#star trek aos modern-day Au
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20 questions for fic writers
Tagged by @hxhhasmysoul and @subdee!! <3 <3 <3 who are both v lovely go like. look at their blogs. anyway
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
.161
2. What’s your total ao3 word count?
520,484 - 27% of that is one fic looool
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Right now just HxH and SW:Fallen Order series. Sherlock and Star Trek AOS were big ones too
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Closing the Space (Between Us) - again its 27% of my wordcount! It deserves it! the Hunter x Hunter Killugon Reunion fic of my dreams. I am SO PROUD of this one I have handed it to irl friends! On purpose! My partner got me a physical copy for Xmas 2021!
2. Crying Over Yuuri - a Kyou Kara Maou! fic, which is a fandom I am amazed is still being read. It's a Wolfram POV fic where he, you got it, cries over Yuuri. Pretty fluffy ending. I credit the numbers to the fact that not a lot of fic gets written for KKM anymore so it doesn't disappear under all the new stuff
3. Not Unusual - A ST:AO3 Academy Era McKirk. Bones gets a bunch of clues to something going on with Jim... he gets it a little wrong, Jim freaks out because this man has Issues, but it resolves in the end. I wrote this one as a pinch-hit for an exchange back when I was still RPing Jim Kirk @thewinningscenario
4. 5+1: Are They Or Aren't They? - Somehow my Mystrade (Sherlock BBC) still gets hits with fair regularity and I'll never understand why. It's definitely not my best work but it's cute! 5 times people weren't sure if Mycroft and Lestrade are dating, and the time they know (because they receive a wedding invitation!!)
5. One Flew East, One Flew West - a Killugon Modern AU in which Killua and Gon meet at a Psychiatric Recovery Center, with Kurapika as another patient and Leorio as a therapist. written for HxHBB2020. I'm very fond of this one. It makes me cry <3
I'm so happy there's so much fandom diversity in these! (The next 11 are all either HxH or Sherlock, l o l )
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
I wish I could say I did! I mean to! Sometimes I am not in a good place so I mean to do it later and then I forget..... whoof. I am so thankful for each and every review, and I want to repay that!
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I wrote a LOT of fics in my teens where people died (not all of them are on A03, it didn't exist at the time. I'm not giving you my ff.net ;) ) Surely, one of them! More recently, I wrote a Dragon Age: Inquisition Lavellan/Dorian in response to Dorian preemptively breaking up with me (rude!) that is Pretty Hecking Angsty. It's tagged "hurt no comfort"
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Closing the Space (Between Us) did so much work to get where it was, and they ended up with Everything! My boys <3 (And Alluka)
8. Do you get hate on fic?
Very rarely! I'm pretty lucky in life that I don't get hate generally. Maybe it's because I'm not Out There enough but- who cares! People are nice and sweet and lovely mostly, and I love writing fanfic for/with them :3
9. Do you write smut?
Sometimes it will appear in other fics. I don't really do PWPs, and smut itself is pretty rare because I don't include it unless it's... necessary? Kinda? Like if the story demands it. I personally only read smut in certain moods, so when smut's included I make it easy to skip, but it certainly exists
10. Do you write crossovers?
It depends! In my Sherlock days I had a Sherlock/Stargate Atlantis crossover series and a Sherlock in the HP universe series, but I haven't done any recently.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know of! I heard people copy fics over to Wattpad sometimes but I've never looked. I'm not usually in MegaFandoms anyway, so I don't think I'm in any real danger.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
YES!! A few different Sherlock ones! (I guess I was pretty well known in the Mystrade sphere?? IDK that was back on livejournal. Anyone else miss KinkMemes?) I think one got translated to Russian and one to Chinese. Both reached out to me and asked for permission first, which I of course granted! It's very flattering <3
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
Way way way back in my teen years I cowrote a few times- one in YuGiOh and one in Fruits Basket with a high school friend. Recently I am technically cowriting a fic with @spyscrapper atm- I say technically because its really an rp l o l (Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Canon Divergent Spyscrapper, it's pretty hecking cool! And painful! :D )
I once cowrote a fic where the other author just like. eliminated my plotline. so. It's not always good, but it's still fun to try!
14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?
I refuse to pick One. Killugon (HxH), McShep (Stargate Atlantis), Seishirou/Subaru (Tokyo Babylon & X/1999) and any combination of McSpirk (Star Trek) have probably had the most long-lasting impact on me. And
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?
I often feel like I should finish Pulling The Trigger because it's an interesting casefic and I like the thought of a mystery, but... it's 12 years old at this point, so...
16. What are your writing strengths?
Nature-themed metaphors and descriptions! And I feel like I have pretty strong character points of view! Oh, and angst. I'm good at angst. >:)
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Planning 🙃 oops what's that. And I use adverbs too much! (but it's fun so I'll keep doing it)
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
It depends why! If a fic is from the POV of Character A and Character B is talking in a language they don't understand, for example, it's fine to use it (though please provide a translation for your reader!)
The language switch has to be for a specific reason, and if the character understands it the reader should too. (In One Flew, Gon and Killua sometimes swap to Japanese to disguise their conversations from everyone else- I show that by changing their conversation to italics in most cases.)
I definitely wrote a fic as a teen that had all Japanese because I was a weeb and... lol don't do that.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Yugioh, 2001!! It was probably two paragraphs long hahaha
20. Favourite fic you’ve written?
Closing the Space (Between Us) for sure! God it's so good. I am begging people to read it. If you're going to read One Thing I have written in my entire life-so-far, please let it be that!!
"Tag 20 people:" that seems like a lot hahaha uuhh @spyscrapper @avtorsola @mmuffncakes @nightingalesighs @etoiline @iwishtocountthestars @unicorncoalition @shalnarkonice @missinkylace @thefledglingdm 10 is a reasonable number.
but tbh if you wanna do it, do it, I wanna read ur response!
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Things To Look Forward To On This Blog In 2024!
So yes. This year did not go at all as planned. I spent it dealing with long haul COVID symptoms that sapped my energy and my concentration, dealing with being homeless and getting burnt out running @wipbigbang this year (also COVID related...I love the BB, it's coming back next year, but running it wore me the fuck out this year...and I didn't even finish any of my planned fic for it!).
But there is good news: I wrote a fic today. I made graphics. I am slowly getting my creative spirit back! I have some stuff planned for the new year, provided I don't overdo it, and here's some of what I have planned:
A new series revolving around Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and BBC Sherlock, as suggested to me by my enabler @dreaminonao3. How is it going to work, you ask? Easy: it's set during "The Abominable Bride" era of Sherlock, in the 1800s, when Phryne and Mac are ten and Sherlock has need of new Irregulars. Dremin looked at the timeline and I jumped at the chance to write this. It is going to also incorporate an AU version of Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries as well, as this fic is going to span all of Phryne's life except what we explicitly saw in the series (no movie for this series). I'm really looking forward to working on this series.
More of the "In Our Neck Of The Woods" series, which is going to span from way back in pre-series through an AU BBC Sherlock series 4 (I'M GONNA KILL JOHN AND LET MARY LIVE BWAHAHAHA!!!), crossing over with British shows like Midsomer Murders, Inspector Lewis, Murder In Suburbia; Australian shows like Mr & Mrs Murder and MFMM; the American crime procedural Criminal Minds and probably more! I have crazy ass plans for this series, but a HUGE focus of it is going to be the Mycroft/Lestrade ship. I eventually plan to finish "Every British Village Has Its Secrets" in 2024, but I'm going to start writing this out of order because I have Ideas and I'm tired of waiting to finish the casefic.
More beneath the cut!
CSIverse fic! I'm not going to write new stuff, probably, but I will finish posting the parts of my Danny Messer fic which seems to be popular (it's finished, I just need to format the future chapters for AO3, and I've misplaced my files), and I will start moving over more character bios for Nothing's Like Before/All Grown Up's OCs and start organizing those series and posting them. Plus I have a ton of other fic from LJ I need to post on AO3, so I'm going to try and average posting ten CSIverse fic a month for my various series and standalones and stuff.
I will be revisiting my older series. I mean, my OLD older series. Ones I started in my Wholock mania, BBC Sherlock series with only a small handful of fics, maybe even some of my Bleach series if I can figure out how to watch it on Hulu. I am also, because I binged them and miss my people and OCs and stuff, be adding more to "Stuff Of Improbable Legends" and "Saviors Of Time And Space" for @posterofamyth since I don't have the energy or creative capacity to dive back into actual roleplaying just yet. I'll be moving over story logs, filling in events that are mentioned in game but not logged, and adding newer content with the various ships and characters I grew to love when I was roleplaying. These will be fewer each month than the stuff I'm moving over, but I'm going to try!
More Star Trek AOS stuff. I have plans to add to "What Stork Brings" in January, I'm going to write more of "Academy Days," and I'll work on updating the Star Trek TOS movie "The Undiscovered Country" rewrite after I refresh my memory on the movie plot by watching it. @greenskyoverme is going to be dictating what I update and when for most of the stuff, as she's requested it as repayment for the multitudes of help she's given...
...That being said, I also plan on writing (hopefully) two stories a month in the "Between The Stars" series that I use Aurora Hliday in, as she is a OC of @luminarysketches and I'm commissioned to write at least 20K worth of stories (but I love Ro so this is not a daunting task, aside for the long haul stuff). Now, I'm going to hopefully get in touch with them soon to get more story ideas as well as have a bio for Aurora posted with the series in the series page link so you guys can learn all about her, so this one may not start until a little later in 2024.
More MCU! @dreaminonao3 has given me well over 1,000 prompts and a shit ton of them are my various MCU pairings I have series for so I will start using them to update the various series I have started. I got a ton of prompts specifically for "Just Pieces On The Board" so be on the lookout for those!
Provided I can get space and time to write, I am probably going to do a few month-long challenges. I may not do every day, but if I start one I will try and finish it before 2025 dawn, even if it's late.
Art! I have a ton more art to do for @wipbigbang and I'm getting back into making fanmixes. I would like to make a Mystrade mix at some point, and non-fic-inspired Sherlolly and Adlock ones as well. Plus I'm going to branch out into some of my MCU and Star Trek fandoms as well as some character-centric Elementary ones. I also have plans to make more fic inspired art I'm giving to holiday_wishes and @sherlollysecretsanta people as late Christmas gifts. So there should be a lot more art from me in the near future.
And that's kind of the gist of it! When I'm not posting fic and art of my own creation, I'm going to start posting more resources, fandom/fanfic adjacent stuff, art resources and other things. I'm planning to use this blog more than I did and 2023, so please, wish me luck!
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🐦⬛ helloes, I am 32/m (AST timezone) and looking for an RP in a few different fandoms over Discord. As of now I only have one (amazing!!) partner, so I'm looking for a couple as I live at home and want to pad out my days. My username is Weemie. Characters I play are in bold.
star trek
Jean-Luc Picard/Data (TNG-era)
James Kirk/Spock (AOS-era)
Original Characters
x-men
Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Original Characters
I like a mix of plot and smut (60/40 or even 50/50, but I definitely prefer lots of action and drama and soap opera bullshit). I can play dominant service tops or submissive bottoms, or vers/switch characters. I really don't have any limits on content, but I try to handle tough themes with tact. At the end of the day, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. But how we get there? Hee.
We can have that stuff evolve organically or discuss it ahead of time. And I am good with doing canon or AU depictions. I have different versions of Erik (1950s, 1980s and modern), and I tend to play big casts of characters, though you are under no obligation to do the same.
My literacy level is certainly advanced, but just because I can write a novel doesn't mean I always will. I write what I'm inspired to write, and that can be anywhere from ten paragraphs to a single sentence. Similarly, I don't mind what your "level" is as long as you understand how to roleplay. That is, help drive the plot, throw curveballs every once in a while, react to what's going on.
I will post a little "omg! hope ur well!" after a few days of no activity to gauge if you are still intending to respond, and then I'll let you ghost me. You can always shoot me a 'hey!' if you'd like to pick up or try something new, even if it's way later. Similarly, I do not pester for replies, but I do sometimes get really into the RP and make playlists and graphics and shit. So I will sometimes send ya that stuff.
Word bank ; diplomacy / foreign language , CIA , military , college , teacher / student , teacher / parent , parenting , soldier / civilian , clinician / patient , TiMER , sentinel / guide , ds!verse , abo!verse , time travel , multiverse traversal , mind control , poetry , narrative fuckery , experimental , telepathy , soulmates , bonds , true love , trauma , recovery , abuse , WWII , modern historical , war , cultural discrepancy , fish out of water , sci - fi , star trek redux , blah la la la !
like if you're interested and op will get back to you
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Spring '22 goals review: 👍/👍👍
In depth analysis under the cut.
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Wordcount on WIPs: 0/20.000
Developing detailed drafts: 0 ≥ 20 pages
Graphic artworks: 5/1 (8 published)
Captain America/Trek patches(x2), MCU/Trek patches(x2), Merlin/Trek metallic patch, AOS Romulan Commander.
Revisiting NCIS/Trek Crew
Graphics completed, updated characters bio to 75%.
Revisiting Merlin/Trek Crew
Graphics 50%, characters bio updated to 60%.
I exceeded this goal, posting 3 manips and 1 headcanon in April, 4 in May and 1 in June. Failed to post something in the spring half of March, though.
Manga editing: 0 (100 = project complete)
Season 1-per-Month post goal: 4/4
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- Do and/or finish one fanwork per month [✔]
March:
- The Stonn manip doesn’t count, as it was done during the previous season.
- Added some bios to the Star Trek x NCIS crew.
- Added plenty of characters to the Star Trek x Merlin crew edit and settled for the final crew complement.
- Reopened the old WIP Star Trek x Star Wars Prequels edit, and settled for the final crew complement.
April:
- Collected the ideas, worked and published one of the canons for Jim Kirk.
- Finally achieved a decent final version for the NCIS ship assignment badge and settled for it.
- Finished the metallic version of the Merlin ship assignment badge. Very very satisfied.
- Completely remade from scratch the Captain America’s ship assignment. Pretty decent result, if you ask me.
- Finally managed to do the same for the MCU’s/Avengers as well.
- Added three main villains that were missing from the Star Trek x Star Wars Prequels edit.
- The last two weeks, as I changed my “timezone” (switched the sleep/awake times), I hit a dry spell. As in: most of the days I didn’t even turn my pc on.
May:
Bad, bad month. Just... nothing to see here.
- Saving the last ten days that had been mildly productive with the starting and finishing of the AOS Romulan Commander fancasting manip.
June:
Nothing. Spent most of the “my things” time to re-read and fix a bit the monster-draft for the Subdom AU. For which I seemed to find the muse back in the very last days of Spring, so those accomplishments fall already in Summer.
- Finish & post some old graphic WIP [✔] [1]
- Post some finished graphic that was held back [✔] [ 1]
- Finish Chronicles of Camelot’s retouch ❌
- Finish that 90% done 2015 Spirk one shot ❌
- Finish the Royal Eagle fic that’s 90% done ❌
- Return to write actual fics ❌
- Finish with all Kirk’s headcanons series ❌
Managed to to one of the series (vintage & antiques).
- Complete the Trek characters headcanon two series ❌
Worked a bit on Kyle's
- Post that Le-matya headcanon ❌
- Finish to develop the “Modern Times Merlin” AU and made this AU edit ❌
- Work on some Merlin / Star Wars AU content. ❌
- Get the Star Wars Prequels x Trek edit ready before the Obi-Wan series hits Disney+ ❌❌❌ -- Failed
- Finish and post the Sea Patrol Trek crew ❌
I did manage too (re)marathon Season 4 and 5, does it count?
- Post some other Trek crew AU ❌
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25 Days of FicMas
December 17th prompt: Christmas shopping with a stranger (Modern AU)
Word Count: 2,154
Toy Shop Terror
Okay so this one is much lighter and fluffier than yesterday's prompt! They're not really together when shopping but this is what I came up with! I hope y'all like it!
-H❤🖖
Leonard McCoy ran a hand through his hair frantically; he was in the corner of a crowded toy store on Christmas eve looking for the “Harry Potter” section. Leonard marveled at how people were going completely insane over something their child will most likely play with for a week or two. Shaking his head he bobbed and weaved through the mass of angry, hurried customers keeping an eye for the isle he needed. Spotting the large sign Leonard ducked into the aisle to find it torn apart, “oh these poor workers,” he muttered eyes wide. Toys and merchandise lay scattered over the almost barren shelves and littered the floor. Stepping over large cardboard boxes that once held said merchandise Leonard groaned in frustration, “damnit!” he cursed, voice a deep growl. A loud shriek made him quickly lookup; he saw a pretty young woman stumble into the aisle clutching onto a stuffed panda bear like it was a lifeline, “same to you pal!” you shouted flipping off the man that shoved you out of the way. The gesture was reciprocated. Scowling you examined the bear carefully, searching for rips or tears. When you felt it was in okay condition you finally looked up to see him there with an amused expression on his face. “Some people,” you chuckled nervously, waving the bear around. You took note of the shelves Leonard was standing in front of and winced sympathetically. “Oh, Harry Potter that's tough, I’m sorry,” you grimaced at the state of things; Leonard huffed in agreement, “my daughter has been begging for the books for a while and I’ve been looking everywhere for the box set,” he muttered hand going through his already messed up hair again.
“Well I wish you the best of luck, god knows you’re gonna need it,” you said with a dry laugh. You looked around, clearing your throat you bit your lip, “have uh you seen the electronic section?” Leonard raised an eyebrow and pointed a thumb toward the back of the store, his own look of sympathy crossing his face. “Fuck, okay. Stupid drone is gonna be the death of me. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor, wait wrong series…” you trailed off scrunching up your face in thought. Leonard couldn’t help but chuckle at your antics; giving him a cheeky smile you gave him a two-fingered salute and dove back into the crowd. ‘What a strange woman,’ he thought with a crooked smile.
Sighing Leonard looked back at the barren shelves with slumped shoulders, “Maybe I should look for something else,” he murmured almost missing the sound of his phone ringing. Pulling the object Leonard looked at the caller ID, “I can’t talk now Jim,” he answered pressing a finger to his opposite ear. A faint voice whined from the other end of the call, “no I haven’t found it yet and I honestly don’t think I will. I knew I should have just ordered it off of-no, and no you can’t, that’s-I don’t care. Jim as your best friend I advise you that hitting on my sister is bad for your health," Leonard hung up the call and swiftly inserted himself into the crowd of shoppers.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
You bit your lip as you precariously balanced on some empty shelves hoping to peek over the throng of people. Your hunt for the drone your nephew had been begging for all year was nowhere to be found. Scanning over the crowd with a deep scowl on your face something caught your eye, a much older looking woman clutched three distinct green boxes to her chest. “Oh not today Brenda,” you growled the image of the cute forlorn father popping into your mind. You smirked at the thought of the guy, ‘I’m allowed. He had no ring…' your mind wandered as you pushed and shoved your way through shoppers. Scooping up an opened ‘Nerf Gun’ you cocked it and fired. The foam bullets bounced off of the woman’s head causing her to turn every which way. She screamed startled when one stuck itself to her coke bottle glasses. While she was distracted you slipped past sneakily grabbing one of the boxes from her stack. “Manager!” you heard her howl, glancing over your shoulder you grinned as no one bothered to give her a second glance. Whistling you tossed the plastic gun into a bin and held the box of books to your chest with the panda bear for your baby niece hanging from your fingers. “Now where is Mr. cute butt at…” you hummed thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the store, McCoy stared at a mass of stuffed animals and to his complete amazement, a pristine box holding a remote control drone sat amongst the bears, unicorns, and oddly enough poop pillows. Blinking he picked up the box, his mind drifting back to you. “Hold on to that tight man, last one!” an employee called to him as he passed. Holding the box closer Leonard eyed the people watching with envy as he walked by, “Alright darlin’ maybe I didn’t get what I came here for but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer,” he drawled searching for you in every aisle. Not looking where he was going he slammed into something small, it squeaked indignantly and he quickly grabbed the person steadying them. “Hey!” you both exclaimed with wide smiles.
You held up the Harry Potter box set proudly and Leonard practically sagged in relief, “did you-how-” he laughed in shock. You chuckled looking mildly guilty, “don’t ask and you won’t be implicated,” you whispered which made Leonard raise a single eyebrow. Instead of commenting, he held up the drone you were searching for, making you squeal in delight. You bounced on your feet as you exchanged items, “Thank you!” you gasped looking at the drone eyes sparkling, “My nephew is gonna die!” thinking for a second you held out your hand, “I’m (Y/N) (Y/L/N),”
Leonard couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he grasped your tiny hand in his much bigger one, “Leonard McCoy, at your service ma’am.” he replied smoothly. Happening to glance over Leonard’s shoulder you spotted the ‘Harry Potter’ hoarder from earlier nerf bullet still stuck to her glasses. Blanching you clutched onto Leonards’s hand tighter before turning around and running off pulling the confused man behind you, “move it McCoy unless you want to give up the books!” you yelped shoving people out of the way. Leonard was suddenly ahead of you now pulling you easily through the hoard of people toward the check out area. You stumbled a few times with him being a bit taller and faster than you, “whoa cowboy!”
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
“I can’t believe you did that to get this,” Leonard barked out laughing, his shoulders shook as he sat across from you. You snickered munching on a french fry, “she had like three. I did her a favor those books were like a hundred and fifty a pop,” you muttered picking up your soda glass. Leonard smirked, “believe me darlin’ I know,” he huffed with a shake of his head. “Your daughter is lucky to have a dad like you,” you beamed at him picking up another fry from the basket you both were sharing. “I mean not many parents would be in a toy store on Christmas eve,” you said with a smirk. Leonard looked out the window of the little diner you had ducked into. Red tinted his cheeks and the tops of his ears, he shrugged after a minute, “She’s my world, there isn’t a lot I wouldn’t do for her,” he said looking back at you. He grabbed a french fry, “You visiting Georgia for the Holidays?” he inquired popping the potato into his mouth. Taking a sip of soda you nodded, “Yeah though not for long. I’ll be moving here pretty soon,” you grinned. “Oh really, where are you comin’ from?” Leonard asked eyes lighting up thrilled at the prospect of you living in Georgia, “Seattle, I’m a paramedic,” you said with a smile.
The conversation flowed easily; jumping from topic to topic. Leonard talked about how he was a doctor at Atlanta General and then you told him about the adventures from your profession. It would have flowed endlessly but the waitress walked over to your table saying that they were closing up soon; she smiled prettily at Leonard hoping he would take notice but he simply gave her a polite smile and paid for the meal.
Once the bill was paid and a generous tip was left Leonard helped you into your jacket. He grabbed both your bags and he shot down your protests. Walking to the door you were about to open it when he beat you to it. “And they said chivalry is dead,” you murmured with a crooked smile. “Sweetheart my momma would kill me if I didn’t treat you like a lady,” McCoy flirted as he walked you to your car. "Your mom is a smart woman," you chuckled. You took the shopping bags from Leonard and stowed them away into the trunk of your rental, turning you held out your hand “Lemme see your phone,” you giggled when he gave a confused look. He wordlessly handed it to you and watched as you added your number to his contact information. Taking a picture of yourself you saved it as one of his favorites before giving it back. “There now you can get ahold of me, you know in case you need help getting the Hunger Games or something. Though I don’t think the Brenda's of the world would appreciate it,” you grinned. Leonard snorted a laugh as he pocketed his phone again, “Okay Katniss,” he sassed opening your car door. Your grin grew bigger, “Doctor I am impressed,” you gasped placing a hand over your heart dramatically. McCoy’s laugh echoed across the almost empty parking lot; getting in the car you shut the door and started the engine quickly so you could roll down the window. “Well my girl likes books so I’ve been kept up to date on her latest favorites,” he said leaning down resting his forearm just above the window. “She sounds like an amazing girl,” you whispered with a soft smile, Leonard’s dark hazel eyes twinkled in the street light you were parked under. “She truly is,” he murmured back. The air became thick and full of something you couldn’t place, Leonard cleared his throat leaning back. “You should get going, your family is going to worry,” he sighed not wanting to see you go. Your smile turned sad, “Yeah my brother will have a fit,” you agreed, glaring at the car's dash clock. You said your "Goodbyes" and you were soon on your way back to your brother’s home with a lot of things on your mind; a handsome doctor being one of them.
The very next day you sat on your bedroom floor with a slew of presents waiting to be wrapped. Grumbling to yourself you struggled and fought with the wrapping paper, “Fold damnit!” you growled, voice muffled by the disposable tape dispenser in between your teeth. Your phone began to vibrate on the floor causing it to skitter in place, cursing you held the paper in place with one hand while the other grabbed the device. “H’lo,” your voice was muffled again. Rolling your eyes at your own stupidity you spat out the tape and tried again, “hello?” there was a deep chuckle from the other end. “(Y/N) it’s Leonard,” you sat up straighter a smile spreading across your face. “Len hey!” you greeted voice light, “I was wondering what your plans are for New Year’s Eve?” Leonard asked sounding nervous. ‘My god he’s adorable,’ you thought dreamily, “I’m not doing much just packing to head back to Seattle so I can then pack again to head back here,” you chuckled and facepalmed due to your ‘lameness,’
“I was uh- wonderin’ if you’d like to spend the day with me?” he asked making you scream internally, “Yeah I would love to,” you said hoping to not sound desperate. You heard a whispered voice in the background, “awesome Bones!” it said encouragingly. You bit your lip to keep from snickering. “I- uh that’s great! I’ll message you the details in a little bit!” Leonard said clearly smiling. “Daddy, can you help me with my braid?” the voice of a little girl hit your ear. ‘That must be Joanna,’ your heart warmed, “I have to go but I’ll talk to you soon,” Leonard promised lowly making you chuckle. “Okay Len, talk to you then,” you set your phone down and took a deep breath. “I think I’m going to really like it here,” you murmured to the butterflies fluttering around in your chest and stomach.
Tags:
@thottiewithashotgun
@lauraaan182
@writerdee1701
@dw-writes
@marvelouslytrekking
@spenceneedsahug
#star trek aos#star trek aos modern-day Au#leonard mccoy x reader#leonard mccoy#jim kirk#reader insert#25 days of ficmas#hailey the queen of typos#I shouldn't be allowed to write endings 🤦♀️
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My media this week (19-25 Sep 2021)
📚 STUFF I READ 📚
😐 The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient #1) (Helen Hoang, author; Carly Robins, narrator) - I ended up finishing this book mostly frustrated and annoyed, but this is definitely a YMMV book. There was a lot I really liked, but, like an MCU/DCEU movie, it was entirely too fucking long, just dragging all the ‘conflict’ out what felt like endlessly. I quit the audiobook at 80%, because I just could not take it & it’s hard to skim through audio. I do think I may have been more forgiving of the overall experience if I read it in text & not audio. (The narrator was great; this was not a narration issue.) I finished in ebook since I could skim right through all the tiresome bullshit for the tiny satisfying nuggets.
🙂 Just a Little Prick (accidental-mormon (crazyhomoinspace)) - 65K, OtaYuri no-skater AU
😍 disturb the universe series (NoRationalThoughtRequired) - 41K series (28K main fic), Geraskier, modern AU - Geralt runs a used bookshop with his brothers & and one day, he allows street musician (and really quite good professional violinist) Jaskier to play outside his shop. Pure, lovely, satisfying fluff.
💖 +173K of shorter fic so shorter work shout out 💖
60 Beans and a Cup of Magic (crinklefries) - MCU: Stucky, 28K - reread; delightful shrinkyclinks magic AU with beefy baker Bucky & witch Steve
Poiesis (opalescentgold) - The Witcher: Geraskier, 13K - this tag says it all: Grumpy antisocial writer in a friendly coffeeshop - very fluffy & lovely with some really excellent integration of IRL Witcher/Joey Batey/The Amazing Devil into story elements
📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺
Ghosts - s3, e4-6
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Elementary - s1, e1-2
Sex Education - s1, e1-2
Only Murders In The Building - s1, e6
Star Trek: Discovery - s1, e9-10
Ted Lasso - s2, e10
Come From Away
Magic Mike XXL
🎧 PODCASTS 🎧
WorkLife with Adam Grant - Taken for Granted: Lin-Manuel Miranda Daydreams, and His Dad Gets Things Done
FILMS TO BE BURIED WITH Patreon Crew! - Romesh Ranganathan • THE RESURRECTION!
Pop Culture Happy Hour - 2021 Emmys Recap
The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The World’s Largest Collection of Small Versions of Large Things
Strong Songs - "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox
Strong Songs - "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire
The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Martian Meteorites and Greek Columns with the AO Places Team
Pop Culture Happy Hour - Three Great Fiction Audiobooks
Ologies with Alie Ward - Opossumology (O/POSSUMS) with Lisa Walsh
The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Rödstensgubben
Pop Culture Happy Hour - Everybody's Talking About Jamie
Hidden Brain - You 2.0: Did That Really Happen?
FILMS TO BE BURIED WITH Patreon Crew! - Yvette Nicole Brown • THE RESURRECTION!
Song Exploder - Lucy Dacus "Thumbs"
🎶 MUSIC 🎶
The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary
All The Leaves Are Brown: The Golden Era Collection
Caribbean Instrumental Danzon
Pat Benatar
Annie Lennox
The Carpenters
Don't Stop Now
Smash Mouth
70s Lite Hits
Come From Away (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
"Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" [Looking Glass] radio
Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro
#sunday reading recap#bookgeekgrrl's reading habits#bookgeekgrrl's soundtracks#come from away totally knocked my socks off#incredible#super enjoyed miss pettigrew and sex education#i had to make a schedule bc i'm watching (and enjoying) so many shows#(plus i just love a schedule or a list or anything like that)#fanfic ftw#films to be buried with podcast#npr's pop culture happy hour podcast#strong songs podcast#ologies podcast#hidden brain podcast#worklife podcast#atlas obscura podcast#fan makers are a *gift*
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4 and 37 for the fanfic asks!
Sweet, thanks!
4. Link your three favorite fics right now.
AW HELL. That's so hard! I don't wanna play favorites! So I'm just gonna go with three fics I read recently that I really enjoyed:
life is not the things that we do (it's who we're doing them with) by @knoepfchen - TOG - modern!AU Joe/Nicky, finding love while getting stuck together in pandemic lockdown, very sweet and soft
Deep in the Tree, All the Locks Click Open by Tam_Cranver - TOG - Andy/Nile/Quynh fusion AU of fantasy and awesomeness that combines elements of Ladyhawke and Jane Eyre and JUST GO READ IT OKAY, IT IS GREAT (the boys are all there too, being awesome, but the focus is on the ladies as it should be)
Ten Degrees Below Zero by @kianspo - Star Trek AOS - Kirk/Spock AU where everyone's still Starfleet but the circumstances are somewhat different (it's inspired by "The Vor Game", as a bonus for Vorkosigan fans), and it's a goddamn delight to find new excellent Trek fic, because this is a fandom I rarely write but have read quite a lot in and it makes me so happy.
37. Give an update on your current WIP - if you don’t have one, give a sneak peek to a title or idea that you have and would like to write.
Look, I just got home from a ten-day vacation of much family and zero writing time, which was lovely but makes me feel extremely behind in all my WIPs. Which is a very silly feeling, since it's not like I'm writing on any kind of schedule, but still. Stupid productivity hustle. But I did manage to sit down and do a full outline hashing out the plot points for the last part of my Old Guard 007 AU, so I know exactly where that's going and how it's getting there, which is rather a relief considering I've been flying by the seat of my pants for this whole series. Which, in fairness, was not really supposed to be a series when I started it! It was just a silly quick one-off Andy/Quynh AU scenario, with potential for a fun little Joe/Nicky followup! And then it grew a plot for some damn reason. Stupid plot.
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Fanfic Scale of Canon Compliance
This has been living rent free in my head all day. Enjoy my musings.
01 The Writer Room: These are fics that pick up from where canon left off. Fics that continue a story, or fics that change a very specific scene (eg: a character death). They usually have the same overall mood and genre of the source material. Eg: Fix-Its, Canon-compliant continuations, a fake episode (eg: you write a Star Trek alien-of-week fic).
02 The Tweak: This is a fic where everything is canon except a major canon event happened differently. Eg: “Harry is raised by Sirius instead of the Dursleys” “Sherlock, but John never runs into Mike in the park” “Star Trek AOS, but the Vulcans never joined the federation.”
03 The Sandbox: Fics that are faithful to the canon material but switch the genre. These fics are 100% set in the canon universe, they follow canon rules, are mostly canon-compliant and overall feel like canon, but the story being told is unrelated to the genre. Eg: you write a Lord of the Rings fic where we follow the hobbits post-canon in the shire, but the entire fic is about a fall festival and has nothing to do with the war or the ring. this type of fic is usually to explore a) world building or b) interpersonal relationships
04 The Bomb Drop: This type of fic leaves the world and its rules mostly intact, except that it has a major event which is the center of the plot. This event is either impossible, or very unlikely to happen given the established rules of the universe. Eg: “Character A’s children from the future show up in current timeline.” “Character A and B travel to a new universe and meet their alternate selves.” “Fandom X, but there’s a zombie apocalypse.” “Character A wakes up as the opposite gender.”
05 The Sprinkle of Spice: The universe is mostly the same as canon and so is the mood, except something fundamental has been added/changed about the universe. Eg: People have soulmates, omegaverse, everyone is werewolves/vampires etc, people have magic, etc.
06 The Alternate Universe: Characters have been completely transported into another universe. If canon was set in medieval times, the fic might be set in modern times. Usually characters retain similar dynamics (eg: if our heroes were a group, they would be co-workers now). The fic can be set in the same time/world, so long as the lore is completely different (aka, an Avengers AU can still be set in 2012 New York, but none of them are superheroes, and there are no powers). The plot might reflect canon, but this is not necessary (aka, an XMen AU where Magneto is a militant immigration advocate, and Prof X is a moderate, trying to find common ground). Eg: coffee shop AUs, high school AUs, band AUs, etc.
07 The Publisher is Calling: This fic is an AU (like 06), but the characters are so out of character, that they essentially are different people. This is (whether intentionally or not) an original work that masquerades as a fic. Eg: if someone wrote a high school, no powers, Harry Potter AU where Harry is a blushing nerd and Draco is a scruffy skater boy.
#fanfic#fandom life#ao3#seriously idk why this has been in my head all day#actually I do know why#it’s cause I’m convincing myself#that I shouldn’t write a parsby fic where John and lee go to Will’s graduation in will’s world#and they have to dress Hester up as a service animal
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Long fics rec post is long
What better way to while away the time than fanfiction? Long fanfiction! And when I say long, I mean long, like so long it is three novels put together, how on earth did you find time to write this, so long it takes even me more than one day to read long. I'm irrationally jealous of all of these writers, as I am the type of writer who has a hard time dashing off 10,000 words in a timely fashion, let alone writing anything longer.
I'm using the SFWA's definition of a novel here, which is anythiing over 40,000 words.
These are all stories I've loved, and most of them I've actually got saved as PDFs so I can re-read them wherever I want. I'm digging pretty deep into the archives for this one, kids, so hold onto your hats.
Fandoms: Avengers/Marvel, Firefly, Inception, Leverage, Merlin, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek AOS, Supernatural, Torchwood
Fandom: Avengers/MCU/Marvel/Whatever we're calling it these days
in deep with you darling by topaz
Author's Summary: Darcy could have, under normal circumstances, resisted the aesthetics (however awesome they are, and holy crap are they awesome), but there's an itch under her skin—apparently, nearly dying by giant, fire-breathing robots from space in the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico will start you questioning your life choices. Who knew?
Main Pairing: Clint/Darcy
Words: 48024
runaways are running the night by anothercover
Author's Summary: Clint did like that the photo stayed private. He’s shit at social media, only on it because, you know, he has to be, but even Clint knew it was the kind of candid that was Instagrammable - #queen, #legend, #rawmemama, etcetera, ad nauseam, he’s pretty sure he could predict the comments before anyone actually typed them. (Bucky once said “raw me, mama?” to her with a goddamn straight face and Natasha’s expression of abject horror while she tried to work out if he meant it had made Clint laugh so fucking hard he was certain he’d ripped an organ in half. He still wants to find a way to work that story into his act, because on the one hand, people love it when he talks about his marriage, but it’s hard to find a way into it that doesn’t sound like he’s making fun of their fans, and that’s a big no-go.)
AU: Natasha's in a band, Clint is basically John Mulaney, it's great
Main Pairing: Clint/Natasha/Bucky
Words: 53873
Ready, Fire, Aim 'Verse by gyzym
Author's Summary: There's no "I" in "Avenger."
Main Pairing: Steve/Tony
Words: 63019
Ain't No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down) by spitandvinegar
Author's Summary: It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.
For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.
I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.
Steve sits down hard on the steps.
Main Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Words: 107076
Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail series by owlet
Author's Summary: The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect
Main Pairing: Steve/Bucky
Words: 264438
Clint Barton's Super Secret Snipers' Club by sara_holmes
Author's Summary: Clint Barton's Super Secret Snipers' Club. (Invitation and pending mental health evaluation required.)
"When Steve brings Bucky back to the tower for the first time, Clint’s first thought is that Tony Stark’s pride and joy is quickly becoming a less of a very tall and expensive ‘fuck you’ in the faces of investors who don’t believe in self-sustaining energy, and more of a superhero rehabilitation center."
Boyfriends, compromises and learning to like oneself.
Main Pairing: Clint/Bucky
Words: 67059
Nobody Lost, Nobody Found by ClaraxBarton
Author's Summary: "Look, dude, I get it. You’re fucked-up. HYDRA fucked you up. I’ve been there. But you’re my fucking Soul Mate!"
“I can kill you. I could kill you without even realizing what I was doing. I’m not fucked-up, I’m a monster. I’m a nightmare. You can’t be here. You can’t- All the people I’ve killed- I will not murder my Soul Mate too. Not after everything else I’ve-”
Clint worked his left hand between their bodies and managed to land a punch to the man’s right side, forcing him to shift his weight, and Clint brought his right hand down on the place where the man’s metal arm met his torso - hidden by the shirt he wore, but on full display in the video Clint had watched.
The man released Clint with a grunt of pain, and Clint pressed his advantage, landing another punch to his abdomen, backing him up against the opposite side of the RV and then pressing the kitchen knife he had pocketed while cleaning up earlier to the man’s throat.
“Like I said, I’m not a Boy Scout. I’m plenty dangerous myself. We clear on that?”
OR:
This looks bad, because it is.
OR:
How Clint Barton met his Soul Mate
AU: soulmates!
Main Pairing: Clint/Bucky
Words: 108331
Ronin!Clint 'verse by shatteredhourglass
Author's Summary: “Who the fuck are you and how did you get this line?”
“I have my ways,” the voice says, amused. “Don’t worry, I’m just enjoying the view, Captain America.”
Main Pairing: Clint/Bucky
Words: 63266
Fandom: Firefly/Supernatural
Weight and Motion by sevenfists
[note: the podfic by dodificus is excellent]
Author's Summary: The pears were ripe, Kaylee told him, but Mal wouldn't eat any of them. They were a present, nestled all sweet and green in a wooden crate that a grateful passenger gave them right before they left her on Greenleaf.
AU: Crossover, Dean ends up on Serenity, just roll with it
Main Pairing: Mal/Dean
Words: 43117
Fandom: Inception
All the World is Bullet Shaped by pushdragon
Author's Summary: If Arthur thinks that, just by waving enough money around, he can get Eames to risk his life and reputation to rescue him from a death sentence, he's got another thing coming. So Eames sets a malicious, undignified price on his services, one he can be certain that a man like Arthur would never condescend to pay. It turns out to be the first of many mistakes.
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Words: 76656
I Seem to Be a Verb by Aja
Author's Summary: Arthur owns a quirky hipster science bookstore. Eames is a world-famous mega-celebrity.
Clearly this calls for a meet-cute.
AU: Notting Hill AU
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Words: 93837
In Medias Res by starlingthefool
Author's Summary: What's the most resilient infection? What's more infectious than a cold, deadlier than cholera? What lingers in your blood forever?
Love, of course. Mal has always known that. Her pointman Eames may dismiss her for a romantic, but for better or worse, love has gotten her this far.
AU: Mirror-verse
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames, Mal/Dom
Words: 52662
The Music Makers by mami_san
Author's Summary: A. Graham Cole was twenty-one years old when he was killed in action in Iraq. This is the official story. The truth is, of course, somewhat different.
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Words: I dunno, because it's not on AO3. But my PDF is 451KB so it's over 50k, most likely.
Presque Vu by rageprufrock
Author's Summary: Or, "on the tip of the tongue." Arthur meets Mal first. He inherits Dom, after. Everything else is on him.
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Words: 69588
Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home) [The DomesticVerse] by gyzym
Author's Summary: People you kiss in an airport baggage claim and then don't talk to for thirteen months shouldn't be able to exist, let alone make your chest do the things Arthur's chest is doing. There are rules.
Main Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Words: 74828
Fandom: Leverage
Psychic AU series by Laughtsalot3412
Author's Summary: He had a sniper rifle scoping the girl’s bright eyes and the guy’s smile.
AU: They all have psychic powers
Main Pairing: OT3 Eliot/Parker/Alec
Words: 89955
Fandom: Merlin
[note: look, I don't even go here. I've never watched the show. But.]
Drastically Redefining Protocol by rageprufrock
Author's Summary: In which Prince Arthur meets Merlin and all hell promptly breaks loose.
AU: Modern AU
Main Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Words: 46,059
The Student Prince by FayJay
Author's Summary: A Modern day Merlin AU set at the University of St Andrews, featuring teetotal kickboxers, secret wizards, magnificent bodyguards of various genders, irate fairies, imprisoned dragons, crumbling gothic architecture, arrogant princes, adorable engineering students, stolen gold, magical doorways, attempted assassination, drunken students, shaving foam fights, embarrassing mornings after, The Hammer Dance, duty, responsibility, friendship and true love...
AU: Modern AU
Main Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Words: 145222
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves by auburn
Author's Summary: Vala Mal Doran and her partners, renegades Jehan abd-Ba'al and Meredith McKay, hijack the Tau'ri ship Prometheus and leave the Milky Way behind in search of the Lost City of the Ancients, Atlantis.
AU: Space pirates!
Main Pairing: John/Rodney
Words: 180299
The Price That Life Exacts by cathalin
Author's Summary:When John disappears without a trace during a routine mission, people in a beleaguered Atlantis eventually have to try to move on. Rodney never completely gives up hope of finding John, and though he soldiers on to help Atlantis, a year later he still lives every day with his grief.
Main Pairing: John/Rodney
Words: 63369
Written By the Victors by Spreranza
Author's Summary: Caroll, Franklin R. Atlantis Revisited. New York and London, Routledge, 2011.
Chapman, Denise. Several Kinds of Genius: The Life of Rodney McKay. NY: Harper Perennial, 2015.
Croft, Rosalind. City of Spires: A Memoir. Toronto: The Mercury Press, 2009.
Dugan, Paul. A Political History of Atlantis. Oxford: OUP, 2012.
Main Pairing: John/Rodney
Words: 52843
Tongues of Men and Angels by Mad_Maudlin
Author's Summary: When SG-4 is ambushed offworld, an injured Major John Sheppard must put his trust in a Tok'ra agent named McKay to survive. But what secrets is McKay keeping about his mission, the planet, and his own motives for helping John?
AU: They didn't go to Atlantis
Main Pairing: John/Rodney
Words: 58523
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
The Least of All Possible Mistakes by rageprufrock
Author's Summary: If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses.
Main Pairing: Lestrade/Mycroft
AU: Genderbent Lestrade
Words: 118096
Fandom: Supernatural
Red by Big Pink
[note: seriously, this is one of my favorite fics/series ever and I have the ebooks if you want to not read this on LJ or FF.net]
Author's Summary: Something evil is killing treeplanters in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, possibly the same predator that Dean narrowly escaped years before. How Grimm will things get before the brothers figure it out?
Main Pairing: none
Words: 81839
Fandom: Supernatural/Stargate Atlantis
And All the World Beneath by seperis
Author's Summary: Dean remembers Texas as blackland stretching in marker-thick strips of vivid brown and black, broken with the sprawling metroplexes of Dallas and San Antonio and Houston; farms spread with the yellow tops of maize waving in pre-autumn winds, threshers moving complacently through the fields with drowsy men in hats waving at the road. He remembers green and gold fields dotted with cows, half-year calves running on the outskirts of the herds. He remembers these were what he saw between jobs, lives being lived that had nothing to do with creeping twilight and sleeping only behind salt circles and ritual wards.
AU: Cthulhu mythos
Main Pairing: Dean/John, John/Rodney
Words: 67279
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Leave No Soul Behind by whochick
Author's Summary: If you're Starfleet, you spend your whole life wishing you never see an EPAS uniform right up until the moment they become your only hope. Whether you're dying a slow, cold death in space, or a long painful one on some godforsaken planet, they're going to come for you. So count your last breaths, son, and hold on tight. They leave no soul behind.
AU: Spock did not join Starfleet, he joined the Emergency Personnel Ambulance Service (EPAS)
Main Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Words: 258951
The Lotus Eaters by aldora89
Author's Summary: Stranded on the planet Sigma Nox while searching for a missing away team, Spock and Kirk find themselves pitted against a disturbing native life form. With the captain out of commission on a regular basis and Spock struggling to preserve his stoicism, staying alive is difficult enough – but when a slim chance for escape surfaces, their resolve is truly put to the test. Together they must fight for survival in the heart of an alien jungle, and in the process, uncover the mystery of the planet’s past.
Main Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Words: 93594
Only Good for Legends by leupagus
Author's Summary: Detective Spock, born on Vulcan and resident of San Francisco, is assigned to the Midwest police bureau. I think everyone can guess what happens next.
AU: Spock is a Detective. Otherwise it's pretty much the same, including Kirk's petty criminal tendencies.
Main Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Words: 149640
So Wise We Grow by Deastar
Author's Summary: "Commander Spock, we have located your son," the Vulcan lady on the screen says, which would be great, except Jim can tell by the look on Spock's face that he's never heard of this kid before in his life. "If it is expedient, the child will be sent to join you on the Enterprise within the week."
AU: kidfic
Main Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Words: 81248
Switch by Ceres_Libera
Author's Summary: The life and times of Leonard H. McCoy MD/PhD … If Leonard McCoy's life could get any fucking weirder, it would be … Jesus, he didn't even want to think what that could possibly mean, because it's already been too fucking weird to make any kind of rational sense.
Main Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Words: 230867
Fandom: Torchwood
The Rose of Jericho by kaydeefalls
Author's Summary: Post-CoE. When Martha Jones encounters a dark UNIT cover-up in the wake of the 456, it's up to Gwen's new Torchwood team to bring the truth to light -- and save Ianto.
AU: alternate ending post Children of Earth
Main Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Words: 62606
That should keep you busy for a while, right? If you have other long fic recs, let me know in the comments/with a reblog!
#fic recs#long post is long#fanfiction#fanfic#avengers#marvel#mcu#firefly#inception#leverage#merlin#stargate atlantis#star trek#star trek reboot#star trek aos#supernatural#torchwood
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Multi-Fandom Slash Fic Recs: Long reads for your quarantine needs
Was gonna add my own 2 cents for each rec, but it got long and I'll never post if I have to think about it anymore - may edit to add more commentary. Suffice it to say, these are all great long reads, not much angst, some smutty some not, highly improbable levels of things-working-out because it's fanfic and that's what it's for. Feel free to troll through my AO3 Bookmarks as well.
The One Where They're Stars on HGTV Series
earlgreytea68
Inception: Arthur/Eames
AU, 466,359 words 9 works Complete
Summary:
"Have you ever seen "Love It or List It"? In which Arthur is the real estate agent and Eames is the designer.
Eames is certain that they will excel at being celebrity judges.
Arthur is not so sure.
But then, that's usually how their relationship goes."
My 2 cents: Just what it says on the tin: Arthur and Eames are HGTV stars of a show which pits straightlaced realtor Arthur against flamboyant designer Eames, but the new show they're embarking on will give them a chance to work together. Arthur has his reservations - not least among them the surprise arrival of Eames' superficially charming ex. Eames, of course, has all the confidence in the world. Featuring fun design challenges, mildly insecure Athur, fluffy confidant Ariadne, reality show 'backstage' melodrama, Arthur becomes a meme, Eames fantastical decorating schemes, a Matt Bomer lookalike complete with fedora (trilby), and acres of gauzy romantic fluff.
We Begin Again Series
katherynefromphilly
Merlin: Merlin/Arthur
316,197 words 4 works
Summary:
"For many long years Merlin waited.
For the other part of his soul, for the other half of his life. He was born to serve Arthur. So that meant he was also born to wait. Even if it took a thousand years. Even if the wait seemed never to end.
Until one day, suddenly, it did.
When Arthur stumbles from the Lake of Avalon 1,500 years after his death, he finds a world unlike the one he knew. Faced with the loss of everyone he loved, and the threat of impending prophecy, Arthur must learn what it means to be not just a king, but the Once and Future King. Merlin does all he can to guide him, even as he struggles to hide his love for his king, and his fear of losing him again.
Story includes sass, banter, horseplay, & True Love."
Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail Series
owlet
MCU: Steve/Bucky
264,438 words 8 works
Summary:
"The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect
Integration into adult human social dynamics requires attention and effort. Especially with this bunch of damaged bozos.
(A series of interconnected one-shots.)"
2 cents: Post-Winter Soldier Bucky works his own way through. Recovery fic from Bucky's POV, not shippy in the beginning (unless you consider MCU-canon-level co-dependency shippy I guess) and with added 'Avengers living in the Tower' flavor
The Sonnet Series
nekosmuse, afrocurl
X-Men: Charles/Erik
AU, 196,721 words 3 works
Summary:
"Erik Lehnsherr is a visiting professor at Columbia University, as well as an acclaimed and award winning poet. Charles Xavier is a lead researcher with the Genetics Department who is well on his way to tenure. But what happens when Charles has to cancel a class because half his students abandon him in favour of a mysterious new English Lit professor? Naturally he ends up sitting in in the class, where Professor Lehnsherr mistakes him for a student. It's really too bad Erik has such a strict policy against dating students. It's also too bad Erik doesn't seem to know how to use Google."
Hollywood 'verse Series
clio_jlh
Star Trek AOS: Kirk/McCoy
80,063 words 7 works
Summary:
"From Variety, June 2008:
Pavel Chekov ("Charlie X") and Gaila ("Bread and Circuses") have joined the cast of small budget drama "That Which Survives," funded by Fleet's indie arm Academy and supervised by Nyota Uhura.
The debut feature from longtime script doctor Leonard McCoy, former show runner on sitcom "Three to Tango," centers on a college student coping with his father's terminal cancer. Chekov plays the son, Gaila the nurse. The father is yet to be cast.
Also attached are director James T. Kirk and producer Spock, the team behind the blockbuster spy-girl franchise starring Carol Marcus, the latest of which, "A Taste of Armageddon," opened last month.
(A modern-day Hollywood AU.)"
A Curious Carriage of Crystal and Cold
Etharei
X-Men: Charles/Erik
AU, 114,261 words
Summary:
"Charles, a miner from a poor village in the countryside, saves the life of Erik Lehnsherr, scion of a successful business family and the richest man on the planet Eisen. Charles is a telepath and somewhat anxious about it, while Erik abstains from relationships because the lights flicker and doors open and electronics vibrate when he gets too excited.
Also featuring a long-suffering sister, a foul-mouthed bodyguard, and a best friend with a heart that is definitely not gold.
In which there are princes, spaceships, long journeys, and old secrets uncovered. (An AU sci-fi fairytale)"
Shadowlord and Pirate King Series
Footloose, mushroomtale
Merlin: Merlin/Arthur
AU, 216,060 words 3 works
Summary:
"A fast ship, a good crew, a treasure, a Clan to lead -- that's all Arthur Pendragon has ever wanted. He sits on the Council, he supports his father's kingship, and he keeps an eye on the Imperial Conglomerate when they come too close to Pirate space.
One day the Conglomerate infiltrates the Clans and poisons the King. Arthur must search for a cure to keep his father alive and the Clans from civil war.
An escape route, a sharp knife, a target, the shadows at his command -- that's all Merlin has ever needed. He fulfills his assignments, he uses the Sterling to sustain his once-royal House in their exile, and wages a private war against the Imperial Conglomerate.
When he learns of an elaborate plot to assassinate him, Merlin does the opposite of what's expected. He flees onto a Pirate ship.
There's a saying among the Pirates: that one's fate is written in the stars. Destiny will always set to rights what has been made wrong.
Arthur and Merlin know that they were meant for the other from the moment they meet. They can feel it from across the galaxies separating them. Nothing can stop them from being together or from fulfilling an ancient prophecy."
Children, Wake Up Series
hollycomb
Star Wars sequels: Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux
non-canon after Force Awakens, 608,083 words 3 works
Warning for torture and past sexual assault (offscreen)
Summary:
"Hux follows orders and loses his way.
Barricaded in the darkness of Snoke's citadel as part of his final training, Kylo Ren senses a disturbance in the Force: General Hux in great pain, captured and tortured by a faction of radical traitors within the First Order. Ren seeks Snoke's counsel and finds him gone. He knows this is a test, and that he must resist the urge to assist the General. And yet."
2 cents: I don't even know. I started just to look at it and then somehow I couldn't stop. Two characters I find wholly irredeemable given back story enough to make me suspend disbelief just enough to enjoy the fic - now that's talent. Features background Finn/Rey and Luke/Wedge if you care about that, and generally has everyone written in a positive light except Snoke, including a surprising handful of of First Order refugees. It's weirdly not at all a dark fic, despite the premise and extreme levels of Force Ex Machina.
snipers solve 99% of all problems
silentwalrus
Fullmetal Alchemist: post-canon gen
HP crossover, 170,861 words, 59 chapters so far, WIP
Summary:
"Ed had thought, after the whole Promised Day, homunculus, entire country harvested for alchemical batteries thing, the batshit quotient of his life would have settled down some. He really ought to have topped out the meter with that one. But no. The bullshit is just getting started.
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Ed demands. “The wizards?”"
2 cents: Neither of these are my fandom, but I have read all the HP books, so I could get the gist. While jonesing for an update, I ended up bingeing FMA: Brotherhood and I have no regrets. Ed working alchemy-as-science and trying to translate wizardry into scientific alchemical workarounds is all I never knew I wanted. Team Amestris takes JKR's creation to school, with all the swearing you'd expect sprinkled throughout for ambiénce.
#fic recs#long post#cherik#merthur#stucky#multi-fandom fic recs#long reads#x-men#merlin#winter soldier#star trek aos#fmab#star wars tfa#charles xavier#erik lehnsherr#inception#arthur/eames#bucky barnes#kirk/mccoy#james kirk#leonard mccoy#armitage hux#edward elric#txt
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Author Asks
Rules: answer these questions and tag five other fic writers to do the same.
I was tagged by the wonderful @novemberhush. Thank you, omg, because I love rambling about writing and this is the best kind of opportunity to do so, handed on a silver platter, ahh. 😊
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Author Name: Square / Squares / SquaresAreNotCircles
Fandoms You Write For: I’m a fandom hopper! In the past year or so it’s been Hawaii Five-0 (a truly ridiculous amount), Shadowhunters, Venom, Harry Potter, due South and Stargate Atlantis. Other fandoms I’ve written at least one fic for are Twilight, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Glee, BBC Merlin, BBC Atlantis, Teen Wolf, In The Flesh, Star Wars, Supernatural, the MCU and High School Musical. And uh, Alexander the Great/Voltaire fic (which would be... history fandom? RPF?) and one (1) Judas/Jesus Biblefic. If we’re getting really technical, also a tiny little bit of One Direction fic.
It should be noted that all of this is about fic that ended up getting posted somewhere on the interwebs - there are multiple Star Trek (TOS/AOS and DS9) fics lingering in my drafts (!! one day I will finish one of them), as well as some How To Train Your Dragon, The Good Place and Deadpool stuff, and definitely more I’ve forgotten.
Where You Post: Since I made the switch to writing in English everything has landed on ao3, but I used to write mostly in Dutch, so there’s still close to a million words, I think, under my name on quizlet.nl (not to be confused with quizlet.com, which is a very different website).
Most Popular One-Shot: That depends on how you’re measuring popularity! Going by kudos, it’s Tell me I’m perfect (but tell me the truth), a Magnus/Alec Shadowhunters fic. It’s the truth is a really old fic about Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood from Harry Potter that has the most hits out of all my works, and That time Steve kissed every single Avenger (and also Bucky), an MCU Steve/Bucky fic, has the greatest number of comment threads.
Also, since this is an h50 blog: for my fic in this fandom Wanted: partner (in crime) has the most kudos and hits; You had me at meow has the most comments.
Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: I’m working on one for h50 (going slowly, so slowly), but I don’t have any posted to ao3. I used to write a lot of multi-chaptered work in my quizlet.nl days, and I think my most popular fic there was probably the second fic I ever wrote, when I was fourteen or fifteen, which was a next-gen Harry Potter fic with shifting and overlapping POVs from the three Potter kids. It was kind of, well, not great, but it’s probably what really cemented my writing habit, it’s still my longest fic ever (over a 100k!) and I got my first fandom friends out of it, including one I’m still in contact with to this day, even though neither of us writes much if anything for Harry Potter anymore.
Favourite Story You Wrote: Ohhh, that’s such an impossible question, especially because I’ve been churning out one-shots like I might actually be getting paid for it, so there’s so much to choose from, which is a thing I have difficulty doing at the best of times, holy shit. Uh, I once wrote a 70k Remus/Sirius (Harry Potter) modern college-ish AU in Dutch that I still like; weirdly, I think that Biblefic holds up (also Dutch), and the HSM fic is fun to reread once in a while because of the fourth wall break, as is That escalated quickly, a Percy/Oliver fic. Ooh, and the fic about Shuri and Stucky and a goat!
For h50, it’s even harder to choose, because my preferences change pretty much weekly (a combination of newer fic being shinier, looking back at fic from even just a few months ago and finding things I would have done differently now, and comments influencing the way I personally look at my own fic), but right now, I’d say I still really like the fic where Steve adopts some guinea pigs, the one with the slightly tipsy team bonding by talking about mutual crushes and this 9.11 coda fix fluff getting together thing.
Story You Were Nervous to Post: That Biblefic, haha, because it’s a very complicated topic and my aim was definitely not to offend. People were really sweet about it, though! Mostly, they were kind of shocked it wasn’t crack, but that’s fair, because so was I.
Also pretty much anything I post in a new fandom, really, and low key just... anything at all. I’m always a little scared I tagged something super badly or accidentally copy-pasted the wrong text or unknowingly wrote something super offensive or whatever, despite my double- and triplechecking of the posting form. (I’m also still kind of scared people on ao3 will randomly decide they hate my fic and my writing and me personally (ao3 is really big and very anonymous and coming from the small town that was quizlet.nl even in its heyday, that’s scary), but that fear has abated as I’ve posted more, just because the data is showing pretty conclusively that thought is as irrational as it sounds. Everyone is always so nice, gosh.)
How Do You Pick Your Titles: Mostly, I steal lines from random songs. I have a small pile of song lyrics to use as potential titles, because going on a seperate hunt for every new fic would take most of my waking hours. Sometimes, I’ll use a pun (like You had me at meow or Retail Therapy) or something else that I think sounds good, especially if the fic is mostly comedy and/or has a specific premise that would do well in a title (like Five times the Governor of Hawaii suspects his taskforce leaders are violating fraternization policies (and one time they tell him they are)).
Do You Outline: I’m mostly writing fic of (sometimes much) less than 5k at the moment, so not really. I do sometimes write tiny bits of a bunch of scenes and then fill in the rest around that, which is a kind of outline, in a way. For longer works, I usually make a one page bullet point list of things that need to happen and work from there, because I can’t do really extensive outlining or I’ll just get caught up in the details and lose all of the oversight a tool like that is supposed to give you, as well as most of my enthusiasm for the project.
How Many Of Your Stories Are Complete: Of the ones posted? On ao3, all of them, because unfinished posted one-shot works would require some strange bending of those concepts. On quizlet.nl, I do have some abandoned works, but I think 80% is finished.
In-Progress: SO MUCH. Seriously, just, so much, oh god. I’d really like to write another Stargate Atlantis fic (and I have 30% of one done), and something more for due South, too, and maybe a small Percy/Oliver thing again some time because they were my very first OTP and I kind of miss them, but mostly I have, like, 100+ half written things for h50. I really wish that number was an exaggeration. There’s no way they’ll all get finished, but maybe... a third? Mayhaps?
That One Truly Long H50 Fic that I was already talking about way back in October last year is also eternally “in progress”. The thing is that it has about 25k now, after a year, and I think it needs... at least four times that. Probably. So either I’ll have to stick with this fandom and my slow progress for another three years to have a shot at getting it finished, or I’ll need to find a way to up the speed a little. Maybe I could try working on it for NaNo this November? That would be pretty awesome, but honestly, part of why it’s moving this slowly is because NaNo-style fast and messy writing for this scares me a little, because I might end up writing a lot, decide it’s not what I wanted for it, and become too intimidated to ever edit and/or rewrite the entire thing. But idk, I probably just need to get over my own fears, because I really do want to write Longer Fic again. Short stuff is fun and feels really productive and that’s great, but I miss the actual slow burn and build-up that only 50k+ words can give you.
Coming Soon: Hopefully a lot? For h50, that is. I have no idea what’s getting posted next, because I’m never entirely sure what’s going to be finished next and something really random might come jumping in, but at the moment I’m trying to direct most of my energies at a slightly longer fic I’ve been working on for months (not The Long Fic, a different one), a fic labeled “9.01 memory loss fic”, another one temporarly entitled “Perfect Kauai beach house vacation”, and maybe an ace!Steve fic I’ve been working on, if I ever manage to uh, actually finish that, instead of rewriting three sentences during every round of editing and never actually adding anything to fill in the gaps it still has. There will also be more season 10 codas, in all likelihood.
Do You Accept Prompts: I’ve never done that before in the traditional way, but I’m thinking about it! I’d love to try (and it would be a breath of fresh air, in some ways!), but the main thing holding me back is that I have way too much on my plate with just my own ideas to work off of, and I don’t want to disappoint people. Maybe if I do drabble-ish prompt fills? It’s definitely been on my mind.
Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For: I’m excited for a lot of stuff, but honestly, the top spot right now probably goes to the ace!Steve fic. I’m not even sure it’s that good, necessarily, but it’s, idk, really cathartic, I suppose. Seriously self-indulgent in strange but very good ways. I really like writing it. (Second spot goes to the beach vacation fic, because I haven’t actually written that much for it, but it’s been my go-to easy happy place for the last few weeks.)
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I’m tagging @love2hulksmash @thekristen999 @stephmcx @girlonastring @flowerfan2 and @pterawaters, which is six people because I can’t count, but I’m about to make it seven because I’m also tagging you, the person reading this (hi there!). Say I tagged you and tag me so I can read it! I know that kind of thing can feel awkward, but it won’t be, because I’m cheering you on. Go for it, if you want to do it. :D
#tagged in#writing#*#question: [requires maybe two words to be answered]#me: [writes two lengty paragraphs]#i guess that also tells you something about what kind of writer i am
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fic meme, yay, tagged by @michaels-blackhat, which double yay because I’ve been wanting to do this and hadn’t gotten around to it, so perfect excuse
Author Name:
AndreaLyn, though my actual name is Manda. my author pseudonym is the first two Mary Sues I ever wrote and I’ve just written under this for so long that I’m keeping up the branding
Fandoms You Write For:
WHERE DO WE START. okay, so obviously Roswell New Mexico is the main one now, but I also did a lot of Mag 7, Musketeers, King Arthur, Almighty Johnsons, Hawaii Five-0, Stormpilot, I was writing a lot for Inception, Star Trek AOS, House MD, Band of Brothers, and many, many more.
Where Do You Post
AO3 and my tumblr!
Most Popular Oneshot
That’d be ready for my close up, mr. dameron a story that @swingsetindecember basically made me write by talking about gogurt with Oscar Isaac’s face on it, and then three days later, this fic existed
Most Popular Multi Chapter Story
They Said The Past Won’t Rest, McDanno which was a request for an auction win and became a wildly long AU
Favorite Story You Wrote
A Love Like The Sea, which is Band of Brothers, webgott. I still think it’s the best prose I’ve ever done, and it told a story with good visuals and foreshadowing without being overly smutty.
Story You Were Nervous to Post
The Doctor’s Lament, because death fic is always a weird one and I figured it wouldn’t be overly popular
How Do You Pick Your Titles
90% lyrics, 10% I had a saying or phrase in mind that made sense when I was writing it, so today’s was actually the saying that prompted the fic to be written (”darling, dear, dead”), but otherwise, lyrics
Do You Outline
SURE DO. I didn’t used to, but now I have to or nothing gets complete
How Many of Your Stories Are Complete
99.9%. Given that I haven’t started new WIPs, technically everything is in full completion except one fic on ff.net that I probably will never finish, which is a modern Pride & Prejudice AU that I do have the outline for...somewhere, if I haven’t thrown it away.
In-Progress
Currently 11! Two are actually done, they’re just tumblr fills I haven’t had time to edit, and two are WIPs I intend to post in chapters, but again, no time to edit.
Coming Soon
I love this part, so on the docket:
- Avengers AU Chapter 1, which will be posted probably next weekend if I find time to edit during Canadian thanksgiving. It’s got Michael/Alex, Liz/Max, Liz/Kyle, Isobel/Noah, it’s got Captain America Alex, Liz as Iron Maiden, the aliens as your Guardians type, and a very ensemble plot
- Tumblr fills x 4 in progress, which include a bodyguard AU, a fic about how Michael hates the past tense of the word “loved”, a follow up to one of my Professor Guerin AUs (this one where Alex made an app), and a continuation of the Mylex wing-verse
- Mummy AU, which I just want to get to a certain point before I start posting this as a WIP as well
- Sequel to No Love Like Your Love (today I wrote a scene involving flowers in Alex’s hair)
- A fic where Michael and Alex from 25 years in the future come back in time
- A darkfic which I intend to have done before Halloween with dark!Alex and Liz sort of acting as his foil
- Buzzfeed Unsolved crackfic
- And unstarted is the upcoming one that I’m most excited for that isn’t the cowrite, which is my mental replacement for No Love Like Your Love in that it’s plotty, has aliens, has Mara, has Jesse, and will hopefully be very fun for all
- And there’s a few more unstarted tumblr fills, but they’ll involve some gen Maria & Alex, a future stamp of Maribel from Dr. Isobel Evans, and a missing No Love scene
Do You Accept Prompts
I do. I tend to do it in rounds, but if anyone is jonesing for a continuation of anything I’ve done or wants something new, I’ll never turn it down, especially these days when I have time to write on the daily.
Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For
Cowrite with @michaels-blackhat, but there’s also one I haven’t even plotted, but it involves Michael and Alex as professors at a college, aliens, and Maria as Michael’s ex, who tells Alex that Michael is perfect for him because he’s the best bottom she’s ever met
Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer These Questions
@queersirius @alexmanes @acomebackstory @hazel-athena @insidious-intent
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Me First
Fandom: Star Trek AOS.
Pairing: Leonard McCoy X Female Reader.
Word Count: 2844.
Genre: fluff.
Rating: all ages.
Summary: Modern AU. When your daughter gets sick and her pediatrician’s office can’t see her in a timely fashion, you take her in to a local walk in clinic. The last thing you expect is to wind up a patient, too, and to find yourself smitten with the doctor.
Beta: @starshiphufflebadger.
Note: inspired by a conversation I had with @kittycat-cas.
You sigh inwardly as your daughter clings to your leg, staunchly refusing to let you lift her up to sit on the exam table beside you. You don’t blame her for being scared of doctors’ visits, but it’s still frustrating attempting to get her to cooperate. You have no idea when or why she developed the anxiety, but you’re sure it - like most things - is temporary and will abate on its own in time. In the meantime you’ve just resigned yourself to helping her work through it.
Leaning past her as you wait for the doctor, you deposit your coat and your purse on a nearby chair, freeing your arms to help your daughter with her own layers. You glance around as she shucks her jacket, taking in the posters on the walls of the unfamiliar exam room. You’ve never been to this particular walk-in clinic before, but your daughter’s pediatrician is on vacation and your own doctor is booked solid so you have little choice but to see someone else. The prospect of seeing an unfamiliar doctor is only fueling your daughter’s fear, but she’s had a fever for a few days and you’re concerned that it needs attention sooner rather than later.
“Do you think you can sit on the bed for me?” You ask softly. “I’ll be right beside you, but it’ll make it much easier for the doctor that way.”
She shakes her head.
“What if I sit beside you?” You coax.
She doesn’t agree, but she doesn’t shake her head either. Counting it as a victory, you gently pry her off of your leg and look down, smiling in a reassuring way. You scoop her up easily, sitting her on the bed and keeping one hand on her shoulder to keep her calm as you clamber up beside her. You swing your legs a little, keeping one hand on your daughter’s back and playing a game of “I spy” to pass the time.
A knock on the door distracts you both and you feel your daughter stiffen. The door swings inward a moment later, admitting who you can only assume is the doctor, going by his white coat and the stethoscope hung around his neck. You smile warmly in greeting as he closes the door and turns to look at you and your daughter, and your heart skips a little as you realize how handsome he is.
“Hello, I’m Dr. McCoy,” he says warmly with a smile of his own. “And this must be Isabelle.”
“Bella,” your daughter murmurs quietly from where she’s buried her face in your sweater.
“Bella, then,” the doctor agrees. “What seems to be the trouble?”
You gently rub your daughter’s back as she clings to you, desperately trying to focus on your words rather than on the doctor’s hazel eyes and friendly smile.
“She’s had a fever for a few days,” you explain. “A bit of a cough, too. I’m sure it’s just a virus and a total waste of your time, but I wanted to have her checked just in case.”
“A mother’s worry is never a waste of time,” the doctor assures you. “Have you given her anything to relieve the symptoms?”
You nod.
“I’ve been giving her Tylenol for the fever, but it’s just not breaking,” you reply. “The cough hasn’t been too bad, though, so I’ve just been keeping an eye on it.”
Dr. McCoy nods and sets down the chart he’s holding. He slowly moves in closer to the exam table, crouching down so he’s nearer your daughter’s level. He keeps his expression friendly as he engages her, trying to get her to come out of hiding.
“Bella, darlin’, do you think it would be okay if I gave you a quick check up?” He asks her softly. “It’ll help me figure out what’s wrong so that I can do my best to help make you feel better.”
“I’m not sick,” Bella insists, briefly peeking out from where she’s hiding. “I wanna go home.”
“Well, then, how about you let me take a look so we can prove to your mom that she has nothing to worry about?” He suggests, glancing up at you and flashing you a wink that makes you weak in the knees. “And maybe we can rustle up a sucker and a sticker for you for being a brave girl once you’re all done.”
Bella turns her head a little further at the blatant bribery, finally meeting the doctor’s gaze.
“Can I have the treats first?” She asks shyly.
The doctor chuckles.
“You know, I’ve got a little girl of my own about your age,” he says. “She doesn’t like the doctor much either. She finds it helps make her feel better if the doctor explains everything he’s doing so she’s not surprised by anything. Do you think maybe that would help you?”
Bella considers his words for a few seconds, then nods slowly. Dr. McCoy smiles, rising to his full height and stepping away for a moment, returning with a thermometer. He holds it up for Bella’s inspection and she eyes it warily.
“I’m sure your mom’s checked your temperature lots of times before,” he says. “So if you’re more comfortable that way, I can have her check it now, too.”
Bella shrinks back, clinging to your sweater again.
“Mommy first,” she squeaks.
You smile wryly, keeping a protective arm around her as she leans into you.
“Sorry about that,” you murmur quietly. “Lately she’s felt more comfortable with unfamiliar experiences if I go first, so me first, I guess.”
The doctor smiles warmly, nodding in understanding.
“No problem at all,” he assures you, turning his attention back to Bella with a wink. “That just means we get to give mommy a checkup to make sure she’s healthy, too.”
Bella smiles a little, relaxing as she watches the doctor move toward you. You sit up straight, turning your head a little as he places the thermometer probe in your ear. It only takes a few seconds to get a reading and he glances briefly at the readout before turning it around to show your daughter.
“No fever for mommy,” he explains. “Now let’s see about you.”
Bella watches attentively as he moves away to replace the probe cover before coming back. She sits still, her hand grasping at the hem of your sweater, and allows Dr. McCoy to check her temperature. He’s done in a matter of moments, and he gives your daughter a thumbs up as he checks the reading.
“Great job,” he says. “You do have a fever, but that just means your body is doing a really good job of fighting the germs that are making you sick.”
Bella beams proudly at the praise, her grip on your sweater easing a little. She watches the doctor closely as he sets the thermometer aside and moves on, showing her what he’s going to do and using you as a model. He checks both you and your daughter’s ears and throats without incident. As he moves on to check your lymph nodes, though, you have to fight to suppress a shiver. His hands are warm and gentle and you curse yourself inwardly as he explains to your daughter was he’s doing, blessedly taking no notice of your discomfiture.
You’re both relieved and a little bit sad when he pulls away to examine your daughter instead, missing his touch and scolding yourself for it. You absolutely cannot let yourself have a crush on a likely married, impossibly attractive doctor that you’ll probably never see again. You have enough things to think about without daydreaming about his handsome face and deft hands…
“Ms. Y/L/N?” His voice calls, shaking you out of your reverie.
“Hm?” You intone wordlessly, trying not to look guilty at your clear lack of attention.
“I was just about to show Bella how I’m going to listen to her heart and lungs,” he explains. “Would you mind removing your sweater?”
You nod, feeling heat fill your cheeks. You can feel your heart pounding in your chest and you know you’re doomed: he’s going to hear it racing away and there’ll be no excusing it. You resign yourself to your fate as you disentangle your sweater from Bella’s grasp and pull it off over your head, leaving you in a tank top.
Dr. McCoy flashes you a friendly smile as he steps closer, his lab coat brushing your knees as he leans in with his stethoscope at the ready. You bite the inside of your cheek as he reaches behind you to press the stethoscope to your back, his free hand resting on your shoulder. He’s close enough that you catch just a faint hint of some sort of soap or cologne; something light and fresh. Your already-elevated heart rate ratchets up even further as the scent engulfs you and you stiffen a little. If Dr. McCoy notices, he doesn’t say anything.
He pulls back a moment later and moves the stethoscope to your chest. The lower cut of the tank top gives him direct access to your skin and his fingertips brush just beneath your collarbone as he pauses to listen, making you feel almost dizzy. You haven’t been this infatuated with someone in a very long time and it’s making you feel like a schoolgirl again. Cursing your body’s betrayal, you keep quiet and let him finish, not daring to look at him in case his expression is knowing. You would be mortified.
You breathe a sigh of relief when he pulls away a moment later and turns his attention back to Bella. You watch as she giggles as he offers her the stethoscope.
“Do you want to try it?” He asks her. “It’s pretty neat.”
Bella nods excitedly, reaching out for the instrument. She allows Dr. McCoy to help her put it on and you can’t help but smile at how adorable she looks as he presses it to her chest. She gasps and opens her mouth in surprise as the sound of her heartbeat reaches her ears and she laughs in delight. She listens closely for a few moments before reaching over and tugging on your arm.
“Mommy, mommy! Can I listen to your heartbeat?”
You chuckle softly, nodding and leaning in closer so that the stethoscope reaches. Dr. McCoy presses it to your chest again and you hazard a glance up at him as he holds it in place, letting Bella’s excitement replace her anxiety. His expression is impassive and you allow yourself to hope, perhaps foolishly, that he hasn’t noticed your reactions to his touch.
“Wow, mommy, your heart is so fast!”
Your blood runs cold at your daughter’s exclamation and you let out a nervous laugh before you can think to stop it.
“Mommy’s got a lot on her mind, sweetheart,” you say quickly. “It’s called stress and you’ll learn all about it when you’re older.”
Thankfully Dr. McCoy withdraws at that moment, taking his stethoscope back and sparing you a sympathetic glance. You do your best to arrange your features into a mask of calm as he moves on to focus on Bella again and you’re grateful for her stifled laughter as it covers up the sound of your quickened breathing.
The rest of the exam is a breeze and goes by in a flash, and you’re almost disappointed as he steps aside to call for one of his nurses and make a few notes in Bella’s chart. The nurse arrives moments later and Dr. McCoy comes back over to the exam table, giving Bella a warm smile.
“Bella, this is Chris, my best nurse,” he explains. “She’s going to take you down the hall to pick out some stickers. I just need to talk to your mom for a few minutes and then you’ll be free to go. Sound good?”
“Yeah!” Bella cheers.
She allows him to pick her up and set her on the ground, but before she can run off with the nurse you call after her.
“What do you say to the doctor, Bella?” You ask.
“Thank you!” She replies.
“You’re very welcome, darlin’,” he replies with a laugh. “Now go on before someone takes all the good stickers.”
The nurse holds her hand out and Bella takes it, hurrying the woman out of the room in search of treats. The door to the exam room glides closed in their wake and you’re left alone with Dr. McCoy. You smile in what you hope is a neutral fashion and reach for your sweater.
“So, what’s the prognosis?” You ask lightly.
“Your diagnosis was right on; it’s most likely a virus,” he explains. “She’ll be just fine in a few more days. In the meantime you can keep treating her symptomatically.”
You nod and move to put on your sweater, but Dr. McCoy stops you with a gentle hand on your knee.
“Not so fast,” he says. “I’m not quite through with you.”
Your heart rate picks up again at his words and you lower your arms, letting your sweater drape over your lap.
“This visit wasn’t for me,” you insist politely. “Really, I’m just fine!”
Dr. McCoy doesn’t look convinced. He reaches out to grasp your wrist and his fingertips settle over your pulse as he glances down at his watch.
“Bella could be a great doctor one day; she was certainly right about your heart rate being on the high side,” he says lightly. “Is this normal for you?”
“It gets like that when I’m under duress,” you mumble.
Dr. McCoy raises an eyebrow.
“Duress?”
“When I’m stressed out, or nervous, or smitten,” you blurt, immediately wishing you could take the words back. “You know…”
The doctor hums wordlessly in acknowledgement as he moves on to check your blood pressure. You avert your gaze as he works, looking anywhere but back at him, itching to jump off the table and make your escape, but also wanting to stay and have his hands on you just a little bit longer.
“Miss Y/L/N?”
You force yourself to meet his gaze as he addresses you.
“Y/N is fine,” you say.
“Well then, Y/N, I was just saying that while I’m sure there’s nothing serious going on, your elevated heart rate and blood pressure might warrant a follow up in a week’s time,” he explains. “If I’m making you nervous, I encourage you to check in with your family doctor instead, otherwise I’ll leave word with the girls at the desk and they can book you back in to see me.”
“You’re not making me nervous!” You assure him. “Quite the opposite, actually.”
You’re worried you’ve implied something unwelcome and overstepped your bounds, but the easy smile and playful twinkle in his eye speak volumes. Taking the plunge, figuring you’ll never have to see him again if your instincts are horribly misleading you, you smile back.
“Do you make house calls?” You ask.
His gaze never wavers as he leans casually against the exam table beside you, slipping his free hand into his pocket. He’s so impossibly good looking he might as well have been cut from a magazine cover and you’re suddenly glad for the table beneath you as a dizzying wave of attraction grips you.
“I don’t make a habit of it, but I think I might be persuaded to make an exception.”
You’re grasping at straws for some sort of a clever, flirtatious comeback when Bella’s voice outside the exam room door interrupts your moment with the doctor. He straightens up and you hurriedly pull your sweater on as the door swings open. Bella rushes toward you, her shirt covered sleeve to sleeve and hem to neckline in stickers of all shapes and colors. You can’t help but laugh as you slip off of the exam table and she rushes to hug you around the legs.
“Ready to go, peanut?” You ask.
“Mommy, mommy!” She squeals. “Nurse Chris let me pick as many stickers as I wanted! And she gave me some suckers to take home, too!”
“Okay, okay, you can show me in the car,” you say with a laugh.
You reach for her coat, turning to look at the doctor as you make your way toward the door.
“Thank you again, Dr. McCoy,” you say warmly. “And my number’s in Bella’s file in case you’d like to call and schedule that follow up.”
You wink at him, feeling your cheeks heat as he nods and gives you a friendly wave.
“I’ll be sure to do that, Y/N.”
As you and your daughter make your way down the hall, Christine comes to stand beside Dr. McCoy in the doorway you’ve just left, the two of them watching you go. Chris glances up at him with a knowing smile.
“I’ll leave Bella’s file on your desk, next to your phone,” she says softly. “And we’ll need to replace some of our sticker stock. I’ll have the expense report on your desk by week’s end.”
@star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @feelmyroarrrr @ababyinatrenchcoat @alluramc @medicatemedrmccoy @arrowsshootyouforwards @wonders-of-the-multiverse @devanshade @dolamrothianlady @startrekimagines @theonlyparadox @gaeilgerua @itsjaynebird @thevalesofanduin @elsa-lost-in-translation @thefanficfaerie @gryffindor9whovian @auduna-druitt @archangels-lollipop @bookcaseninja @supermoonpanda @bubblegum-star-trek @the-space-goddess-16 @bkwrm523 @starmission @the-geeky-engineer @startled-seastar @sassmasterqueen @shewolf-2013 @this-obsession-o-mine @littlecarowrites @eyeofdionysus @nasanatmfers @galaxycharmed @battlebunnyteardropsinthesun @kirkaholic123 @viioletdelights @ambie2020 @yallneedtrek @iwillwakeherinthemorning @haveyouseenmymind @sorryallonsy @reading-in-moonlight @mad-girl-without-a-box @itsrandombooklover @all-time-foes @goingknowherewastaken @kickingitwithkirk @sebastianstanslefteyebrow @annathewitch @kawaiiusagichansan @garnet-redtailedhero @djisfantastic @ever-faithful-sidekick @killerbumblebee @lurkch @resistance-is-futile81 @my-life-as-a-fangirl @chook007
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Hey! For the fanfic asks, A, B and V, please! Thanks.😊
Oh! Hi! You’re my first ask ever on this blog! Also, looking back, I ramble a LOT I’m so sorry I love to talk about myself
A. What’s your favorite fandom to write?
This varies wildly by my current fixation, but judging by my massive to-write list, it’s FFVII or Kingdom Hearts (I guess just the Cloud Strife fandom). That said, I’ve done a lot in the Marvel fandoms, but that was all the old fanfic account that I’ve abandoned - I do have more planned for it on this new account though.
B. What’s your favorite fandom to read?
This is a very hard question. My all-time favorite fandom is actually a tie between 3.
Merlin comes in because I love Merlin and the dynamics of the show are amazing, and the exploration of everything the show didn’t cover in fandom makes me weak, and also I am a huge sucker for whump and hurt/comfort and it just lends itself really well to that.
Teen Wolf is another one, and it’s a little ridiculous because I only watched one season because the show didn’t actually appeal all that much to me, but I identify with Stiles hardcore. My favorite fics in the fandom aren’t necessarily ship fics - Hide of a Life War by Etherai (https://archiveofourown.org/works/546446) is quite frankly my favorite fic of all time, simply because of the idea of hidden-BAMF Stiles, the relationship between Stiles and his father, the nuances (and also whump and hurt/comfort again).
And last but certainly not least is Star Trek: AOS. I loved the reboot because it gave me such an amazing take on my favorite fictional character, James T Kirk. Don’t get me wrong, I loved TOS Kirk, but by the time I was in fandom, he was almost untouchable because of my mother’s reverence for him - it felt blasphemous. Then Star Trek 2009 hit and I re-fell in love with Star Trek. For the record, I ship pretty much everything in all fandoms, but Kirk/Bones is my ultimate OTP.
V. Post the Last Sentence You Wrote
Okay, for context, this is a Cloud/Zack modern AU with mutual pining, a one shot that has turned frankly monstrous for a one-shot (with a single sex scene, just one, at almost 6000 words so far and no sign of being close to done yet). The big deal with this one is that my writing style has changed since I started having seizures a couple months ago, and I’m trying not to be bitter about that.
It’s actually also two sentences, sorry.
——-
“Cloud, this won’t be over,” he says, and drops himself, presses their bodies together in a delicious way, rolls his hips against Cloud’s and presses his lips to the line of Cloud’s jaw. “This isn’t a one-and-done thing for me. I’m gonna want you tonight, tomorrow, and every day after that.”
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Will you go on a kissing adventure with me?
Hello! I am hoping to do a kissing challenge for the month of February. If you’d like to go on this adventure with me, it’s simple! Send me an answer to the following:
TOS or AOS (of course we’re doing star trek)
Optional: AU (e.g. Mirror!Verse, modern setting, etc)
Character A and Character B
Location: Mouth, Forehead, Neck, Shoulder, Hand, etc
My goal is to get a sketch up every day for the month of February!
#animemuffin trash talking#spones#mckirk#star trek#star trek TOS#Star Trek: The Original Series#star trek aos#st: aos
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Confectionery Crush
Fandom: Star Trek AOS (Modern AU)
Pairing: Leonard McCoy / Carol Marcus (McCarol)
Prompt: No prompt - inspired by a sweet shop here in town.
Word Count: 15,020
Rating: PG
Notes: Leonard discovers a new sweet shop that just opened up and begins a sugary descent into falling for the owner. Includes plenty of Dad!Leonard and so much fluff your teeth will rot. Even if you don’t usually like McCarol, if you love fluff and meet-cutes, I think you’ll like this :D
Leonard stifled a yawn as he put his right foot down, slowing his truck as it came up to yet another traffic light. He glanced at his watch and noted he was running quite early, as usual; he was due at the clinic at noon and it was only a quarter after eleven. Figuring he’d get coffee before his shift, he drove the rest of the way to work in a bit of daze, thanks to a terrible sleep the night before. It had been unbearably hot and humid and his air conditioner was on the fritz, so he’d tossed and turned all night, his lone fan doing little besides pushing the muggy air around.
Five minutes later, as he pulled into the large parking lot that housed multiple businesses and his clinic, the “Now Open!” sign on a nearby store caught his attention.
“Carol’s Sweets,” he muttered out loud, reading the business name as he pulled into a parking spot halfway between the sweet shop and his clinic. He glanced at his watch and saw he still had plenty of time. His tired expression softened as he decided he’d go into the new shop and see if there was anything Joanna might like. She’d been having a rough few days at school; Leonard wanted to put a smile back on that beautiful face, and what better way to do it than with candy? Leonard knew she was sucker for any kind of gummies or jelly beans, so as he got out of his car and closed the door, he resolved to buy her the biggest bag of multi-coloured gummies possible (not to eat all at once, of course – he was still a doctor, after all.)
A musical chiming noise sounded as he pushed open the door and he sagged in relief as a wave of cold air washed over him. Aside from gratitude at the reprieve from the heat, Leonard’s first thought was “whoa.” In front of him was the most colourful store he’d ever seen. There were bright blue shelving units arranged in neat rows in the centre of the floor space, nearly overflowing with candies of all sorts. Along one wall were shelves upon shelves of chocolate bars and boxes of chocolates, both ones he easily recognized and ones he was sure were imported. There was a small section at the back of foreign confectionary, and a long counter and display case full of handmade chocolates and fudge. He walked towards the back in a different kind of daze, mesmerized by the abundance of products; he’d never honestly realized just how many types of candy, chocolate and other sweets existed, and it was kind of blowing his mind. In the back corner, spreading halfway along the last side wall, were dozens of small bins hanging from the wall, brimming with every gummy he could imagine and then some. A smile broke out over his face and he immediately reached for a bag on the wall, selected a nearby bin of bright gummy butterflies and began to scoop some into the bag.
“Hi there, finding everything you need?”
A pleasant female voice with a British accent posed the question from behind him. Leonard dropped the scoop back into its holder and turned, looking around. A woman who was clearly the shopkeeper was standing there, holding several bags of candy in her arms and smiling warmly at him. She had blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders in gentle waves and she had intelligent but kind eyes.
“Yes, thank you,” Leonard said, politely smiling back. “My daughter is in need of a pick-me-up and you have an amazing assortment here,” Leonard said, gesturing to all the bins of candy in front of them.
“Did this place just open? I’ve never noticed it before.”
“Oh, yes,” the woman said, walking a few feet away, putting the bags of candy in their place and then returning to him. “I just opened for the first time yesterday. I’m Carol.” She held out her hand, and he smiled and took it. He stared at her for a moment, caught by her eyes - they were heterochromic, one greyish brown and one blue, and they were absolutely striking.
“Leonard,” he replied, shaking her hand after shaking himself. “Carol. So you’re the Carol, then?” He asked, gesturing around. She laughed.
“Yes, the Carol.” Carol agreed, chuckling. “I went with a very direct name, I know.” Leonard nodded and smiled, and she clapped her hands together in a business-like way. “Well, if you need anything, let me know!”
“I will,” Leonard confirmed, watching her as she smiled, walked away and disappeared into a side room behind a second counter. Stepping back so he could see farther, Leonard noticed the display case under this counter held more intricate chocolates and some small but fancy cakes.
Smiling to himself without even noticing, Leonard scooped up quite a few different kinds of gummies until the bag he was holding bulged with the multicoloured treats. Carol had reappeared from the back room, and Leonard decided he had more than enough candy for one eight year old.
“Wow, your daughter is a lucky girl,” Carol commented warmly as he approached with the large bag. Leonard chuckled as he set the bag down on her scale and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
“I definitely spoil her,” Leonard admitted, watching as she weighed the candies and input the total into the till. “But she deserves it.” He swiped his card as Carol handed him the bag of gummies, sealed with a purple ribbon tied around it.
“Well, she has a great dad then.” Carol said, and he grinned.
“I sure hope she thinks that too,” Leonard chuckles. “I’m all she’s got, so she’s stuck with me.”
“Let me know if she likes the candies,” Carol said, still smiling, as Leonard tucked his wallet back into his pocket.
“I guarantee you she will, but… will do,” Leonard agreed, his eyes lingering on her face for a fraction of a second longer than was strictly necessary. “You have a good day now,” he told her as he turned to leave.
“You too. Thanks for coming in!” Carol waved at him as he stepped out of the door and he wandered across the parking lot, lost in thought. She had been so charming, and Leonard unexpectedly found himself thinking about her several times that day, in lulls between patients, on his lunch break and when he walked back to his vehicle after his shift was over. He could see easily into the well-lit store in the dim the light outside, and was actually considering going to say hi when he realized it wasn’t her behind the counter, but a teenager wearing a matching apron and name tag. Of course, she couldn’t be there all the time, obviously she’d have to hire someone for the evenings, but Leonard was surprised at the soft pang of disappointment he felt. Shaking it off, he headed home and gave the bag of gummies to a gloomy Joanna, who immediately perked up and dove into the bag enthusiastically.
-----
The next day, Leonard headed into work early again, parking in the same spot halfway between Carol’s shop and his clinic, and found himself walking towards the candy shop instead of the cafe, where he’d intended to get coffee. Carol was standing behind the counter nearest him, entering something into a tablet, but she looked up as soon as she heard the door.
“Leonard!” she exclaimed cheerfully. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Did your daughter like the gummies?”
“She loved them,” he said with a fond smile, remembering her excitement when he’d presented her with them. “Though she went to bed two hours late because I was an idiot and gave them to her too close to bedtime,” he chuckled a little and shrugged. “Worth it, though. Haven’t seen her smile that much in a while.”
“That’s great!” Carol beamed, setting her tablet down on the counter. “I’m glad. So, what brings you in now? More treats for your daughter?”
“Her name’s Joanna,” Leonard told her, then continued, “and no, she’s got enough to last her a month, though I highly doubt it actually will.”
He paused; why had he come in then? Suddenly, saying ‘because I wanted to tell you she liked the candies’ seemed kind of lame. Carol seemed to be politely waiting for an answer, so he glanced around for motivation and his eyes fell on the display of fudge.
“I, uh- came in because I’ve been craving chocolate lately,” he invented wildly. “I try not to eat too many sweets, but, um… that fudge looks delicious,” he said, taking a step to the side and gesturing vaguely in the direction of the fudge.
“Oh, caught your eye yesterday, did it?” she asked him with a smile, and he nodded, glad of an excuse. “What flavour would you like?” she inquired, moving closer to the fudge and slipping on a pair of gloves.
“Um…” Leonard stared down at his options. There were over a dozen different flavours and he had no clue what would taste good. He hadn’t had fudge since he was a young boy and couldn’t remember what he had liked back then. Seeing his hesitation, she smiled.
“I’m pretty good at predicting what people like,” Carol told him. “Would you like me to choose for you?”
“Yes, please,” Leonard agreed, relieved. “There’s so many options, I just can’t decide.” He felt his heart skip a beat as she laughed softly in response and watched her bend towards the display, looking over the flavours.
“Hmm… I think we’ll start you out with a nice, basic chocolate fudge,” she said, pulling a slice of it out of the case and setting it into a small box. “Rich, but simple.” She looked up at him thoughtfully as she tied a green ribbon around the box to keep it closed. “You look like a man who enjoys the simple pleasures in life,” she said softly, pointedly making eye contact.
Leonard cleared his throat slightly and blinked, realizing he’d been staring directly into her gaze for several long moments.
“Ah, yes, I do,” he agreed. He hesitated, then continued. “Give me bourbon and some barbeque and I’m a happy guy,” he told her, cringing internally at the awkwardness in his tone and a slightly nervous laugh. She smiled as she pulled off her gloves, watching him. He could see something calculating in her gaze, and felt himself flush a bit pink.
“I, uh, need to start work soon, so…” he said, nervously scratching his cheek with a finger and trying to sound casual.
“Oh, of course,” Carol replied, immediately scooping up the box of fudge and bringing it over to the till. She rang him up and he reached out for the box, but she hesitated for a moment before she handed it over to him.
“It was nice to see you again, Leonard,” she told him, and he could hear the genuine sincerity in her voice. “I want to know what you think of that fudge, alright?”
Leonard nodded, tucked his wallet into his pocket, said goodbye and left the store with a slightly awkward wave, wondering what on earth was going on with him. He had become as awkward as a schoolboy, and when she’d looked at him, he’d suddenly been all too aware of his heart pounding in his chest.
Leonard walked over to his clinic, still clutching the ribboned box as he walked in the door.
“Mornin’ Dr. McCoy,” his receptionist greeted him, smiling warmly as she always did. He glanced over at her as her eyes found the box he was holding and she quirked an eyebrow in curiosity. “What’ve you got there?”
“Morning Alyssa,” he replied, shifting the box to his other hand and slipping it into his pocket. “Nothing, it’s just… a thing. It’s nothing. I’m gonna go get ready.”
He gave her a brief, awkward smile and hurried through the hallway back to his office before she could question him further. He sighed as he sat down at his desk and slipped the box out of his pocket again, staring at it for a moment before putting it into his top desk drawer. Why hadn’t he just said it was fudge? It wasn’t like she would’ve questioned him, considering there really was a new sweet shop right across the parking lot. His awkward deflection had likely made her far more suspicious of him if he’d just said ‘Oh I got some fudge from the new store.’
He shook himself mentally; there was nothing to be suspicious about anyway! Leonard didn’t understand why he was suddenly acting so weirdly. He searched his own feelings and mind for a moment, and realized he was worried that people would suspect he had a thing for the woman at the candy store. But why would he even be concerned about that? He’d only met her twice, and yes, he was thinking about her a lot, but it was only natural to think about a pleasant person you’d just met, wasn’t it? He was only thinking about her wavy blonde hair, her bright eyes, her warm smile… oh. Leonard closed his eyes and swore under his breath as it finally clicked. He was glad no one was in the office with him because his cheeks had gone faintly pink. Could he really have already developed a crush on Carol, someone he had known for all of 40-odd hours?
Leonard shook himself again. A crush? What was he, 13? Shaking his head and standing up, he did his best to put Carol out of his mind as he slipped into a lab coat and draped a stethoscope around his neck. He didn’t have time to deal with this – between running his clinic and taking care of Joanna, he had quite enough on his plate. He fought to keep this thought at the forefront of his brain as he went about his day, refusing to admit it when he lapsed and her hair or smile crept back into his thoughts.
----
A few days passed. He managed to not go into Carol’s Sweets, going directly into his clinic two days in a row, even parking closer than normal so the temptation wouldn’t be as great. The third day was a Saturday - Leonard had the weekend off, so he and Joanna spent Saturday at a nearby waterpark, splashing around and sunburning their faces. On Sunday they slept in late, Joanna stumbling sleepily out of her room after 10am, her hair a mess, her favourite stuffed elephant’s trunk clutched in her hand, his body dragging along the floor.
“Mornin’ Pumpkin,” Leonard greeted her, chuckling as she climbed clumsily into a chair and yawned so widely he could see her tonsils. “Did you have fun yesterday?”
“Yeah! The slides were the best!” Joanna grinned at him, and he smiled as he affectionately reached over to muss up her hair even more. “Are you makin’ pancakes?!”
“Yup, and they’re banana,” he replied, laughing as she cheered enthusiastically. “Your favourite, I know!”
“Yummy!!” Joanna jumped down from her chair, set the table at lightning speed and then plopped back into her seat, holding a fork, ready to chow down the instant a pancake hit her plate. Leonard brought over a stack and dropped two onto her plate. He watched, trying to hold back laughter, as she clumsily buttered them and poured syrup over them, with no signs of stopping even as the syrup began to pool on the plate and spread towards the edges.
“Okay, Jojo, that’s enough syrup,” he chided gently, reaching out and taking the bottle from her. Unabashed, Joanna immediately began to stuff her mouth as Leonard got his own food ready.
“So what do you want to do today?” Leonard asked her, watching in amazement as she finished her first pancake before he’d taken more than two bites of his. “Do you want to go to the park? Or the mall? The candy store?” -- Wait, why had he said the last thing?! He’d been studiously avoiding the thought of Carol for days, which had been quite a task considering how often she’d popped into his head.
“Yeah!! The candy store!!” Joanna practically yelled, excitement shining in her eyes. “I want more gummies!!”
“You still have half a bag, Jojo,” Leonard said, shaking his head slightly and reaching out with a napkin to wipe away the syrup dripping down her chin. “Why don’t we go to the park? I heard there’s a new jungle gym---”
“You said candy store! I wanna go to the candy store!” She stared at him resolutely as she stuffed another bite of pancake into her mouth. “Candy store!”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Leonard said automatically as bits of pancake flew out of her mouth while she chewed and spoke at the same time. He watched as she swallowed the large bite with difficulty and stared at him, knowing she wasn’t going to back down. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the pa—”
“No!”
Leonard sighed. He could straight up tell her no, but he knew she’d be sad and he didn’t want to see the happiness leave that face just now. She’d had such a rough time at school lately that all he wanted was to put that wonderful, bright smile on her face, and so he knew he had no choice.
“Alright, fine,” he relented, and Joanna pumped her fist twice before stuffing her face once more. “But we’re going to the park, too. If you’re good, then we can go to the candy store afterwards.”
“Ah be goo’!” she replied earnestly, pancake bits falling over her chin as she tried to speak with her mouth full again. Leonard touched his fingers to his forehead with an internal sigh, but Joanna seemed to think it was hilarious, and he couldn’t help but enjoy the giggles that followed.
A few minutes later they’d finished their breakfast and gone back upstairs to get ready. After she’d gotten dressed, Leonard carefully brushed her hair, proud of himself when she only yelled at him twice for the tangles hurting. He quickly braided her hair, the plait hanging halfway down her back by the time he was done. He wrapped the end with a bright purple hair tie and kissed the top of her head.
“Thanks Daddy! I’m gonna go play ‘till you’re done.”
“Okay baby,” Leonard agreed, patting her back as she hopped down from the stool she’d been standing on and tore away down the hall towards her room. Leonard sighed a little as he quickly got dressed, pulling on jeans and a tshirt, slipping a pair of sunglasses onto the V of the neckline. He pocketed his wallet and grabbed his keys as tried to convince himself that he wasn’t absolutely looking forward to seeing Carol again. He kept reminding himself that he didn’t have time for a ‘crush’ right now. Besides, it was Sunday – Carol owned the shop, what were the chances she’d be working on the weekend? Probably not great. She’d likely have hired someone for weekends as well as the teen he’d seen in there that one evening.
Trying not to notice that the thought he likely wouldn’t see her made him feel relieved but also disappointed, he collected Joanna, loaded her into the truck and they were off. Perhaps, he mused, as Joanna sang horribly along with the radio, she would misbehave and they wouldn’t have to go to the candy store at all.
A few hours later, she was finished playing, and Leonard hadn’t detected even an ounce of misbehavior. She’d been great with the other kids, had even shared her swing (something she normally wasn’t very generous about) and had had a great time. Hoping she’d forgotten about the candy store, he wrapped his arms around her as she wandered over and stopped in front of him.
“You all done, sugar?” he asked, smoothing back the hair that had come loose from her braid.
“Yeah, Manda an’ Bobby had to go home and I’m gettin’ tired,” she said, climbing up into his lap and leaning on him, her small body giving off a ton of heat after running around in the afternoon sun.
“Alright,” he said, kissing her sweaty forehead. “Let’s head home then, sweetpea.”
“Home?” she asked, sitting up straighter in his lap. “Nuh uh, you said if I was good, we’re gonna go to the candy store! And I was real good!” Leonard held in a sigh. He should’ve known she wouldn’t forget; she was way too intelligent to be distracted like that.
“I did say that, didn’t I?” he mused, and she nodded vigorously. “Alright, alright. Anything for you, Pumpkin,” he said, scooping her into his arms as he stood up.
“YAY!” she yelled, her cheer turning to giggles as he spun around with her a few times before setting her down. Full of renewed energy, she sprinted off towards the parking lot, skidding to a halt beside the truck and bouncing in place as she waited for him. Shaking his head and unable to banish a smile as the affection he felt for her swept over him for the millionth time already that day, he let her into the vehicle, hopped in, and then they were off.
Joanna was singing along to the radio again, making up words when she didn’t know the lyrics, but Leonard wasn’t really paying attention. His heart had started beating faster when he’d turned down the street that lead to his clinic and the sweet shop, and as the brightly coloured sign came into view, he swallowed a bit thickly, reminding himself that she likely wasn’t even there today.
“Yay! Candy store! Candy store!” Joanna chanted as he pulled into a parking space in front of the shop, unbuckling her belt and opening the door before he’d even shut down the engine.
“Hold on, Joanna-” he started, but she’d already flung open her door, leapt out, slammed the door and was running towards the shop. Sighing, Leonard quickly hopped out of the truck, locked the doors and followed her, the door to the shop already closed again by the time he’d gotten there.
His hand remained on the door handle for a moment longer than necessary as he took a bit of a deep breath before opening it and stepping inside. The cool air that smelled irresistibly of fresh chocolate hit him at once and he inhaled, his eyes closing for a moment. Even for him, someone who didn’t eat sweets much, the place smelled incredible. He immediately glanced towards the counter, not sure if he was expecting to see her or a teenager standing there, but was greeted with the sight of no one. Realizing whoever was working was probably in the back after a quick glance around the store showed him no one was around, Leonard shook himself slightly and returned his attention to his daughter, who was running up and down the short aisles, trying to take everything in at once.
“There’s so much cool stuff here!!” she exclaimed excitedly, bringing him a handful of bright coloured packages to look at. “Look!” She threw another package down on top of the handful of other things; he struggled to keep hold of them all as she bounced in front of him.
“Hanna at school gets these in her lunches once a week!” she said, pointing. “And Bradley always has these ring candy things,” she explained, putting yet another package onto the bulging pile on his hands.
Leonard shook his head as she choose a few more things at lightning speed and dumped them into his hands. He struggled to position his hands, spreading his fingers as wide as possible, but he was in severe danger of dropping everything.
“Baby, I think you need to slow down, I can’t hold all of these,” Leonard said, trying to shift his arms to get a better grip. Before Joanna could say anything, a pleasant, amused voice spoke up behind him.
“Would you like a basket, Leonard?”
Carol had appeared behind him without his knowledge, and he inhaled sharply in surprise, jumping enough that all but two of the packages fell from his hands and scattered all over the floor around him. Fighting the urge to run, he felt his cheeks and the tips of his ears colouring up again as he stared down at the brightly coloured packages at his feet. He could practically feel her smiling and trying not to laugh behind him, and he was torn between laughing himself and feeling like a complete moron.
“Yes, please, I think that would be a good idea,” he said, clearing his throat as his voice came out slightly choked. She let out a small laugh behind him and he could hear her moving away to retrieve a basket.
“I’ll help!” Joanna said, running back over to him and starting to scoop the packages off the floor as he crouched and did the same. Carol returned and put the basket on the floor next to them, and Joanna had fun treating it like a basketball hoop, tossing her candies in with surprising accuracy. He could sense that Carol was still standing there, watching him, and he took his time gathering the last of the things he’d dropped, running through all the things he could say in his head.
“Daddy, why is your face all pink?” Joanna asked suddenly, reaching out to touch his cheek. “And so warm!”
Leonard felt his heart plummet into his stomach as he thought he heard a soft exhale of laughter behind him and felt his cheeks growing even warmer. He swore internally, wishing there was a dignified way to get out of this, but he could see none.
“Um, Daddy’s just hot,” he said desperately. “I got a bit of a sunburn. We were outside for a long time today, right baby?”
“Yup!” Joanna took her hand away from Leonard’s cheek and beamed up at Carol. “We were at the park all day! The one with the really good monkey bars!”
“Wow, that sounds really fun!” Carol replied, and Leonard took her moment of distraction as an opportunity to stand and collect himself before slowly turning around.
“Yeah! And I even skipped a bar!” Joanna told her excitedly.
“That’s amazing!” Carol said, acting appropriately impressed. “High five!” She held out her palm and Joanna slapped it with great enthusiasm. Carol looked over at Leonard, who looked torn between amusement and horror, his cheeks still quite pink and an expression of embarrassment in his eyes.
“Would you introduce me, Leonard?”
“Carol, this is my daughter, Joanna. Joanna, this is Carol. She owns this place.” Leonard said, his voice a bit more formal than he intended, still keen to get her attention away from him until the flush left him.
“Hi Joanna,” Carol said with a smile, crouching down a bit to be closer to her level. “It’s nice to finally meet you!” Joanna took her hand as Carol offered it, shaking it, while gaping open-mouthed at Carol.
“You own this candy store? That’s so cool!!” Joanna exclaimed, practically jumping up and down. “That means you can eat as much candy as you want!”
“Jojo, that’s not how it works,” Leonard began, smiling at her exuberance. “It’s-”
“-Actually,” Carol cut in, shooting a sideways smile at Leonard. “That’s exactly how it works,” she told Joanna with a wink, who looked at her in amazement.
“Daddy, I wanna own a candy store when I grow up!” Joanna told him, tugging excitedly on his hand. “It’s gonna be great!!”
“Okay, Jojo,” Leonard agreed, knowing it was best to just humour her. He gestured to the basket. “Go easy on the candy today though, please… I’m not buying you all of this.” Predictably, Joanna ignored this and flounced off without a word, presumably to find more things to coerce him into buying.
“She’s adorable, Leonard,” Carol said, smiling as Joanna disappeared around a corner, exclaiming as she found something new and interesting every few feet. “You must be so proud.”
“I sure am,” Leonard replied genuinely, his pride and love for his daughter overriding his awkwardness for a moment. “She’s my whole world.” He glanced over to see Carol smiling at him, and felt his heart skip several beats at the warmth in her eyes.
“I bet she’s got you wrapped around her little finger,” Carol said teasingly, and Leonard laughed.
“Like a boa constrictor, yeah,” he agreed, watching as Joanna discovered the gummy wall and yelped with glee. “Jojo, no! You still have gummies at home!”
“Awww, but Daddy!”
“I said no!”
“Pleeeeeeeeease?”
Leonard glanced at Carol, who could clearly see his will crumbling and was highly amused by it. He sighed, admitting his loss, then looked back over at Joanna.
“Fine. But only a few!”
“YAY! Thanks Daddy!”
“Yep, like a boa constrictor is right,” Carol laughed as Leonard looked back at her, defeated.
“I give up. One of these days I’m going to say yes when she inevitably asks for a horse, or something.” Leonard shook his head, well aware he was a pushover when it came to Joanna, but he couldn’t help it.
“Well, I think it’s cute,” Carol said smoothly, giving him a rather coy smile. After checking to make sure Joanna was still occupied with the candies, she added: “Just like you.”
Leonard had been about to open his mouth to say something else, but his words died in his throat as he absorbed the compliment. She thought he was cute? How was he supposed to respond to that? He stared at her, his mouth still slightly open, for many long seconds as he attempted to think of a thing to say, the word “cute” echoing around his brain in her voice.
“I, uh, thanks?” he stammered, not even sure what was coming out of his mouth. “You’re, uh… I think you’re cute too.”
Carol smiled at him with a little wink as Joanna mercifully came running up at that moment, clutching a bag bulging with gummies.
“I tried to only get a few,” Joanna explained, handing the bag over to Carol so she could seal it. “But there were so many kinds, I hadta try everything!!”
“Okay baby,” Leonard said, still distracted, watching Carol as she patted Joanna on the shoulder and lead her over to the counter, where she could put a tie around the bag.
“That’s totally understandable,” Carol told her, chuckling. “You have to try a little of everything!”
“Yeah!” Joanna agreed, bouncing up and down. Leonard eventually made his way over to the counter, feeling pleased but considerably flustered at what had just happened.
“You can have the gummies and two things from the basket, Jojo,” Leonard said, coming to his senses for a moment and noting the mountain of packages in the basket plus the bulging bag of gummies. Joanna looked like she wanted to complain, but thought better of it and somewhat reluctantly chose the two biggest things from the basket to go with the bag.
“I can put these away,” Leonard said, gesturing to the leftovers in the basket.
“No, not at all,” Carol said, waving away his offer. “It’s my job, plus I actually know where everything goes… I feel like it’d take you a while to sort it all out,” she said, with a teasing tone. Leonard looked at the multitude of brightly coloured packages in the basket and had to admit she had a point.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Okay, I’ll pay for these then.” Carol rang him up, and as he was paying, she spoke again.
“Oh, how did you like the fudge, by the way? Did you enjoy it?”
“Oh, ah…” Leonard firmly banished the mental image of him devouring the fudge in his office, practically moaning from how delicious it had tasted. “It was good.”
“Just good, hm?” Carol asked with a sly tone to her voice, clearly seeing through him. “Well, I think you should try a different kind, then. See if its more your flavour.”
She smiled and excused herself, moving to the fudge counter and coming back a minute later with a box identical to the one she’d given him the first time, though it was tied with a red ribbon this time.
“Okay, I’ll try it,” he said, accepting the box as she handed it over, feeling flustered again as she looked at him unwaveringly, a knowing smile in place. “How much do I owe you?”
“It’s on the house,” she told him, and his eyebrows arched in surprise. “On one condition.” He nodded a bit warily, and she smiled before she went on.
“You have to promise to come back and tell me how it was. Honestly this time.” Leonard had to clear his throat before he could speak again, and managed to smile back at her.
“Deal. Come on, Jojo.” Leonard handed the bag of candies to his daughter as he slipped his wallet back into his pocket, glancing back at Carol as they headed for the door. He paused, then spoke up again: “I have a week of holidays starting tomorrow… but I will come back next week.” He told her, and she nodded, pointing at him.
“I’ll hold you to that, Leonard. Have a great holiday.”
“Bye candy lady! Thank you!” Joanna yelled as she pushed open the door, and as Leonard waved goodbye, the last thing he saw was Carol’s amused smile as she waved back; an image that would be plastered into his brain for the next week.
---------
That night, after Joanna had gone to bed and he was flopped on the couch, Leonard took out the little box of fudge. He tugged gently on one end of the ribbon until it gave way and came loose, then flipped open the flap of the box. A little note fluttered out from beneath the lid and he unfolded it to read the message:
Chili dark chocolate fudge
For those who like a little spice in their lives
Intrigued, Leonard took a small bite of the fudge (which looked almost identical to the plain chocolate fudge he’d had earlier that week) and almost instantly moaned as the flavour hit his tongue. The chocolate was rich and sweet and the heat of the chili melded so well with the other flavours that he closed his eyes and let out a soft groan, collapsing back into the sofa cushions as he let the fudge melt on his tongue. She had certainly been right about one thing; she was excellent at predicting what people would like. Or, at least what he would like. Leonard tried to limit himself to only part of the fudge, but he couldn’t stop; it was just too damn delicious.
He went to bed a while later, still imagining the taste of it on his tongue even after he’d brushed his teeth, and he imagined how the meeting with Carol would go; he was reluctant to tell her it had been practically orgasmic, but he knew he needed to find the right words to praise her for her incredible skill. He fell asleep with the thoughts still mulling around his head, and eventually fell into a dream where Carol was teaching him how to make the fudge, a dream which ended with the two of them leaning against the counter with his hands around her waist, kissing her deeply…
-------------
On Wednesday Carol found herself in the backroom of her shop with about a million things to do. Her hired part-timer, Finn, was out front manning the store while she did all the baking and candy making for the next few days. It was hot work, so she was only wearing shorts, a tank top and an apron, and still she was sweating. Wonderful smells were filling the back room, however, and even though the work was difficult, Carol loved it.
She donned a pair of thick gloves as she worked with a large blob of hot, pliable candy, stretching and shaping it by hand. She occasionally sang along with the radio as she worked, or hummed along as she kneaded and pulled the confectionery.
Everything was going great until she dumped another large pot of steaming candy onto her working table. The candy spread over the surface of the table as she replaced the pot, and she didn’t notice that some was oozing off the edge until it was too late. Carol let out a soft cry of pain as some of the molten candy found the skin of her thigh, immediately starting to burn into her flesh.
Instinctively, she reached down with her bare hand and attempted to wipe away the hot goo, letting out a gasp of pain as she felt it burn into her hand as well. Cursing her own stupidity, Carol hurried over to the sink and turned on the cold water, thrusting her hand into the stream with a slight hiss of pain. After a few moments the pain in her hand numbed under the icy deluge, but her leg was excruciating. Carol retrieved a cloth, got it sopping wet and placed it over the large burn on her lower thigh, both sighing with relief and wincing from the pain.
Carol looked up as Finn stuck his head in the door, a concerned look on his face.
“You okay, Carol?” he asked, his eyes finding the cloth she had pressed to her thigh. “What happened?”
“Oh, some of the hot candy got me,” Carol said, trying to sound casual and like she wasn’t in a good deal of pain. Being the bright kid that he was, Finn didn’t miss the strained tone to her voice.
“Maybe you should go see a doctor,” he suggested, frowning. “Burns can be serious.”
“I know, Finn, but I don’t have a family doctor here yet,” Carol sighed, peeling back the cloth to peer at the burn and wincing. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“The clinic on the other side of the parking lot takes walk-ins,” he argued, shaking his head. “Seriously, I can watch the store. Go and get that looked at.” Carol raised her eyebrow at the command in his tone and he blushed slightly, then smiled.
“I just want that to heal as fast as it can. Sorry, my parents are both doctors,” he said, and she laughed lightly.
“Perhaps you’re right. Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own for a while?” she asked, standing up properly and carefully pulling the cloth away from the wound. Finn winced as the whole burn was revealed to him, an angry pink wound that was already blistering.
“Of course, it’s no busier now than in the evenings. I’m fine.”
“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Carol retrieved her wallet and was about to leave when she thought to grab a cloth, soaked in cold water, to bring with her. That way if she had to wait for a while, she’d have at least some relief from the burning sensation.
Carol left her shop and hurried across the parking lot, limping slightly and wincing at the continued burning of her leg and hand. She could tell the burns were deep and she was not thrilled to be getting them looked at; any poking or prodding was surely going to hurt a great deal.
She made it to the clinic quickly, considering the pain in her leg, and limped her way up to the front desk. She told the receptionist why she was there, taking a step back to show the young woman the burn on her leg.
“Ouch, that looks painful,” the woman said, sympathetically. “Well, have a seat, I’ll let Dr. McCoy know you’re here.”
Carol nodded and sat herself down in a chair, folded up the cloth and pressed it to her leg with her burned hand, trying to absorb the chill on both burns. It didn’t seem like there was anyone ahead of her except the doctor’s current patient, of whom she could hear the muffled voice through the walls.
A few minutes later a middle aged woman appeared from the hallway leading towards the exam rooms, briefly stopped at the desk and then left the clinic, leaving silence in her wake. Almost immediately, the receptionist ushered Carol into a room and gave her a hand up onto the bed. This left Carol feeling a bit embarrassed, but, as she discovered, it hurt her leg burn a lot to bend and stretch the skin tight.
“The doctor will be right in.”
Carol nodded and gave her a smile of thanks before replacing the cloth on her leg, once again holding it in place by the burned side of her hand. She hoped the doctor would hurry; burns or not, she still had a lot of work to do today; she hadn’t even started on her cakes yet and she had three orders to fill before the next afternoon.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check if there were any other orders she needed to finish, trying to prioritize in her mind, when the door opened. She was still looking down at her phone when a surprisingly familiar voice filled the room.
“Hi there, I’m Dr. McCoy, what-- Carol?”
Carol’s head snapped up; there, standing before her in jeans, a plaid long-sleeved shirt and a unbuttoned labcoat with the sleeves pushed up was none other than Leonard, a stethoscope hanging casually around his neck. Her mouth fell open slightly as her eyes widened in surprise, her brain coming to a screeching halt as he stepped all the way into the room and closed the door behind him. Questions were racing through her brain: What was he doing here? He was a doctor? Why did he look so good in those clothes? He was a doctor?! It suddenly occurred to her that she’d never actually asked him what he did for a profession, and her senses were having a bit of trouble catching up with her racing thoughts.
“I, uh, h-- Leonard,” she managed to get out, stumbled over her words. “I- I didn’t know you worked here,” she said, cringing inwardly. He hardly just “worked” there, this was clearly his clinic. He smiled, and she got the distinct feeling that he was relieved she was on the awkward, fumbling side of things this time. She could feel her cheeks flushing a bit and attempted a smile, though it felt awkward and alien on her face in that moment. Leonard grabbed the nearby wheely stool and sat down on it, holding a folder to his chest as his eyes swept her in a very practiced, measured way, clearly checking for outward symptoms.
“Yup, this is my work,” he said, gesturing around them with one hand. “I guess I never mentioned that, hm?”
“Nope, no you did not,” Carol agreed, her voice still a bit weak from the surprise of it all. Her heart was fluttering and she felt unsettled, not used to being caught so off guard. Honestly the fact that it was metaphorically knocking her off balance so much was a testament to how deeply she was into her crush on this man, something that both amused her and made her feel very vulnerable. Indeed, sitting here on this bed before him was making her feel exposed, and his smile faded as he seemed to sense this.
“Oh, I hope this isn’t going to make it weird,” Leonard said, sounding concerned. “Unfortunately I’m the only doctor at this clinic, so if you’d rather see someone else you’ll have to come back tomorrow…” He sounded a bit sad, and she wondered if he’d be hurt if she left. She knew he would understand if she declined, but at the same time…
“Ah, well, no, it’s okay,” she said, cursing inwardly as she still couldn’t quite get a handle on her words. “I’ll admit I don’t really like physician’s offices in the first place, so maybe having a friendly face will help,” she shrugged with a small smile, which he returned.
“Besides… I probably shouldn’t wait until tomorrow to get checked out,” she admitted, wincing as she shifted her leg and the pain flared up again.
“What happened?” he asked, setting down his clipboard and reaching for her. Carol grimaced and then slowly peeled back the wet cloth, revealing the ugly pink burn on the front of her thigh that was already starting to blister.
“Wow, are you okay?” he asked, a bit alarmed, crouching in front of her for a better look. His fingers hovered around the edges of the wound, not quite touching it, but she braced herself for the pain just in case. Even just his body heat was making the pain a little worse, though she attempted to hide the pain, not wanting him to think she was weak.
“Yeah, it’s just a little painful.” Carol swallowed a bit harder than she meant to and nearly choked as he looked up at her with an eyebrow raised.
“A little painful?” Leonard said skeptically, looking up at her. “These are clearly second degree burns, I’d imagine it’s excruciating.” Carol attempted to uphold the facade for another moment before she caved, slouching slightly as she nodded.
“Yeah alright, that was bollocks. It hurts like a bitch,” she admitted, letting out a small, self-deprecating laugh. He gave her a sympathetic smile and chuckle, then gathered some supplies as she sat there, trying not to think both about the pain and about how awkward she was feeling.
“So how did it happen?” Leonard asked, moving back to her side with a small bottle and a large stack of gauze. He pulled on a pair of blue gloves and picked up the bottle again.
“I was making hard candy and some of it dripped onto my leg almost immediately after I dumped it on the table,” she said, watching as he uncapped the bottle and looked down at her wound.
“Is that what that is, then? Candy?” he asked, pointing at a small blob of something clear and shiny on top of one of the blisters.
“Yeah,” she agreed, wincing. She hadn’t realized there was some candy still stuck to her skin. The thought was a bit nauseating and she wrinkled her nose. “Molten sugar.”
“This might sting a bit,” he warned her and she nodded, shuffling a little so he could get to it better. He let the liquid in the bottle gently flow over the burn and she sucked in a breath, gritting her teeth at the sharp stinging pain it brought. He made a sympathetic noise and finished up as quickly as he could, gently dabbing the bottom of the burn with the gauze to get the last drops of the saline.
“Hm, it’s not budging,” he said, frowning at the candy melded to her skin. “Alright, I’m going to gently drain this blister and cut away the skin where the candy is, okay?” She felt some of the colour leave her face and he smiled slightly, reaching out to squeeze her arm.
“It’s okay, it’s not nearly as scary as it sounds,” he reassured, retrieving a small sharp. “I’m just going to poke a small hole at the bottom and drain it, then cut away the skin. It’s already dead, so you won’t feel anything there.”
“There’s one good thing,” she answered, her voice croaking slightly as she swallowed hard. She was nervous as hell; she really hated any kind of medical procedure and while she had a high pain tolerance, this burn was already extremely painful and she was very hesitant for it to hurt even more.
“Alright,” she nodded, as he held up the little needle, clearly asking for her permission to proceed. “I trust you.”
Her heart fluttered again as he gave her a warm smile before gently poking the bottom of the blister. She felt a slight popping sensation as the sharp punctured the bubble and sighed a little, feeling some relief as the pressure that had been building by the moment subsided.
“How is that?” he asked, reaching out and very gently starting to push down on the blister to drain it.
“It’s fine,” she said, cringing as the pain returned almost immediately from the pressure of his finger. She managed not to make a sound while he was draining it, but the second he cut away the skin and the air hit her raw flesh, Carol couldn’t hold in a hiss of pain, clenching her jaw tightly.
“Sorry,” Leonard said softly, patting her knee as he disposed of the gauze and piece of skin. “That’s gotta be pretty tender.”
Carol nodded but didn’t say anything, dreading the next part. She knew he was going to clean it again (this was not her first experience with a burn) and she knew it was going to hurt, a lot.
“This is probably-” Leonard began, returning with the saline bottle, and she nodded briskly at him.
“I know, it’s going to hurt,” she said grimly, her body stiff as she anticipated the pain. “Just go as quickly as you can?” Leonard nodded, crouched down and held the bottle over the burn. She nodded as he looked up at her for permission, and he turned the bottle over and began to let the solution flow over her burn again.
Carol cried out in pain this time, unable to hold it in, clutching the table for dear life with her unburnt hand, her eyes tightly shut against the pain. She desperately wanted to pull away but she did her best to stay still, controlling her breathing, teeth gritted.
“Okay, that’s done,” he said soothingly, setting aside the saline and dabbing below the burn again to collect the droplets. “You’re almost done.”
Carol nodded mutely, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear as she took a few shaky breaths. Pain suddenly seared in the side of her hand; she inhaled sharply and looked at her hand, realizing she’d forgotten all about the burn there as well. Carol realized Leonard had heard her little gasp and was looking over, concerned.
“Your hand, too?” Leonard asked, setting down the gauze he had just picked up and reaching for Carol’s hand. She let him take it and watched as he turned it in his grasp and examine the burn. It had also blistered, but thankfully not as bad as her leg.
“I’m going to finish your leg first, then I’ll work on your hand.” She nodded as he picked up the gauze he’d set down and began to cover one side of it in a large amount of cream, spreading it over the square. When he was done, he glanced at her and she nodded once again before he turned it over and gently pressed the gauze, cream side down, onto her burn. She gasped as it stung pretty badly at first, but as he held it there for a moment, it began to calm down.
“You okay?” he asked, his tone apologetic. She nodded, and he retrieved a larger square of gauze and lined it up over the first. “Good, almost done.”
He got her to hold the gauze in place as he quickly taped it down, firmly but not so much so that it pulled at her skin. She could still feel it burning and stinging, but was doing her best to ignore the pain.
“May I?”
Carol looked up from the bandage on her leg to see his gloved hand outstretched, clearly seeking hers. She put her burnt hand in his and watched him turn it again, examining, and then he began to clean it as he had the others. This one hurt as well, but because he didn’t have to drain or cut away anything, it took a lot less time and was somewhat less painful. She alternated between watching his skilled hands or his face, with its focused expression as he worked on her.
Carol watched in dismay as Leonard carefully wrapped her hand, winding a roll of soft gauze several times around her palm, over the bottoms of her fingers and then down to her wrist, tying it off securely.
“How am I going to bake with this?” Carol asked with a groan, looking down at her hand. It was like she was wearing a mitt with the tips of the fingers cut off, how was she supposed to make and assemble the cakes with it?
“Bake?” Leonard asked, turning from the counter where he’d been organizing all his supplies and removing his gloves. “You’re not supposed to bake with that. You’re not working anymore today. You need to go home and take it easy, doctor’s orders.”
“Leonard, I have three cake orders that need to be filled tonight, they’re being picked up tomorrow.” Carol told him in a no-nonsense voice. She understood his concern, really, but she had work that had to be done.
“You need to rest and not work that hand,” Leonard insisted, shaking his head. “Plus both of those burns are going to hurt like hell in a hot kitchen.”
“Well, so be it,” Carol said with a sigh, shrugging. “They need to be done.”
“Can’t you cancel the orders?” Leonard asked, frowning. “Surely people would understand…” Carol stared at him, then shook her head.
“And where are they going to get a custom cake at this last minute?” she asked him, and he made a non-committal noise after a pause. “Exactly.”
“Still, I mean… you have some non-custom ones already made, right? Could you just ask if those are good enough?” Leonard asked her. His tone suggested he knew it wasn’t possible, but he just wanted her to go home and rest. Again, she appreciated the sentiment, but she was getting frustrated.
“Do you want to tell a 6 year old little girl why she’s not getting her pretty unicorn cake for her birthday?” Carol asked him, knowing full well how he’d react, given that he had a daughter of his own. His expression suddenly turned horrified, and he shook his head.
“Okay, then you understand,” Carol said wearily, wincing as her hand twinged with pain. “I guess I can get Finn to help me. He’s hopeless at baking but at least he can follow directions.” Leonard was staring at her, an unreadable expression on his face.
“What?” she asked, nonplussed by his stare. She was pretty sure he was thinking about something, but she hadn’t a clue what.
“I… what if I helped you?” he asked, and his expression suggesting both excitement and trepidation at the offer.
“What?” Carol replied blankly, staring at him. “You want to help me make cakes?”
“Yeah, I mean… sure,” he said, his cheeks flushing a little. “I may not be an actual baker but I do know how to make a cake… You’d have to do the decorating but I could do all the hot work and mixing.” He sounded a bit embarrassed that he’d offered now, clearly thinking she was judging him as she stared at him, but then she let her lips curl in a slow, thankful smile.
“You are far too sweet, Leonard,” she told him, feeling affection swell in her heart for him as he smiled. “Are you sure? It’s messy work.” Leonard shrugged.
“I have a kid. If I was worried about messes, I would have given up a long time ago,” he chuckled, and she laughed.
“Good point,” she conceded, smiling. “So, when does your clinic close?”
“Not until four, but I think we can just close early,” he said, glancing at his phone. “There are no appointments this afternoon and we’re usually pretty quiet for walk-ins on Wednesdays. I can come with you now, if you like.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” Carol said uncertainly, not wanting to inconvenience him. “It’d probably be better to get started as soon as possible, I don’t know how long it’ll take me to decorate with only one good hand.”
“Gotcha,” he nodded, gathering his stuff. “Have a seat in the waiting room and I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she replied, smiling at him as he turned to leave. He shot her a wink as he left the room and she felt her heart flutter rapidly once more, a warm sensation crawling through her body. Trying to focus more on these giddy feelings than the pain, Carol limped back to the waiting room, then joined Leonard as he came back out a few minutes later after letting his receptionist know she could head home for the day.
Finn looked a little confused when she returned a while later with Leonard in tow, especially when she explained that he was going to help her.
“But… I can handle closing… You looked like you were in a lot of pain, shouldn’t you just go home?” Finn asked, concerned.
“That’s what I said,” Leonard muttered under his breath, and Carol nudged him with her elbow and frowned at him before turning back to Finn.
“I have three cake orders to finish tonight,” she explained. “If you need anything, we’ll be in the back.”
Carol lead Leonard into her back room and limped over to the candy table where all the trouble had begun, swearing when she realized the candy she’d spilled onto it and abandoned was now hard as a rock.
“What’s wrong?” Leonard asked, joining her. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the thick, uneven coating over the table.
“That,” Carol said, sighing and limping over to a cabinet in the wall. “Is the candy that burned me earlier. I forgot all about it when I left, and now it’s cold and hard.”
Leonard made a noise of understanding and rapped his knuckles on the candy; sure enough, it was rock hard.
“So, how do we get it off of there?” he asked, frowning at it. Seemed pretty damn solid to him. He looked up at Carol to see her brandishing two ordinary hammers and laughed. She brought them over and handed him one, and together they spent a good ten minutes breaking apart the candy and peeling it off the table in pieces.
When they were finally finished chipping away the hardened candy, Carol directed Leonard around the kitchen, collecting supplies for the batter. She tried to start adding ingredients herself, but unfortunately, when she added a large, heavy bowl of flour to the mixer, a large twinge of pain shot through her hand and she gasped involuntarily, something which Leonard immediately noticed.
“Okay, stop, I’m gonna do that,” he said, coming forward to take the bowl from her as she tried to rearrange her face back to normal after wincing in pain.
Carol opened her mouth to argue, saw the frown on his face and thought better of it. As long as she guided him, nothing could go wrong, right? Her hand really did hurt quite a lot, so she sighed and backed away, allowing him to tip the rest of the flour into the mixer. He glanced down at his shirt as he set the bowl down and noticed it was already sprinkled with flour. Letting out a small giggle at the resigned look on his face, she limped across the kitchen to a small closet and pulled out the longest apron she had; a baby blue and white striped apron made of canvas with white ties.
“Here, this’ll help,” she chuckled, watching him as he inspected the garment for a moment before pulling it over his head. She moved around behind him as he fumbled the ties, catching the lengths as he dropped them and tying them with skilled ease, even with her bandaged hand.
“Well, do I look like a baker now?” He asked, spreading his hands and giving her a bit of a lopsided smile.
“Close enough,” Carol said with a soft laugh, moving over to the side of the table and watching as he pulled a new bowl towards him, awaiting her instructions.
An hour passed at the speed of light as she instructed him, watching his motions like a hawk as he added, sifted and combined ingredients. He was excellent at following instructions, she noticed, but he wasn’t great with the baking terminology; not that she’d expected him to be.
“No, Leonard, I said fold the the flour into the meringue, don’t mix it!”
Leonard lifted his hands in defeat (including the one clutching the gooey spatula), looking exasperated.
“I don’t know what that means,” he said, frustration evident in his tone. “I’m just a beginner!”
For some reason, the way he’d said it made her laugh, and she felt the anxiety she’d been feeling melt away a bit. She reminded herself that he was helping her out of the goodness of his heart; it wasn’t his fault she’d burned her hand and now she was unable to prepare things herself.
“Sorry,” she conceded, nodding. “I’ll show you.”
She took the bowl from him and demonstrated the proper technique quickly, just long enough that he knew what to do, and then he tried it.
“Perfect. You’re a quick learner,” she said fondly, watching him fold the rest of the almond flour into the meringue. Leonard shot her a little grin and then went back to mixing- er, folding- the batter in front of him, a little crease between his eyebrows as he concentrated. Carol noticed this and was so distracted that she barely managed to stop him before he’d overturned the batter.
A couple of hours later, they sat at the large counter in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by cooling cakes, fanning themselves from the heat of the oven. All of the cakes had been baked; now it was a matter of assembling and decorating, which admittedly often took longer than the cakes themselves.
“Carol? We’re closed now,” Finn said, poking his head into the back. “You need any help?” He asked, eyeing Leonard, who was wiping his sweaty brow with his sleeve.
“No, we’re alright, thanks Finn. Have a good night!”
Finn returned the sentiment and disappeared; a minute later she heard the front door chime and the beep of the secure lock being initiated as he left the store and locked up. Leonard excused himself for a moment and called the babysitter he’d gotten for Joanna that night, explaining that he’d be a couple more hours and he’d pay her double if she stayed. Thankfully she agreed, and he returned to Carol, rubbing his hands together.
“Okay, now,” Carol said, looking around and then moving her gaze back to Leonard. “Now, we made a truck-load of icing.”
Leonard’s eyebrow had raised at her phrasing, but he realized pretty quickly that she wasn’t exaggerating by all that much. By the time they were finished another half hour had passed, and there were bowls of buttercream all over the kitchen, some dyed purple, green or blue, some pure white. She coached him through stacking the cakes and filling the layers between the cakes with frosting, then showed him how to do a proper crumb coat and watched, pleasantly surprised, as he actually did a pretty damn good job.
“Wow, Leonard!” Carol said, grinning, as he finished the crumb coat on the last cake. “I have to say, if you ever get tired of being a doctor… I’d be happy to give you a job here.” Her tone was teasing but she was actually quite impressed, and felt a weird sense of pride, watching him work.
“Thanks,” he said, flushed with his success. “That was actually pretty fun. Hell of a lot of work for only three cakes though…” Carol chuckled as she filled a few icing bags with the various coloured icing.
“You should see what goes into preparing a wedding cake,” she said, laughing as he shook his head. “Yeah, its intense.”
She got him to coat the cakes with a thicker coating of buttercream in the correct colour for each, then smoothed the icing so the top and sides were one uniform surface. He watched, fascinated, as she began to pipe designs onto each cake. The two tiered cake with light pink icing was quickly transformed into a unicorn before his very eyes, Carol using a blended three coloured icing bag for the mane of hair, and an expertly coiled cone of fondant for the horn, the lot of which she dusted with a shimmery powder. A tall but narrow cake was wreathed with simple but elegant flowers, and the final cake was decorated with underwater scenes; it had been ordered for a fisherman’s birthday party.
“I think… we’re… done,” she said, speaking with the each of the last swirls of the piping bag. Carol swept a hand over her sweaty forehead and tossed the piping bag onto the table, slowly spinning the cake on its turner to examine every detail, making sure it was up to her standards. She looked over at Leonard, whose apron was covered with flour and streaks of icing, an enthralled look on his face as he stared at her work.
“They all look amazing,” Leonard said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re incredibly talented.”
“Leonard,” she chuckled, smiling. “You’re making me blush.”
“Seriously though,” he said, gesturing. “I’ve never seen such pretty cakes. I know where I’ll be getting Jo’s birthday cake from, now.”
“Well, thank you,” Carol accepted, her voice warm, though tired. “You did an excellent job yourself, are you sure you’ve never baked before?”
“Oh, just a bit here and there, nothing major,” Leonard shrugged, and Carol could tell he was trying to hide how proud he was of himself, which she found very endearing.
“You would never know it,” Carol told him, gently touching his arm. “And for the record, though I would be thrilled to make Joanna’s cake, I bet with a few lessons on decorating, you could make her a wonderful cake all by yourself.”
Leonard didn’t say anything, though his cheeks flushed slightly pink as he grinned in reply and then began to clean up the icing station. Carol watched him, noting a smudge of flour on his cheek and across the bridge of his nose, feeling affection for him welling in her chest. He helped her box the cakes and store them in the last fridge at the back of the room, and then they surveyed the mess at the tables.
“You can get out of here if you want, Leonard,” Carol said, looking at all the bowls, icing bags and various other messes on the table. “I can get these all cleaned up - or at least into the dishwasher.”
“Nah, that’s okay, I’ll help,” Leonard replied. “Besides, after all that, you need a dressing change,” he said, pointing to her bandaged hand. He was correct; there was teal and purple icing smudged over the gauze there and she laughed.
“Alright then. With two of us this won’t take long.” They hurried around collecting all the dishes and garbage, then Carol wiped down the tables while Leonard loaded the dishwasher and separated all the icing tips from their bags, getting his hands covered in frosting.
“I saw that,” Carol grinned as she came over to the sink to turn it on for Leonard, who had just stuck a frosting-coated finger into his mouth. He laughed, licking his lips as he removed his finger, shaking his head. It wasn’t long until the kitchen was clean, and they stood there surveying their work, both feeling pretty damn proud of the other.
“Do you need a ride home?” Leonard asked, as he pulled off his apron and handed it over. He still had dustings of flour on his shirt as well, but he didn’t even notice as he watched her take off her own.
“Well…” Carol hesitated. She had driven her own car and she wanted to drive it home, but the pain had been getting worse in her hand for the last hour or two and she wasn’t sure it would be entirely safe for her to drive. Still, it was her car, and her only mode of transportation.
“I mean, it would be wonderful of you to drive me,” she began, tossing the dirty aprons into a hamper near the door. “But I wouldn’t be able to get back to work tomorrow with my car here.”
“That’s okay, I can pick you up in the morning and bring you back here,” Leonard said, speaking over his shoulder as he washed his hands. “I’ve got nothing to do the rest of the week.”
“Oh, right!” Carol said, as the memory came back to her. “You said you were on holidays this week. How come you were working today, then?”
“My locum had a family emergency today, so I decided to come in rather than close the clinic,” Leonard explained, drying his hands on a towel. He looked at her and smiled, then winked. “I have to say, I’m glad I did.” Carol’s cheeks flushed slightly as she glanced down at her bandaged hand and leg.
“I’m glad too,” she said softly, reaching out to touch his arm with her uninjured hand. “But anyway it’s fine, I can take a cab home, you’ve already done so much for me!”
“Nah, it was fun,” Leonard said, gesturing around the kitchen. “And I learned stuff, so really I should be thanking you,” he smiled. “Alright, I’m going to redress that,” he said, pointing at her hand. “And then I am driving you home. No arguments. Doctor’s orders.”
“Alright, alright,” Carol laughed, rolling her eyes a little at the commanding tone, but thinking it was adorable. He lead her over to the first aid kit and gently removed the bandage. Carol sharply sucked in a breath as the air hit the raw wound and Leonard redressed it as quickly as he could while still doing a thorough job.
“There,” he said, holding her bandaged hand in both of her own. On a whim, he brought her hand upwards and planted a gentle kiss in the middle of the bandage, his eyes closed. Carol looked up at him and felt her heart skip several beats as he did this, thinking how incredibly sweet he was and how much she wanted to kiss him.
He brought her hand down and looked at her, seeming faintly embarrassed considering the way his cheeks warmed, but he smiled all the same.
“Let’s get going. You need rest.” He said, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder. “I’m guessing you’re too stubborn to just stay home and rest tomorrow, or even for a few days?” He asked, rolling his eyes as she shot him a look that clearly indicated the contrary.
“Of course not,” he sighed, though he chuckled. “At least promise me not to do anything too taxing tomorrow?”
“I promise,” Carol said, nodding. “I don’t have another cake order due until the weekend so I will take it easy for a few days,” she promised, and was rewarded with a smile from him.
Thankfully the night was warm enough to not need a coat so she simply grabbed her wallet and keys and followed him out of the store, locked up and then made sure her car was secure. By the time she was done that, he’d jogged across the parking lot, started his truck and was driving towards her to pick her up.
“You didn’t have to do that, I can walk,” she laughed as he pulled up beside her and she opened the door. He had already hopped out of the vehicle, however, and was coming around to her side. “Oh Leonard, I’m fine,” she protested as he held out a hand to help her.
“That leg’s gotta be hurting,” he replied, gesturing to her bandaged wound. “Just let me help you, okay?” His voice was so genuine that she let out a little sigh and accepted his help. He half-guided, half-lifted her into the vehicle, and she did her best to hide the pain as she moved her leg. He didn’t comment on it, just made sure she was settled before he closed her door and got back in on the driver’s side.
“Thank you,” she said, flushing a little. She’d clearly needed the help, but she was stubborn and she knew it. To his credit, Leonard merely smiled and shook his head before driving away from the store. She told him her address and they chatted a little as he drove, but she was feeling very tired now and starting to show it. She leaned back in her seat, resting her head against the rest, and though the town was so small that they were nearing her place within a few minutes, her eyes were already starting to close.
“Just here,” Carol said, pointing, after opening her eyes and realizing with a start that they were only a couple houses down from hers. Leonard pulled into the driveway, killed the engine, then hopped out and came around to her side again, holding out his hand after she’d unbuckled herself. She leaned on him as he helped her down, a little worried about finding her balance, but she managed it no problem with him there to steady her.
“Nice cat,” he commented, chuckling as a white cloud with eyes appeared in the window, clearly having heard the vehicle pull up.
“That’s Marlow,” Carol smiled, closing the door to the truck. “His name is actually Marshmallow, but I thought Marlow sounded better than Mallow as a nickname.”
“Is all of him that fluffy?” Leonard asked, slightly dumbfounded as the upper body of the cat appeared and did nothing to diminish the impression of a cloud.
“Pretty much, yeah,” Carol chuckled. “He’s the reason I rarely wear dark colours.”
Leonard lead her to the door and Carol did not protest, both because she knew he would insist and also because she was admittedly quite enjoying the warm weight of his hand at her back.
“Well, thank you again for everything, Leonard,” Carol said as they reached the porch, and Carol stuck her key in the lock. “Can I repay you somehow?”
“No,” Leonard said, shaking his head. “It was my pleasure. What time do you start tomorrow? Ten?” Carol nodded, and Leonard continued. “Then I will be here tomorrow at nine-thirty sharp.”
“Okay,” Carol agreed, smiling. “Thank you.”
“Anytime. See you tomorrow,” Leonard said, and then he hesitated. Carol hesitated too, and she had a feeling both of them were thinking the same thing. He could just lean down, or she could lean upwards, that’s all it would take… The moment seemed to plateau, before Leonard suddenly blinked and gave a small cough.
“Ah, well, goodnight,” he said, flustered, and she smiled at him, a little disappointed.
“Goodnight Leonard.” She squeezed his hand once and then let herself inside. She closed the door behind her and was immediately accosted by a yelling Marlow, who clearly wanted to know where she’d been for so long. Ignoring him for now, she looked back out and gave Leonard a final smile and wave before walking down the hallway and turning out the porch light, her mind abuzz. As she entered her room to get changed, she heard his truck start again and then the sound of him pulling out of the driveway, and she flopped down onto her bed, stroking Marlow with a stupid grin on her face. If she had to get injured, she mused, this evening had been the best possible outcome she could ever have imagined. She laughed out loud and gathered Marlow into her arms as she felt like a teenager again, the excitement that comes from a crush making her feel weightless and giddy.
--------
The three of them were having a picnic. Leonard was carrying the cooler, a bag with food and a blanket under his arm while Carol followed along behind them, Joanna gleefully riding on her back. They got their stuff set up and had a wonderfully enjoyable meal, then Joanna ran off to play, leaving Carol and Leonard alone on the blanket together. They immediately moved closer to each other, lying down side by side, Carol’s head resting on his shoulder. They exchanged a few words but mostly just lay comfortably together, basking in the sun.
“Maybe we should go in the shade,” Carol murmured after a while, shielding her eyes and looking over at him. “I think I’m going to burn.”
“Nah, you’ll be fine,” Leonard said lazily. “Vitamin D is good for you.” Carol smiled and snuggled up against him again.
“Well, doctor knows best.”
“Yes, yes he does—”
“DADDY! WAKE UP!”
Leonard’s eyes shot open as the dream shattered, and he was suddenly aware of Joanna bouncing on his bed, yelling at him. Groaning, he rubbed at his eyes for a moment before rolling over to see her staring into his face, looking wildly excited.
“It’s Sunday! Candy shop day!” Joanna announced as Leonard struggled to sit up, held down by the blankets she was bouncing on.
“Joey, just because we’re going on a Sunday again doesn’t make Sunday “Candy shop day”,” Leonard said, stifling a yawn as Joanna flopped herself across his lap.
“Yes it does! Sunday is Candy shop day!”
Too tired to argue the point, Leonard heaved himself out of bed and got them both ready for the day. As Joanna was finishing up her breakfast, she looked over at Leonard, who was sipping his coffee and glancing at the paper.
“So are you gonna ask the candy lady on a date?”
Leonard nearly spit out his mouthful of coffee in shock at the question, choking slightly as he tried to swallow without dying.
“Um, what are you talking about, baby?” he asked, hastily wiping his chin as a trickle of coffee escaped his lips. “Why would you ask me something like that?”
“Because you like her…” Joanna said, rolling her eyes, the duhh evident in her tone.
“I, what?” Leonard stammered. “You’re barely 8 years old, how would you even—”
“Daddy, just ‘cause I’m young doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” Joanna said with disgust, rolling her eyes again. “You helped her make cakes and you’ been driving her to work! Ask her out already!!” Joanna paused, as though considering something, then added: “Maybe she’ll give me free fudge this time!!”
Leonard mouthed wordlessly at Joanna as she beamed at him, got up from the table to clear her place and skipped off into the porch to put her shoes on. Still flabbergasted that his young daughter could perceive, and potentially even understand his feelings for Carol, Leonard followed her in a daze, wondering if it was really best to go to Carol’s shop after that, knowing the potential for Joanna embarrassing him was staggeringly high. But Joanna would be sad if he said no, and regardless of his potential embarrassment, he really did want to see Carol again, despite having just seen her on Friday when he drove her to and from work (She’d insisted on driving herself starting Saturday). So he drove to the store as intended, his heart pounding quicker the closer he got, picturing her smiling face, hearing her accented voice in his head.
Again, when he parked in front of the store, Joanna was already out of the vehicle and in the doorway by the time he’d shut the truck down. Shaking his head, he unbuckled and hopped out of the truck, glancing at his reflection in the wing mirror before he closed the door. He smoothed hair a little and adjusted his plaid button up tshirt so that it was sitting nicely over his black tank top underneath, hoping he looked presentable. Carol seemed to like his casual country look so he hadn’t dressed nicer, but he still wanted to be clean and put together.
Leonard took a deep breath and then walked slowly towards the store, trusting that Joanna already had Carol’s attention and she wouldn’t already be looking at him as he walked in the door. He was correct; the second he walked in, he could hear both of their voices. Unfortunately, it was apparent almost immediately that something had happened. Joanna’s tearful voice, always higher-pitched when she was upset, was nearly incoherent as she cried. He could hear Carol asking her if she was alright and trying to console her.
“I’m here baby, what’s wrong?” Leonard asked, darting forward and kneeling beside Carol, who was bent a little awkwardly over Joanna, not able to crouch or kneel easily with her healing leg wound. Joanna was sitting on the ground, her knee drawn up to her chest with her hands clenched firmly around it, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Daddy!!” she wailed, her next words incomprehensible as she continued to sob while she spoke. Leonard glanced at Carol, who looked a little upset herself at the wailing, clearly concerned.
“She came sprinting in here and tripped over the leg of one of the displays,” Carol explained fretfully, gesturing, and Leonard glanced over to where she was pointing and saw candy packages littering the ground by a toppled display nearby. “She won’t let me look at her knee.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Leonard said, scooting closer to Joanna and wrapping his arms around her. He was sure she was completely fine and more spooked than anything, and he knew hugs always made her feel better. She pressed her tear-stained face into him and finally let go of her knee to wrap her arms around his neck, and he rubbed her back for a few moments, holding the awkward position until her sobs turning into gulps and sniffles. He slowly let go and sat back on his heels, watching as she sniffed and hiccuped herself into a calmer frame of mind.
“Lemme look at your knee, Sweetpea,” Leonard said, stroking her hair a couple of times until she nodded reluctantly and showed him her knee.
“You’re okay, darling,” he said after a quick examination showed him that she merely had some friction burn. Her knee was pink and angry but not bleeding or even scratched.
“Are you s-sure?” Joanna asked in a tremulous voice, still sniffing. “It hurts.”
“I know, Jojo, friction burns sting. But you’ll be just fine, I promise. I’ll ask Carol to bring you a--”
“Cold, damp towel?” Carol asked, reappearing at his side and holding one out, along with a few tissues.
“Yes, exactly,” Leonard said, a half smile forming as he looked up at her. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Carol said softly, smiling at Joanna, who hiccuped back at her. “I remember how those felt when I was a kid,” she said, pointing at Joanna’s knee.
Leonard folded the cloth and gently placed it on Joanna’s knee. She gasped and wrinkled up her face like she was going to cry again, but after a moment she relaxed as the chill helped ease some of the stinging sensation, wiping her face and blowing her nose with the tissues.
“Hang on, I’ve got something else that will help,” Carol said, disappearing before either of them could react.
After a couple of minutes, Joanna had completely stopped crying and her face was mostly dry. Leonard could tell she was feeling better because she was starting to look around again, slowly getting more distracted by the candy around her than her injury.
“You ready to stand up, Pumpkin?” he asked, and she nodded. He got to his feet and held out his hands to her. She took them and he lifted her into the air, earning himself a shriek and giggle as he settled her back onto her feet as Carol returned behind them.
“Here you go,” Carol said, and she held out a small paper dish. Joanna’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the dish; there was a large scoop of bright blue ice cream inside, and a generous helping of rainbow sprinkles on top.
“That’s for me?” Joanna asked incredulously, reaching out to take the dish from Carol. “How did you know I love sprinkles?!”
“Sprinkles always make everything better,” Carol told her warmly, grinning as Joanna beamed. Joanna took a big spoonful of the ice cream and crammed it into her mouth, let out a loud “MMMM!” and then turned to Leonard as she swallowed.
“Daddy, you have to ask her to marry you!! She’s the best!!” Joanna said emphatically, her eyes shining as she stuffed another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, oblivious to Leonard’s sudden expression of horror and embarrassment. Carol tried and failed to bite back a giggle as Leonard’s cheeks reddened again and he refused to make eye contact.
“You should probably at least ask her on a date first,” Joanna mused reasonably between mouthfuls, blue ice cream lining her lips as she spoke.
“Alright, Jojo,” Leonard choked, turning his daughter bodily by the shoulders and gently pushing on the middle of her back. “Why don’t you go look at the gummies or something?”
“Okay!” Joanna agreed happily and took off towards the gummies at top speed.
“Glad to see she learned her lesson about running indoors,” Leonard commented flatly as she nearly careened into another display. Carol laughed, then reached out to take his hand, turning her towards him. She looked up at his face, taking in his pink cheeks and his rueful expression.
“She’s right, you know,” Carol teased, squeezing his hand. “You really should ask me for a date first…” Leonard’s eyes widened and his heart sped up as he realized this was it, this was the moment he’d been thinking about for a week. He was actually going to ask her out. So far it hadn’t exactly gone as he’d planned, but she still seemed interested so he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Leonard took a deep breath, then gently took her other (injured) hand, holding them both in front of him.
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” He asked, and he was amazed to hear that his voice hadn’t faltered and he sounded somewhat confident. She smiled at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat as her beautiful, grey and blue eyes glittered up at him.
“I would love to, Leonard,” she answered softly, stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. Though unexpected, the embrace was not at all unwelcome and he followed her lead, wrapping his arms around her back and holding her close for a moment. She was shorter than him and fit perfectly against his chest, and he ducked his head, enjoying her warmth and the scent of her shampoo as he leaned his cheek on her hair.
She pulled back after a moment, just far enough to look up at him. He was looking down at her, into her eyes, and his body knew before his brain did that he was going to kiss her. He was already leaning down before he realized what he was doing, and he saw her leaning up towards him as his eyes closed. Their lips met a second later and he felt a thrill go through him, his entire world narrowing to just her, and the way her lips felt against his, the way her body felt against his. He’d completely forgotten where they were, and who they were with; he knew nothing about anything but Carol for several long moments.
“YES! You did it!!”
Leonard pulled away from Carol in surprise at the sound, and looked around to see Joanna, who had just done a fist pump, beaming at them. Carol laughed but didn’t pull away, turning a little in his embrace so she could see Joanna.
“Does that mean you’re okay with your dad dating me?” Carol asked, smiling down at Joanna, who beamed at her.
“Of course!! We’re gonna have a candy store in the family now!” Joanna yelled gleefully, ran over to them, hugged them both, and then darted back to the gummy corner, where they could hear her humming merrily to herself as she filled up a bag.
“Glad to know she approves,” Carol chuckled, turning back to face Leonard, who looked both amused and embarrassed by his daughter’s behaviour. “What time should I be ready tonight? We close at five.”
“Seven?” Leonard said, shaking himself and looking back down at her. “I know a great smokehouse that does an incredible smoked brisket,” Leonard told her enthusiastically, making her smile. “Does that sound good?”
“That sounds amazing.”Carol replied as Joanna came trotting over with her bag of gummies. Carol pulled out of the embrace and moved towards the cash register as Joanna happily plodded after her, Leonard following in a bit of a daze.
“Here you go, sweetheart,” Carol said, wrapping a ribbon around the bag and handing it to Joanna after weighing it without typing it into the register. Leonard approached with his wallet and opened his mouth, but Carol shook her head.
“Helping me with those cakes was worth far more than a bag of gummies,” Carol told him, and he smiled, pocketing his wallet again. Leonard was acutely aware that Joanna was staring at them, looking from one to the other, so he decided to leave further talk for later.
“I’ll see you tonight,” Leonard said, putting a hand on Jo’s back and steering her towards the door.
“I can’t wait,” Carol called, waving as they got to the door. Leonard took one last look back after Joanna yelled her goodbye and dashed out the door, and Carol smiled and winked at him. His heart pumping fast, he drove them home and let Joanna amuse herself on a tablet while he went through his closet, determined to make this his best first date ever.
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