#Fic title meme

[capitaletele]

I have some annoying things to do over the next couple of days, if you'd like to play a little game to help keep me entertained! :D Feel free to send as many as you like :p

Fic Title Meme!

If you make up titles (and pairings!) for stories I didn’t write, I will respond with details of those non-written stories. Just think of the possibilities!

[norcumii]

Fic title: Non-compliant Weapon (Rexobi, Murderbot AU)

(regarding this fic title meme prompt)

Ok, there’s two ways this could go. One, the slightly more predictable path of some flavor of reincarnation AU where the Jedi Organization (some kind of meddling well-intentioned doctors-without-borders type group) has gotten neck deep into several volatile disputes and need help, so they’ve gotten a generous donation of sec-units from, I dunno, Palpatine Industries (Insidious Industries is more fun, but a little too on the nose). Of course, these sec-units come with pre-programmed sabotage routines up to and including Order 66, and of course sec-unit Rex manages to wriggle around those.

The more interesting idea I had was a bit...messier.

The plunnie starts with the notion that for a full three hot seconds, some megacorp in the galaxy decided that clones were the next big thing and just mass-produced a whole bunch of them. There was enough outcry that the project was scrapped, the company went broke, and the clones were shoved in cryostorage to become someone else’s problem when all the lawsuits were done. Shortly thereafter, sec-units became a thing because that skirted some all the nasty ethical issues.

Decades if not centuries later (...I have no idea when the Murderbot books are supposed to be other than The Future), whatever megacorp bought up various assets discovers they have a bunch of illegal product sitting around frozen in a warehouse. It turns out that the cheapest method of disposal is actually to thaw them and toss them a small agro planet to colonize (the potential fallout if they just space the clones or keep them in a basement somewhere is just too high for profit margins, much to the relief of everyone else).

And that’s how Rex and his brothers end up thawed, with some nice genetic repair work, on a brand new planet all their own, and no idea wtf to do now since they aren’t expected to just fight something. Since Rex is one of the more restless clones, he ends up doing resource management, taking surplus out for trade and scrounging interesting stuff to bring back. And one day he walks into some space!army surplus store to discover in the back there’s an old sec-unit and its cubicle. Rex starts off feeling weird but wildly sympathetic to this deactivated fighting unit, only to become REALLY creeped out when he asks in passing about it – and learns its being kept around for eventual spare parts.

Rex is not okay with this. He dithers a bit, but ends up purchasing the whole unit and brings it home.

Cody gives him a bit of hell, but he gets where Rex was coming from, so he sort of resignedly welcomes their new sec-unit: [some clever punning/l337 speak version of Obi-Wan Kenobi].

So it turns out that this sec-unit is defective. It’s good at fighting, but it doesn’t like to fight. It talks. It talks a LOT. It’s astonishingly good at negotiating.

It also flirts with everyone except for Rex, which Rex is absolutely not put out about in the least. Really. He’s not irked. It’s a good thing. This damn thing comes out of the box flirting, that’s disconcerting so it’s kinda nice that Rex doesn’t have to put up with that – especially since it’s quickly decided that since the sec-unit does talk anything in circles, it’s most useful going with him to help him barter. And hopefully keep him out of trouble, though Cody is the only one to say that, the bastard.

Since this is a Murderbot AU, that means it turns out that there’s actually something Very Valuable on the clones’ new homeplanet, and at some point they’re actively defending themselves and/or having to diplomat with hostile bodies who are Not Impressed that a sec-unit is one of the main negotiators.

(It helps when things go pear-shaped, of course, since said main negotiator can dish out and take some extreme damage. So that's not too different from canon.)

Things finally settle down, Rex and Obi-Wan return to venturing out on the regular, until one day – probably after some spectacularly vicious flirtation with someone trying to kill them – Rex just blurts out, “I have never been able to figure it out. You will flirt with anyone and anything, the more hostile the better.”

“It’s a wonderful distraction tactic.”

“Oh, I’m aware. You specifically pick out pet names to enrage people.”

“It’s hardly my fault the Duchess didn’t like to be addressed as ‘my dear’!”

“It kind of is, but…” Rex hesitates, then shrugs, still not looking at Kenobi. “You have never once flirted with me.”

Silence. Rex sneaks a few glances, and Obi-Wan is refusing to look back at him. Finally, when it’s clear Rex will play the waiting game, Obi-Wan just shrugs right back. “I don’t know how to do it sincerely. Flirt for real with someone I like.”

Rex goes through several stages of oh with embarrassing speed. He twists around to stare. “What – but – even from the very beginning?”

Obi-Wan continues to not look at him. “I might have been...less unaware than my prior owner believed.”

Rex blanches, well recalling his own long time in stasis – a cold, mostly dreamless state of unconsciousness. The notion of being even somewhat lucid across those long decades is nightmare fuel even before considering the indifferent way the guy at the store had talked about spare parts in a box.

Then there are super-awkward cuddles, eventually leading to some kind of queer platonic aro and/or ace ship happily ever after. ^_^

Thank you, this was a fun challenge!

[kingsandbastardz]

tagged by @a-memory-a-distant-echo and @where-the-water-flows

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

These are all MLC fandom - crossed out means someone requested it already

meta:

jinyuan alliance at donghai and extraneous other bits and bobs

costume choices

that one difang moment

Dfs and jinyuan alliance: neurodivergence + queerness

fic - a lot of these are some variation of ot3 or dihua that ends in difang. I also do rare pairs / rare ot3 etc- (note: I can't write without a working title and the working title gives the entire vibe of the story like a soundtrack):

5 sentence prompt fills

SAMSARA modern world transmigration rebirth AU

Sword forms

we're all animals here (is safe vs not safe really a matter of who controls the lever? Or is it really who cannot reach your mind? triggers all up in here)

囍 Marriage

everything looks small - we gave up on those happy endings

Flight is something done willfully

how many cycles of reincarnation until you learn? (timeloop)

responsibilities to ensure some levity in this terrible world (discoball)

the haunting of a narrative

he never escaped the ocean

an accidental drowning (difang)

shan gudao's journey toward a love of entomology

conversations in the dark: a series of dfs and fdb bed sharing and domestic interludes

shark-dick - a tale of narratives and severe misunderstandings

plot graveyard - zombies I'm spinning on a stick

for the emperor

When love is too much and so you choose sanity

tagging just a bunch of ppl i think might have some meta or fic cooking up that haven't been tagged yet, i hope?

@la-muerta @kseniyagreen @anndramarama @momosandlemonsoda @cheetahing

@evolutionsbedingt @yletylyf

Oh hey if you tagging gets broken, put the broken ones into a new line

[aurumacadicus]

For the title prompt

Get off that table + tony and avengers team

I am once again terrorizing the Avengers team with Tony.

Get Off That Table

Steve stared, mouth dropping open a little in surprise. He closed it after a moment. He couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Tony stared back, fingers slowly reaching for the frame of the picture in front of him. When he realized Steve wasn't going to speak, he carefully lifted the frame off of the hook, turned just far enough to get clearance, and then chucked the picture onto the ground.

"DID YOU JUST GET UP THERE TO CHANGE THE PICTURE?!" Natasha bellowed from behind Steve, making him jump.

"It's less damage on the floors if I just use a step-up instead of the suit," Tony answered, as if this was reasonable or even barely normal.

Thor began to nod, apparently willing to believe his reasonable tone. Then he saw the "step-up" Tony was using. "Did you cut the coffee table in half and stack the pieces on top of each other?!"

"I'm an engineer," Tony explained helpfully.

Steve and Thor both took this as well as could be expected, which was to say: They were still too bewildered to speak.

Bruce came over to pick up the discarded picture, frowning when he saw it was one of the Iron Man in a Cubist arrangement. "I thought you liked this picture."

"I do," Tony answered, picking up the frame leaning against the wall by his legs. "But sometimes you gotta keep things fresh! Fun! Interesting!" He put the new painting up, then turned, gesturing at it with an excited flourish. "What do you think?!"

Everyone took a moment to respectfully inspect the new artwork. Finally, though, Clint asked, "Is that Iron Man with a Pearl Earring?"

"Yes!" Tony said cheerfully, and then turned and squinted at the painting. "Or, well, to keep in theme with the armor they made a pearl-colored bolt. I thought it was clever." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "From a distance it looks like a pearl earring though, which is also cool."

Natasha turned to slant Clint a suspicious frown. "You know Girl with a Pearl Earring?"

"They made a movie about it," Clint retorted.

Bruce turned from examining the new painting. "That was historical fiction. It wasn't real."

"Well I saw the finished picture anyhow? I don't understand the side-eye. I contain multitudes," Clint huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "I don't see why you're all giving me shit when Tony sawed his table in half to make a shitty ladder."

Tony sniffed at him imperiously, crossing his arms over his chest. "I used a laser, not a saw. And my engineering skills are impeccable." Then there was the sound of wood cracking, and he yelped as the table started to tip, tumbling off of it.

Steve and Thor both dove to catch him and mostly just ended up at the bottom of the pile of table halves and Tony, while he miraculously twisted in midair to stay on top, probably from muscle-memorized maneuvers in the Iron Man suit.

"I'm buying a step stool," Steve muttered into the floor as Bruce rushed to at least pull Tony off of them.

"So he can put it on top of the next shitty table ladder he makes?" Thor groused, pushing one of the halves off of them.

[cabezadeperro]

Fic title meme! "iron bars and prison breaks" please!

hi! thanks for sending an ask!

i feel like this is very obvious, but i immediately thought of papillon but with clones lmao. first i thought of dogma--we don't know what happened to him after umbara after all--but then i remembered that slick exists.

let's be real, he probably was decommissioned (i just can't picture the republic spending money in keeping clones like him alive), but if he wasn't--well. he didn't seem the kind of person to sit and wait in a cell. so: a story about him breaking out of prison, or trying to, at the same time order 66 takes place. will slick and his allies make it out? will they be able to escape order 66? will they escape one prison and find themselves in a different, much worse one?

If you make up titles (and pairings!) for stories I didn’t write, I will respond with details of those non-written stories. Just think of the possibilities!

[thetragicallynerdy]

Hi, I'm here from the tealoranges tag! Fic title meme: Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?

Alright alright, I finally had the brains to think about this and write something! (For those who haven't heard of it, this meme is that you send me a fic title, and I sketch out the fic I think would match it. I am not accepting further prompts for this meme at this time.)

I know that this one would go really nicely as a like, farmers market au, but hear me out: post-war au and farmer’s market au. Because the canticle aspect of Simon & Garfunkle’s version of Scarborough Fair always, always makes me think about war (because, y’know, it’s about war). But, because it’s Jim and Olu, and I really wouldn’t ever write an actual war type fic, lets go with “Canon time - Jim, returning from their holy mission, and Oluwande, who sells his wares at the market.”

When I started typing this I was going to say it was more vibes than plot (the Vibes being an exhausted Jim who’s killed a whole lot of men and then returned home to find that they’re still not at peace, and then they meet Oluwande) but now there’s like 1000+ words of plot so here u go:

Jim never made it to Nassau as their first stop in their mission. They don’t meet Oluwande, and they instead spend ten-fifteen years tracking down every last member of the Siete Gallos. Alfeo de la Vaca is not their first. He’s closer to their last, which is the main reason that they keep at it so long – a) there is no one to encourage them to stop, and b) they haven’t killed the one that matters yet.

Somewhere along the way, they have exactly one run in with Blackbeard and Stede, who we can presume are still doing their romance off to the side. They see a handsome Black man with a teal earring on the crew who catches their eye – but then they forget about him.

Oluwande, meanwhile, got out of Spanish Jackie’s for other reasons, about the same time as he would’ve in canon. He finds Stede, and has a rather successful career in piracy before he finally settles down and buys a home. He learns how to make jewelry, and sells it. Tiny trinkets, that sort of thing, to keep his hands busy. For some reason, he really liked St. Augustine the last time they were there. He settles down.

Jim finally finishes their hit list. They return to St. Augustine, scarred and hardened and hoping to find some semblance of peace, because all they feel is a hollowness in their chest and a bone-deep weariness. They come home to a home that’s still empty and ruined, overgrown after decades of neglect.

Whether or not Nana is still alive is up to you. If she is, her exuberance over Jim being done their mission grates against the disenchantment they’re feeling. If she’s not, there’s a point of grief over ‘she was the one I was doing this for, and she’s not even here to see it.’

Either way – Jim is not doing great. They try and fix up the farm, but mainly fix up the house enough to live in, and wallow. The Beautiful Life they were promised afterwards hasn’t happened, and everything feels like dust. Very ‘returning from war and finding yourself at odds with the world’ type vibes.

But then they wander into the market one morning when they’re coming in to, I dunno, buy food, and they happen across a tiny stall, run by a beautiful man with a teal earring. He sells jewelry, and it feels so frivolous, so unnecessary, but they can’t help but stop and look at it. Jewelery isn’t even their thing, but they can’t help but reach out and touch the intricate little earrings.

Oluwande recognizes them. And, in true Oluwande fashion, blurts out “holy shit, I know you.” This is not immediately a concern. Most people in town know them, by rumour at the very least, of the Jimenez child who lived. It’s a small place. However, then he says “we met on uh – The Gentleman Pirate’s ship, you killed that guy –“ and Jim gets very defensive very fast. And maybe runs away a little, wondering if they need to just pack up and go because they don’t really want people recognizing them for all the blood they’ve spilled.

(And then they remember the handsome man with the teal earring, and kick themself a little for not being able to place him immediately. He's still just as handsome, all these years later.)

Later that day Oluwande shows up at their door, with an apology on his lips and a small earring in his hand. “Didn’t mean to scare you off,” he says sheepishly. “I just got excited. Not many people here that know what I used to do.”

Jim reluctantly lets him in, and offers him a drink. They talk. Or, Oluwande talks, and Jim listens.

It’s not love at first meeting. But so many people in town avoid talking to Jim, and he doesn’t seem to care about the blood they’ve spilled. Hell, he was a pirate. He’s spilled just as much. So a tentative friendship is born.

They start seeking him out. Wandering to the market just to talk and pretend to browse his wares. They keep the earring he gave them, but their ears aren’t pierced, so they don’t do anything with it. They start bringing small food treats that they pick up at the market, so they have an excuse to sit and share it. Oluwande brightens every time they show up. He starts having tea or something else to drink ready every time, to share with the food.

Jim keeps trying to fix up the farm. But every time they do it just feels pointless, and makes them sad. They don’t really need a job for the money, but they’re starting to get restless, like they need something to do.

They take up whittling instead. It’s hard, and they cut themself more than they have since they first learned how to handle knives. Their first clumsy attempt at a bird gets given to Oluwande. So does their second, their third. A few more become toys, given to the family down the road. It takes time, but they get good.

“You should let me sell these,” Oluwande muses, running fingers over an intricate crocodile. “They’re really good.”

Jim shrugs. “I don’t really need the money.”

He raises an eyebrow and nods at his jewelry. “Neither do I. Why do you think they’re so cheap?”

Jim lets Oluwande sell their carvings. It’s a good partnership.

Eventually they kiss him. Of course they do. He’s handsome and sweet and the only person who makes them feel like a person again, and not the assassin they’ve become. The only person who teases them about their hat and their long coat and tells them they’re not as scary as they think they are.

And it’s good. It’s so good, this little romance. Easy, in a way very few things in their life have been.

A few weeks, maybe months after they add romance to the mix, Jim admits, late one evening, how much they hate living at the farm. How they still think about leaving, all the time.

“Could move in with me,” Oluwande whispers, voice just audible from where Jim is plastered to his back. “I’ve got the space.”

Jim leaves the next morning and tells him they need to think about it, promising they’re not running away, that they just need time to think. They go, and sit on their farm, and then disappear into the woods like they did as a child. When they come back two days later, it still feels just as empty and barren and broken as it did when they first set foot back in St. Augustine, just as lost as it did when they were a child. The healing they were hoping for is happening, but it’s not happening on this farm.

So they pack up all of their things (there aren’t many), and walk to the village. The sun is just setting, and there’s a candle already burning in Oluwande’s window. There’s no hesitation before they knock.

Oluwande opens the door, and sees them, and their bag. He smiles and holds the door open wider.

“Welcome home.”

That’s it! Look I will never actually write this, so if anyone ever wants to write the thing, have at! (Just give me credit for the idea, and please for the love of god send it to me so I can read it XD)

Anyway thanks for the prompt anon, this was fun!! Sorry it took me a while XD

[fille-lioncelle]

Title game: Your biggest mistake (hookhausen)

Danhausen's been making a lot of mistakes recently. The treacherous thing is that they don't really look like mistakes as he's making them, it's only when looking back that it turns out he should have probably paid more attention.

Like talking to - or rather about - Hook again. It wasn't meant to be anything but now people are looking at him like it is. Hook sometimes looks at him like it is. Danhausen's not actually sure what he wants it to be, if anything.

Hence, mistake. Or at least a bit hasty.

Then again maybe the bigger mistake was having stopped talking to Hook in the first place. Which could possibly be eclipsed by talking to him at all. It's landed Danhausen in this weird no-man's-land where people sort of expect him to show up alongside Hook, but also don't. Where they expect him to be funny and sort of useless but get frustrated about it too. Maybe attaching himself to Hook before he ever even debuted was the mistake.

Probably though the biggest mistake of them all was hooking up with a 19 year old ring rat backstage at a boring indie gig and not realising who he was. He could probably be forgiven for that if he hadn't done it again four years later without ever connecting the dots until Hook spelled it out for him.

Yeah. That one probably takes the cake.

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

Fic title: Wish you were here

Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Summary: Queen Angella is usually able to distract herself from grief by focusing on her duties as a monarch and a mother. But when the nights are quiet, she can't help but think about her greatest wish - to have Micah by her side again.

[topaz-eyes]

Give me a title for a fic, a fandom*, and a character or pairing, and I will write a snippet (a few hundred words) for that fic.

*Fandoms: Everything Everywhere All At Once, Elementary, Emergency!, Dead Poets Society, Strike Back (s6-s8 only), X Company, Lie to Me, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood, House MD

[muirmarie]

“the rust that grew between telephones”

MASH; H/M

This is the one where the war ends, and they each go their separate ways, and there are too many almosts that stand between them, too much possibility. They like each other now, they do, but they're not friends, not quite, not just - they've never managed to just be friends, even though they tried their best, even though circumstances and proximity and how very much they liked each other forced them to try.

They're back in the states, and for the first couple years, they keep tabs on each other purely through the gossip chain. It's easy, because other people always bring up the other without them asking. It's easy, because they never have to ask.

Have you heard that Margaret is getting out? they say. Have you heard that Hawkeye finally left Crabapple Cove and got a new position a few hours away from his dad? they say. Have you heard about Margaret's new guy? Have you heard about Hawkeye's new place? Have you heard that Margaret moved to a different state? Have you heard that Hawkeye's giving a talk at this conference?

And then they see each other, at a wedding, at a funeral. Something that brings some of the 4077 back together, and oh, emotions are high, and oh, it's so easy to fall back into old patterns. They've been back for two years. They've never left.

They sleep together, and then, before they part ways, they - still warm and happy and relaxed and so pleased to be back in each other's orbit - decide they should do a better job of staying in touch.

It's a terrible idea.

They do it anyway.

Letters scribbled between surgeries, phone calls at odd hours to account for time differences and night shifts, photos and recipes and funny newspaper comics cut out and all pressed together into envelopes, oh it's easy, isn't it.

(They've never been easy.)

Margaret wants a child; Margaret wants her career; Margaret wants a partner; Margaret wants wants wants.

(Hawkeye wants to not be afraid of wanting.)

Margaret gets engaged.

Hawkeye's dad gets sick.

He doesn't tell her.

They're still talking, is the thing. Her fiancé, who she likes well enough, who's her match in almost every way, who has the same goals as she does, who respects her, who cares about her - he doesn't like how much she stays in contact with Hawkeye, but she thinks maybe he knows a losing battle when he sees one, because he never pushes for an ultimatum.

(She's never told him she loves him, but she thinks maybe she could learn to, thinks it could be nice to grow into loving him. He's never said it either, but they could be something, couldn't they? Couldn't they be something?)

So she and Hawkeye are still talking, and if Hawkeye keeps the conversation on her, well. She likes to talk enough.

And if he sounds - if he sounds -

He'll talk when he's ready, she thinks. He's given her grace often enough, after all. Although he's kicked her in the rear enough that she has no qualms about getting in the game if she needs to. She doesn't think she needs to, and then BJ calls her.

I'm worried about Hawk, he says. Me, too, she says. Have you heard about his dad? he says.

She takes the first flight out.

The thing is that loving people is easy, and choosing to be with them can be hard, hard, hard.

This is the one where Margaret chooses for both of them, because Hawkeye can do this alone, he can, and he has been, but this is the one where he doesn't have to, and he doesn't have to be afraid of asking for what he wants, and they don't have to be anything more than this, anything more than friends -

But then, they've never been just friends, have they. Proximity, and circumstances, and high emotions, and oh, they like each other so much. Oh, it's always been hard, holding each other at arm's length.

(They've never been easy, but not loving each other would always be too hard.)

[sapphoshands]

Under the Raven's Wing

oh this is definitely a laura de mille/rita farr fic. (she's a bird, i'm sorry, it's just the way things are.) i think it's actually set not very much further into the future from where we are at the midseason break so i am gonna spoiler cut

so this fic is definitely about them having had a breakthrough in their relationship and then going back to the bureau and working through some of the shit that came up there. and it starts with rita finally properly mourning for malcom and letting him go and laura comforting her, because of all the horrible guilt she still carries and her yearning for forgiveness. but as it progresses and rita starts being able to see past herself, she recognises the terrible grief in laura and connects it to what they did at the bureau and how much laura has been carrying and how many people she lost. and rita finally sort of fumblingly - not apologises, but tries to tell laura that all the blame rita put on her was wrong and laura shouldn't have to carry it any more. and rita knows malcom's never coming back but it would be a greater horror if she really did lose laura forever. and it all becomes quite mutually emotional and probably laura says something entirely devastating about how she still feels like there's a giant chasm inside of her, and rita very tenderly touches her cheek and looks her in the eyes and says sweetly, 'i can expand to fit practically any space.'

[norcumii]

title: Heart of a Star - (Star Wars/Gargoyles) Qui-Gon Jinn/Hudson

(regarding this fic title meme prompt)

I’m not entirely sure how this one would go, but let’s face the bottom line here: however the plot goes, Qui-Gon and Hudson absolutely fucked when they were younger. (LBR, probably when they’re older too, but unquestionably when they were younger.) I am loving this as a second-chance romance scenario, where For Reasons they hooked up but it was just a fling and now they finally have an opportunity to scandalize all their young friends and relatives.

Now that we’ve established the most important part, there’s the question of what kind of universe this is. Maybe young Qui-Gon, freshly knighted and on his first early mission away from the overwhelming presence of Master Dooku, hooked up with the local hottie leader during diplomatic talks. He returns, settled and mature and the deranged maverick who don’t give a damn, Obi-Wan dutifully following along in his wake (and being agog at all the FLIRTING going on with the now retired leader Hudson).

Maybe Qui-Gon got pulled through a wormhole once, and spent a few weeks in medieval Scotland. There was a whirlwind romance, much quiet despair at the local lack of technology, and then whatever Shenanigans brought him there dumped him back in the Republic. Now, perhaps on the run after Order 66 goes down, he bops into ‘modern day’ New York. He’s surprised at the whole thousand year change locally, but eh, it means good indoor plumbing so no complaints – AND he gets to re-romance Hudson, so win all around!

And of course, there’s always the joys of contemplating a Star to Steer By variant, where it’s Qui-Gon and Tahl flirting like mad with the handsome warrior. (Now with Alpha 17 being WILDLY unimpressed in the background!)

[saturatedsinset]

For the made up fic title meme: Shatter

oh mattkenny naturally around bucks gl OR actually around the upcoming reunion. kota comes back kenny's convinced everything good exists in the world again matt feels like he's been stabbed in the heart. again.

[aurumacadicus]

For the fic title thing: Tony Stark's baby with stuckony?

YOOOOOOO I LOVED THIS TITLE IMMEDIATELY

Tony Stark's Baby

It had been a great scandal, Tony Stark appearing at his parent's table with news that he was with child. He'd been groomed for royalty. Perhaps not in the direct family line, but a cousin or niece, perhaps. He had the breeding, the finishing, the temperament. He would have made a good husband.

Now he was wasted. That was the word Howard had shouted at him. Wasted. As if that was all he'd raised his son for, to give to someone else. Then again... maybe he had. Tony had never really talked about him with warmth and affection.

If Howard had had any for him, it died that night when he gave Tony the choice to abort or leave. And no one had seen Tony since.

"I wonder if he ever told Howard who the father might be," Steve mused, lifting his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. They'd been riding for quite some time since they'd left the Stark estate.

Bucky scoffed, shaking his head. "Do you think that Howard would have let us leave the property alive if he knew it was one of us?"

Steve took a moment to really think of his answer. "No, you're right. He would have tried to kill at least one of us." He dropped his hand with a sigh. "I thought Howard was different."

"Yeah, I think his title went to his head," Bucky grumbled. He lifted his head a little. "Looks like we're almost there."

"It was nice of his ma to let him live on her property," Steve said, then grimaced when Bucky shot him an unimpressed frown. "I mean, obviously it's the least she could do for her son and grandchild, but I'm surprised Howard allowed it."

"They had a written agreement that this would be her property to control," Bucky reminded him. He pulled his horse in closer to Steve's, unable to help the smug smirk that crossed his lips as he quietly added, "Heard Howard tried to get her to kick Tony out anyway. Every single servant left the manor that night. I heard it was because they didn't want to be witnesses if Maria killed him."

Steve nodded a little. That made sense. Maria hadn't been the best mother to Tony, but he couldn't imagine her looking at her pregnant child and deciding both her son and his child should suffer, even if she could only bring herself to see the baby but once.

They made it over the hill and stopped to let their horses rest a bit from the climb. There was a little farm in the valley below. Self-sufficient, Clint had called it. No profit. He could grow enough for them to eat, but not enough that he could make more than a few coins with his spare vegetables. A kind gift, but also a punishment.

"Well," Steve said after a moment. "No point putting this off."

"Yeah," Bucky agreed quietly, and they nudged their horses forward again.

There was no one outside to meet them, but they hadn't really expected there to be. Tony couldn't afford to hire help, so any that he got were beholden to his mother, and they hadn't really ingratiated themselves to her, if the way her eyes went sharp with realization after their careful questioning were any indication. The yard had a few toys, but otherwise was well-kept. There was smoke coming from the chimney.

Steve and Bucky fussed with their horses a bit, then gave up on wasting time, putting off the inevitable. Either Tony would accept them, or he wouldn't. If he didn't, that was his right. They had gotten word about the scandal three years ago on the front lines, and maybe they could have come back then, if they'd pushed it. But Tony hadn't asked them to come home, so they didn't.

Steve knocked, then stepped over to press his shoulder to Bucky's. Bucky pressed closer.

The door opened, and Tony was there, tipping his head back to look up at them.

"You're late," Tony said, and then, before they could respond, he turned to step back inside. "Put your horses away. Supper's almost ready, and Harley will be waking from his nap."

"We can stay?" Bucky asked, unable to help his surprise.

Tony glanced back over his shoulder at them. "If you're taking responsibility," he answered carefully.

"We'll scream to the rooftops he's ours," Steve offered immediately.

"And that we plan to bond into a triad," Bucky added.

Tony tipped his head thoughtfully. "...Put your horses away," he repeated. "And if you're nice to me, maybe I'll give you a welcome home kiss."

"Fucking move," Steve said, throwing Bucky to the ground, and Bucky squawked in offense as he chased after him.

[chaoticace2005]

Husk and Angel, in bed together late at night:

Husk: I love you Anthony.

Angel: *blushing*

Niffty, from in the walls: HUSK YOU’RE CHEATING ON ANGEL WITH SOME ANTHONY GUY?!

Sir Pentious, from the corner of the room: Yesss that’s quite dissssappointing

Husk and Angel:

Angel: Pentious, you can clearly see it’s me.

Sir Pentious: I see nothing but a homewrecker.

(Fic now here)

[myalchod]

✨🌼🌹 for the fic title asks!

✨ Pick a favorite fic title of yours and explain why you like it. Yay, I get to answer this one twice! Most recently, I'm pleased beyond reason with just a station on your way, because not only did the title fit, the entire freaking song fit the fic, and finding it again was such a delightful surprise. "I'm just a station on your way / I know I'm not your lover", but the melancholy note works for Andreas for me, no matter which way you want to interpret him and the fic's ending.

🌼 Name a title from another fic author and explain why you like it. Oh, this is a tough one. I love titles that read like poetry and have a rhythm and a cadence to them, in general, especially when they flow into the rhythm of the fic in turn, but I also love a brilliant sharply-worded play on words. I'm deliberately not picking something from current fandoms because I feel like I'll insult someone by not picking them, so ... rifling through my bookmarks, I'll give the shoutout to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Bodhisattvas by Kanzeon Bosatsu (Judiciously Edited by Jiroushin), a Saiyuki Gaiden fic by veleda_k. Humour is hard, and being able to get a good title for a humour fic is even harder, and this does both.

🌹 Pick a title and explain how you chose it, its meaning, and anything else you'd like to share. Just to have an excuse to babble a little about it: who shall i say is calling? is another one where I borrow shamelessly from Leonard Cohen, but there's an added layer to it. The song takes from a Yom Kippur prayer called the Unetaneh Tokef, and the English translations echo how Cohen's "Who By Fire" starts with listing off a bunch of ways someone might die. There's the obvious correlation, but since Yom Kippur is (among other things) a day wherein one remembers the dead -- the penultimate section of the services is Yizkor, or Remember -- it gave me an added layer to please my nerd brain.

[ ask me another | answers ]