Ten Tricky Choices
Title Test
Fandom Merlin
Rating PG
Summary When Arthur and Merlin accidently bring a curse down onto Camelot, they have to try and put it right. But there's always a test ... small spoilers for the beginning of Season 2.
Link: Here
Title The Red
Fandom Black Books
Rating PG
Summary Bernard wakes Fran at half-three with a vital question. Fran is more interested in sleeping.
It was half-past three exactly when Fran was woken up by her ringing phone. She muttered some of her best swearwords as she grabbed it and yelled “What, what, what?!” into the receiver.
“Fran, it’s Bernard.”
Well, who else would be calling her at this time of the night?
“Fran, I need help! Desperate help! I have before me a terrible choice of epic disaster which could destroy the world as we know it! And Manny won’t help me!”
“Bernard,” Fran said sweetly. “If this question has anything, anything to do with wine, I will come round to the stop and set fire to your favourite underpants. And since you are usually wearing your favourite underpants … ”
Bernard rang off. Fran went back to sleep.
*
So, what did she say?” Manny asked, eyeing the aliens that were sitting in the shop, waiting expectantly for their first taste of human beverages.
”She couldn’t help,” Bernard said. “Let’s give them the red.”
Title Different
Fandom Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating G
Summary Alan Jackson thinks about his daughter.
Alan Jackson had always rather fancied the idea of being normal. It was something that had always rather escaped him and thus, something he’d strived for. Maybe in hindsight, marrying Chrissie had been a mistake there. She wasn’t exactly normal. Never had been. Which was one of the things he’d always loved about her actually, so again, perhaps his normality idea was pretty stupid.
That having been said, his daughter joining what boiled down to being an alien crime fighting team was beyond the usual bounds of “not normal.”
Alan sighed and rubbed his temples. He loved Maria. He trusted her. Respected her judgement about most things - she was brighter than the majority of fourteen year olds. But could he really trust her with this? Something that could clearly kill her (or worse) What kind of father allowed their child to risk death on a near-daily basis?
Well. Lots of parents did, obviously. Otherwise there would be no one in the army of offering missionary aid in war-torn countries or anything like that. But those children weren’t fourteen. That was different.
He could stop her. He could. She might rage and hate and resent him forever but she would be safe. Safe was good. Well, as safe as anyone ever was. Ever could be with the planet apparently filled with aliens. Which, it was obviously good to try to get rid of to protect other people’s children …
Alan closed his eyes again. Clearly, he had a long way to go.
Title Close
Fandom Getbackers
Rating PG
Summary Ban knows that it's dangerous to get close to people
Ban thought that getting close to people was a bad idea. No, he didn’t just think it - he knew it. Everyone he’d ever cared about died. Usually by his own hand. If he were the sort of person who had nightmares about things that had happened - which he wasn’t - he would lose count of the nightmares he could have where his hand was slippery with blood.
If he were the type to have nightmares about things that hadn’t happened - which he wasn’t - he might have realised he was potentially getting close to Ginji when he had a nightmare about Ginji’s blood all over his arm.
“It’s okay to get close to people,” Ginji told him once.
“Don’t get how you can say that,” Ban replied sourly. “In that place, you must have found it like that all the time.”
“Yeah,” Ginji said, unruffled. “It was hard. But I learned that if you don’t care for anyone, you break inside. So you just have to decide to risk it in the end. At least, I kinda decided you did. Not everyone in the Fortress agrees. And they fade away. I don’t want you to fade away, Ban-chan!”
And Ban fended him off before he could be desperately embraced and pretended that he was really totally protecting himself and not getting emotionally attached to Ginji at all.
Title Bad Mood
Fandom Death Note
Rating G
Summary Ide was in a good mood when they started out ...
Ide was rapidly getting into a bad mood. He’d been in a good mood when he and Matsuda had left for this walk. Now he was not in a good mood.
“But it’s a hard decision!” Matsuda insisted. “You just don’t understand, Ide.”
“No,” Ide said grumpily. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. Can you hurry up?”
“I am hurrying!” Matsuda said. “Why does no one understand that decisions are very important?”
“Because,” Ide said through gritted teeth. “We have currently been dithering here for nearly half an hour while you try to decide on the flavour of ice cream you want!”
Matsuda sulked.
Title Lies
Fandom Merlin
Rating G
Summary SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 12 OF SEASON 2. Arthur knows Merlin and Morgana are lying to him.
They were lying to him.
Arthur knew that they were lying. Merlin was a dreadful liar, especially if it was sprung upon him. His words stumbled, his eyes flicked from side to side. And if you listened, usually it never really hung together. This story in particular was so clearly garbage, it was almost offensive. Especially since Morgana was there to back him up. Normally, Morgana was better at lying. Skilled in fact. He’d watched her lie to Uther without a simple change of expression. So to see her so obviously flustered was … unusual.
It could just be because of the situation. His own head was swimming with panic and a vague ache that wouldn’t go away. Of course things would sound confusing, bewildering, wrong. There might be some good reason why they were both lying to him. Why they were conspiring behind his back. And now probably wasn’t the time to ask. He wanted to know, certainly, was worrying about it. But he needed to keep his curiosity in check. It wasn’t the time.
There would be plenty of time later.
Title The Final Choice
Fandom Merlin
Rating PG
Summary Arthur has the dream often. Mild Arthur/Merlin
”Pick between their lives. Pick which one you’d have saved.”
He’d had this dream before. At least a hundred times since, he was sure. Merlin and his father, standing in front of him, faces pale in the strange light. Sometimes, there was a mysterious hooded figure standing between them, their captor, clearly a sorcerer. Sometimes, he could just see the magical glow that held them still. Whatever it was, he knew what it meant. Magic was holding them. Magic was his enemy.
“One shall die. One shall live. Choose.”
How could he choose? He looked between them. His father, his eyes cold and blank,. His jaw twitched which suppressed rage and Arthur suspected that he had been gagged by magic. Only the merest hint of sweat on his brow suggested that he was remotely afraid of his fate.
Merlin however, was clearly scared. He was trembling, his breath coming in audible gasps, eyes huge in his white face. He stared almost pleadingly at Arthur but Arthur got the oddest feeling that Merlin wasn’t asking for the obvious. Merlin was almost never asking for the obvious in dreams. Even in real life.
“Choose between them. You may only have one. Make your choice.”
If he was awake, Arthur was sure he’d be able to find another option. Somehow get to keep both of them. But it was a dream and nothing worked but his voice and his mind. He could only have one. His father, his beloved father, who’s love and approval Arthur had sought since he was a babe in arms. Or Merlin, bumbling, brash Merlin who Arthur could no more admit his love for than he could fly. Merlin, who had changed his world. Merlin. Or his father.
So far, Arthur had always woken, shaking and moaning, before he had ever been forced to make the final choice.
Title Conversations
Fandom Thunderbirds
Rating G
Summary Alan talks to Scott.
“Scott.”
Alan sounded small and Scott automatically made space for his brother to sit down, shoving his book aside. Alan clearly had something he wanted to say.
“What’s up, little brother?”
“What would you do if you had to choose?”
Scott knew instantly what Alan was asking about. It played on his mind too, even though he tried to push it away. Maybe it didn’t for anyone who worked in a business that involved saving lives.
”I don’t think it would be like that,” he said. “You know what it’s like on a rescue. You don’t think in the same way.”
“Yeah but … how do you choose?”
“Don’t think of it as choosing,” Scott said instantly. “Alan, you can’t know what you’d do. No one can. You just have to do it. When it happens, it’ll be hard but … it’ll make more sense than it does while thinking about it. Just don’t freeze up. You’re not someone who panics, Alan. You’ll be fine.”
Alan didn’t say anything. He sort of leaned against Scott for a while, then abruptly informed him that Gordon was planning on beginning a tarantula breeding programme in the airing cupboard. Clearly, any sort of emotional conversation was over, to be replaced with causing war between brothers. Which was how most of the emotional conversations between the Tracy brothers tended to end. It was how the tended to like it.
There were some things that there was no point thinking about after all.
Title Settled
Fandom Torchwood
Rating G
Summary Spoilers for Children of Earth. Gwen worries about what she'll have to do when the baby is born.
Gwen was getting very tired of being pregnant. And not just because she was looking forward to the baby. The hormones were driving her mad, the lack of control … everything.
But she also was enjoying being pregnant. Because while she was pregnant, a lot of unpleasant choices did not need to be made.
“You’ll have to think about it soon enough, love” Rhys had told her early on. “Why not leave it until things are a bit more settled, hm?”
It seemed good advice. Sensible advice. Which Gwen was trying to follow. But knowing there was a choice that needed to be made was bothering her badly. Because she knew it was serious and important and needed someone to think about.
Torchwood was destroyed. Jack was gone and the others were dead. She was the only one left. But could she really do it? Rhys didn’t really want her to, she knew that. She couldn’t blame him. Out of her four workmates, three were dead and one of them would have been dead if he weren’t immortal. And he had left with no intention of returning. She was going to have a baby. And if she died …
But the baby wouldn’t be alone. The baby would have Rhys and their parents. It wasn’t as though it would grow up an orphan. Gwen could continue working and protecting Cardiff from the Rift. Protecting other people.
So Gwen supposed that it came down to a choice. Did the needs of her family outweigh the needs of the world?
It worried Gwen that she wasn’t totally sure of the answer any more.
Title Easy Choice
Fandom Firefly
Rating G
Summary Simon thinks about how he could turn back.
It occurred to Simon that he could still turn back.
He’s already come pretty far. He shouldn’t be here at all, for a start. He’d lied to his job and his parents to get to this place. He’d already paid some doubtless disreputable men quite a lot of his money to be here. But he could still go home. Back to his job and a quiet life. Back to approval and ease. It would be easy.
Once, River had fallen while picking berries. Simon had been out with his own friends when he’d got the sudden urge to check on her. Ignoring his friend’s teasing, he’d headed off and found her in the ditch, holding her injured ankle. She’d grinned up at him and said “I knew it would be you who came first.”
Simon shrugged and shook his head. It wasn’t a hard choice. At all.
He stayed and waited.
Fandom Merlin
Rating PG
Summary When Arthur and Merlin accidently bring a curse down onto Camelot, they have to try and put it right. But there's always a test ... small spoilers for the beginning of Season 2.
Link: Here
Title The Red
Fandom Black Books
Rating PG
Summary Bernard wakes Fran at half-three with a vital question. Fran is more interested in sleeping.
It was half-past three exactly when Fran was woken up by her ringing phone. She muttered some of her best swearwords as she grabbed it and yelled “What, what, what?!” into the receiver.
“Fran, it’s Bernard.”
Well, who else would be calling her at this time of the night?
“Fran, I need help! Desperate help! I have before me a terrible choice of epic disaster which could destroy the world as we know it! And Manny won’t help me!”
“Bernard,” Fran said sweetly. “If this question has anything, anything to do with wine, I will come round to the stop and set fire to your favourite underpants. And since you are usually wearing your favourite underpants … ”
Bernard rang off. Fran went back to sleep.
*
So, what did she say?” Manny asked, eyeing the aliens that were sitting in the shop, waiting expectantly for their first taste of human beverages.
”She couldn’t help,” Bernard said. “Let’s give them the red.”
Title Different
Fandom Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating G
Summary Alan Jackson thinks about his daughter.
Alan Jackson had always rather fancied the idea of being normal. It was something that had always rather escaped him and thus, something he’d strived for. Maybe in hindsight, marrying Chrissie had been a mistake there. She wasn’t exactly normal. Never had been. Which was one of the things he’d always loved about her actually, so again, perhaps his normality idea was pretty stupid.
That having been said, his daughter joining what boiled down to being an alien crime fighting team was beyond the usual bounds of “not normal.”
Alan sighed and rubbed his temples. He loved Maria. He trusted her. Respected her judgement about most things - she was brighter than the majority of fourteen year olds. But could he really trust her with this? Something that could clearly kill her (or worse) What kind of father allowed their child to risk death on a near-daily basis?
Well. Lots of parents did, obviously. Otherwise there would be no one in the army of offering missionary aid in war-torn countries or anything like that. But those children weren’t fourteen. That was different.
He could stop her. He could. She might rage and hate and resent him forever but she would be safe. Safe was good. Well, as safe as anyone ever was. Ever could be with the planet apparently filled with aliens. Which, it was obviously good to try to get rid of to protect other people’s children …
Alan closed his eyes again. Clearly, he had a long way to go.
Title Close
Fandom Getbackers
Rating PG
Summary Ban knows that it's dangerous to get close to people
Ban thought that getting close to people was a bad idea. No, he didn’t just think it - he knew it. Everyone he’d ever cared about died. Usually by his own hand. If he were the sort of person who had nightmares about things that had happened - which he wasn’t - he would lose count of the nightmares he could have where his hand was slippery with blood.
If he were the type to have nightmares about things that hadn’t happened - which he wasn’t - he might have realised he was potentially getting close to Ginji when he had a nightmare about Ginji’s blood all over his arm.
“It’s okay to get close to people,” Ginji told him once.
“Don’t get how you can say that,” Ban replied sourly. “In that place, you must have found it like that all the time.”
“Yeah,” Ginji said, unruffled. “It was hard. But I learned that if you don’t care for anyone, you break inside. So you just have to decide to risk it in the end. At least, I kinda decided you did. Not everyone in the Fortress agrees. And they fade away. I don’t want you to fade away, Ban-chan!”
And Ban fended him off before he could be desperately embraced and pretended that he was really totally protecting himself and not getting emotionally attached to Ginji at all.
Title Bad Mood
Fandom Death Note
Rating G
Summary Ide was in a good mood when they started out ...
Ide was rapidly getting into a bad mood. He’d been in a good mood when he and Matsuda had left for this walk. Now he was not in a good mood.
“But it’s a hard decision!” Matsuda insisted. “You just don’t understand, Ide.”
“No,” Ide said grumpily. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. Can you hurry up?”
“I am hurrying!” Matsuda said. “Why does no one understand that decisions are very important?”
“Because,” Ide said through gritted teeth. “We have currently been dithering here for nearly half an hour while you try to decide on the flavour of ice cream you want!”
Matsuda sulked.
Title Lies
Fandom Merlin
Rating G
Summary SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 12 OF SEASON 2. Arthur knows Merlin and Morgana are lying to him.
They were lying to him.
Arthur knew that they were lying. Merlin was a dreadful liar, especially if it was sprung upon him. His words stumbled, his eyes flicked from side to side. And if you listened, usually it never really hung together. This story in particular was so clearly garbage, it was almost offensive. Especially since Morgana was there to back him up. Normally, Morgana was better at lying. Skilled in fact. He’d watched her lie to Uther without a simple change of expression. So to see her so obviously flustered was … unusual.
It could just be because of the situation. His own head was swimming with panic and a vague ache that wouldn’t go away. Of course things would sound confusing, bewildering, wrong. There might be some good reason why they were both lying to him. Why they were conspiring behind his back. And now probably wasn’t the time to ask. He wanted to know, certainly, was worrying about it. But he needed to keep his curiosity in check. It wasn’t the time.
There would be plenty of time later.
Title The Final Choice
Fandom Merlin
Rating PG
Summary Arthur has the dream often. Mild Arthur/Merlin
”Pick between their lives. Pick which one you’d have saved.”
He’d had this dream before. At least a hundred times since, he was sure. Merlin and his father, standing in front of him, faces pale in the strange light. Sometimes, there was a mysterious hooded figure standing between them, their captor, clearly a sorcerer. Sometimes, he could just see the magical glow that held them still. Whatever it was, he knew what it meant. Magic was holding them. Magic was his enemy.
“One shall die. One shall live. Choose.”
How could he choose? He looked between them. His father, his eyes cold and blank,. His jaw twitched which suppressed rage and Arthur suspected that he had been gagged by magic. Only the merest hint of sweat on his brow suggested that he was remotely afraid of his fate.
Merlin however, was clearly scared. He was trembling, his breath coming in audible gasps, eyes huge in his white face. He stared almost pleadingly at Arthur but Arthur got the oddest feeling that Merlin wasn’t asking for the obvious. Merlin was almost never asking for the obvious in dreams. Even in real life.
“Choose between them. You may only have one. Make your choice.”
If he was awake, Arthur was sure he’d be able to find another option. Somehow get to keep both of them. But it was a dream and nothing worked but his voice and his mind. He could only have one. His father, his beloved father, who’s love and approval Arthur had sought since he was a babe in arms. Or Merlin, bumbling, brash Merlin who Arthur could no more admit his love for than he could fly. Merlin, who had changed his world. Merlin. Or his father.
So far, Arthur had always woken, shaking and moaning, before he had ever been forced to make the final choice.
Title Conversations
Fandom Thunderbirds
Rating G
Summary Alan talks to Scott.
“Scott.”
Alan sounded small and Scott automatically made space for his brother to sit down, shoving his book aside. Alan clearly had something he wanted to say.
“What’s up, little brother?”
“What would you do if you had to choose?”
Scott knew instantly what Alan was asking about. It played on his mind too, even though he tried to push it away. Maybe it didn’t for anyone who worked in a business that involved saving lives.
”I don’t think it would be like that,” he said. “You know what it’s like on a rescue. You don’t think in the same way.”
“Yeah but … how do you choose?”
“Don’t think of it as choosing,” Scott said instantly. “Alan, you can’t know what you’d do. No one can. You just have to do it. When it happens, it’ll be hard but … it’ll make more sense than it does while thinking about it. Just don’t freeze up. You’re not someone who panics, Alan. You’ll be fine.”
Alan didn’t say anything. He sort of leaned against Scott for a while, then abruptly informed him that Gordon was planning on beginning a tarantula breeding programme in the airing cupboard. Clearly, any sort of emotional conversation was over, to be replaced with causing war between brothers. Which was how most of the emotional conversations between the Tracy brothers tended to end. It was how the tended to like it.
There were some things that there was no point thinking about after all.
Title Settled
Fandom Torchwood
Rating G
Summary Spoilers for Children of Earth. Gwen worries about what she'll have to do when the baby is born.
Gwen was getting very tired of being pregnant. And not just because she was looking forward to the baby. The hormones were driving her mad, the lack of control … everything.
But she also was enjoying being pregnant. Because while she was pregnant, a lot of unpleasant choices did not need to be made.
“You’ll have to think about it soon enough, love” Rhys had told her early on. “Why not leave it until things are a bit more settled, hm?”
It seemed good advice. Sensible advice. Which Gwen was trying to follow. But knowing there was a choice that needed to be made was bothering her badly. Because she knew it was serious and important and needed someone to think about.
Torchwood was destroyed. Jack was gone and the others were dead. She was the only one left. But could she really do it? Rhys didn’t really want her to, she knew that. She couldn’t blame him. Out of her four workmates, three were dead and one of them would have been dead if he weren’t immortal. And he had left with no intention of returning. She was going to have a baby. And if she died …
But the baby wouldn’t be alone. The baby would have Rhys and their parents. It wasn’t as though it would grow up an orphan. Gwen could continue working and protecting Cardiff from the Rift. Protecting other people.
So Gwen supposed that it came down to a choice. Did the needs of her family outweigh the needs of the world?
It worried Gwen that she wasn’t totally sure of the answer any more.
Title Easy Choice
Fandom Firefly
Rating G
Summary Simon thinks about how he could turn back.
It occurred to Simon that he could still turn back.
He’s already come pretty far. He shouldn’t be here at all, for a start. He’d lied to his job and his parents to get to this place. He’d already paid some doubtless disreputable men quite a lot of his money to be here. But he could still go home. Back to his job and a quiet life. Back to approval and ease. It would be easy.
Once, River had fallen while picking berries. Simon had been out with his own friends when he’d got the sudden urge to check on her. Ignoring his friend’s teasing, he’d headed off and found her in the ditch, holding her injured ankle. She’d grinned up at him and said “I knew it would be you who came first.”
Simon shrugged and shook his head. It wasn’t a hard choice. At all.
He stayed and waited.