To Kevin he said, "Mike has very definite ideas about poetry. Before he was the scourge of the economics department, he minored in English. We were both in Thompson's seminar a couple of years ago, and he fought with Thompson about that all semester."
*
It's Butch who calls and says he has an opportunity for him. "I'm emailing you some details."
Mike opens up his laptop, and laughs when he sees that Butch has sent him information about the Jonas Brothers.
"It's for real," Butch says. "One of their guitarists got married or some shit, and they're looking for a new one."
*
Greta pushed her hair back from her face. "Whew! This is going to take a lot, isn't it?" She was smiling as she said it. "It's a good thing my boyfriend's band is on hiatus right now. He'll be making me dinner all through shooting."
Victoria found herself admiring how casually she'd managed to slip that into the conversation.
*
There's a startled noise from the hallway.
"Hey, dude," Adam says. "Were we being kinda loud? Because it's going to be this way a lot. Oh, uh, this is my roommate, Kevin."
"And this," Bill says grandly, "is our very dear friend Michelle Stephanie Carden."
"It's Mike," Mike tells Kevin, who looks bewildered by them all. "Bill used to be my best friend, but now he's just a dick."
*
He keeps grinning in the car home, and he's the oldest, so when he gets home, he gets to tell Frankie to get off the Wii and let him have the TV so he can watch Animals of Africa. The zebras do look cool running, and he cringes when the lions take down one of them.
He pauses the show and texts Mike: Watching Animals of Africa. Lions killing a zebra. :(((((
He hits play and watches until his phone buzzes, when he pauses it again.
circle of life, the text from Mike says.
*
They're at a party, and Kevin looks over to see Dani talking to a man he doesn't know. It hurts more than he expected to see her laughing with someone else. She waves him over and introduces him to Mike.
"He plays guitar, like you." Dani puts her arm around Kevin's waist, and smiles up at him.
Mike is pretty cool, and they talk guitars and music for a while. Before someone comes to drag them away, they make plans for Mike to come over for dinner on Wednesday.
*
Works Not (Yet?) In Progress
These are bits from things I'm not actually writing (yet?) but keep thinking about.
*
(From a space AU)
Gabe stops listening to Naomi's fussing because in the center of the room William is facing off against a girl Gabe recognizes from her photo as Captain Gomez. She looks younger in person.
Gabe leans against the doorway in a pose that should look casual but is actually born of necessity; his knees have gone weak with relief, and he's not sure he can stand unaided.
"You can't do this." Gomez actually stomps her foot like a child having a tantrum. "You're supposed to be a present for Demi. She thinks you're pretty."
"A lot of people think he's pretty," Gabe drawls. "They don't all get to have him."
*
(From a different space AU)
Mike stops smiling entirely.
William sits in Pete's office and spills his regrets across Pete's desk.
Pete says, "Stop it. You did a good thing, and he knows he can be happy now."
William knows that finding Frankie's family was the right thing to do, but he has a hard time remembering it when they just took him away from Mike.
Butch brings in a guy named Michael who couldn't have been a slave for very long because he doesn't hide his delight in the garden.
By the time William leaves again, Mike and Michael are working side by side in the garden, and there's a hint of a smile around Mike's lips.
Pete's messages say, "You're being an idiot," and he keeps sending pictures. In the first one where Mike's smiling again, he's in a greenhouse with Michael.
*
(From the comfort fic of my heart)
Gabe wakes up alone to a house too quiet for the residence of a three-year-old. He gets dressed and finds Christine in her studio.
"I took Evie to preschool," she tells him. "She goes three days a week, no matter who's visiting. Would you like some coffee?"
Gabe says yes, and they leave the house. Christine links her arm through his and tells him gentle, easy stories about the neighborhood, the house, and Evie while they walk the half mile to a coffee shop where Christine won't let him pay.
"We're taking care of you," she says. "That includes buying your coffee."
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-23 05:41 am (UTC)*chinhands*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-24 01:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-24 01:27 am (UTC)