Ficlets: Touching Evil and Dead Man on Campus
Two more ficlets, which is less than I'd hoped to get written at work today, but more than I've written for awhile, so I'm not really complaining.
Prompt #3 came from bloody_american, who shares my mad love for all things Bradley Cooper. This is Touching Evil fic, featuring my personal favorite Bradley slash pairing, Creegan/Rivers. Only it's third person voyeuresque fic from Swopes' POV. I have no idea. I'm just happy to be writing. The prompt was Creegan/Rivers, drunkenness, an office Christmas party, and a Santa hat. 698 words.
He didn't mean to see. He was just minding his own business, really, trying to stay out of the way of drunk coworkers and the inevitable fights that broke out any time the OSC threw a party.
For awhile he'd tried talking to Susan, mostly because she was standing in a corner looking lonely. And it was strange to see her without Creegan or Rivers - sometimes both - hanging around, so Swopes…well, he sort of felt sorry for her. It was just that she looked so sad, like she was thinking about everything bad that had happened this year instead of all the good things.
Not that he could blame her, really, because a lot of bad things had happened this year. It sort of went with the territory, and they all thought he didn't understand since he spent his whole day in the lab and never went into the field, but he knew. He was still a federal agent, after all, and he knew what went on out there.
Trying to talk to her about it was probably a mistake. He knew better than to bring up all the attention Creegan had been giving to Rivers; Creegan was her partner, after all, and partners were supposed to stick together. So trying to sympathize with her about the fact that her partner was giving all his attention to another agent…well, it definitely wasn't the best approach he could have taken.
But he hadn't expected her to look so…well, he wasn't sure what, exactly, but whatever the emotion that made her eyes narrow and her hand clench hard on her glass of wine, he hadn't been expecting it. To be honest, he wasn't really sure what he'd been expecting Susan's reaction to be. The truth was, he'd always kind of thought of her as above falling for Creegan.
She was definitely above Rivers, because he was good-looking, sure, in a superficial way, but he was way too crass and at least Creegan had a quirky sort of charm going for him. But really she was too good for both of them, so he didn't understand why it bothered her that they were spending all their time together.
Until he turned a corner and saw them, away from the party and down a hall, pressed together in a doorway. At first he didn't even see them, because most of the building was dark already and he wasn't expecting to find anyone hanging around the hall that led to the A/V lab.
He was halfway down the hall when he saw something move in the doorway, then he heard a familiar voice whispering something he couldn't make out. He stopped in the middle of the hall, mouth open and he was too surprised to make a sound, but that was probably a good thing.
Creegan was leaning in the doorway, dopey smile on his face and Rivers was leaning into him. His hand was…somewhere - Swopes was pretty sure he didn't want to know where - and he was murmuring something that made Creegan laugh. Then he leaned even closer and Creegan leaned in too, and before Swopes could turn and run in the other direction, they were kissing.
Like they'd done this before, and Swopes had no idea if they were drunk enough not to care or if they just didn't care period, but it was pretty obvious they weren't worried about who might see them. And it was weird, because he knew they were friends, but he didn't know…this.
But the weirdest part of all was that it looked almost natural; Creegan's hands on Rivers' waist to tug him closer, and Rivers' laugh as he reached up to pull off the Santa hat Creegan had been wearing since the beginning of the party. They looked comfortable together, the same way they always did when they were joking around at work, only now he knew why.
He'd never been the judgmental type, so as long as they were happy together, he was happy for them. Besides, if they were all wrapped up in each other that meant they weren't interested in Susan. And really, neither of them was good enough for her anyway.
~
Prompt #4 came from trevorfrost, who asked for Josh/Cooper and someone waking someone else. This is really silly. Possibly to the point of stupid. It's been a long day, so I'm a bad judge. 836 words.
As finals weeks went, it was about as grueling as Josh could have imagined. But he was finally done, and all he really wanted to do was sleep for a week. Or until his mom came to pick him up for Christmas break, whichever came first.
So he wasn't exactly thrilled at the sound of something hitting the floor of his dorm room, followed by a muffled curse that let him know Cooper was trying and failing miserably at being quiet.
But he was trying, so that counted for something. Josh buried his head a little further into his pillow and willed Cooper to either shut up and go back to bed, or find somewhere else to make noise. And for a few minutes it actually worked; the room was silent, and Josh was drifting on the edge of sleep when another crash jolted him awake.
He let out a groan and turned over, blinking against the brightness in the room long enough to squint at Cooper. "Coop, come on. I'm trying to sleep here."
"Sorry," Cooper said, and Josh was too tired to worry about whether or not he meant it. "I'm almost done."
For a second Josh considered asking what exactly Cooper was doing, but if he woke up enough to have an actual conversation he knew that was the end of any chance of sleeping in. Instead he closed his eyes and rolled over again, burying his head under his pillow to block out the light.
A door opened and closed and Josh relaxed, sighing into the sheets as he settled in for what he hoped was several hours' uninterrupted sleep.
That lasted three full minutes.
"Shit, sorry," Cooper said when Josh pulled the pillow off his head and pushed himself up on one elbow, glaring across the room at his roommate.
"I thought you left," Josh said, and yeah, he sounded like he was whining, but he was too tired to care. "Seriously, Coop, I'm exhausted. You know how hard I've been cramming for finals."
"I know, sorry. I swear I'm almost done."
And he knew he shouldn't, but he was already awake and Josh was pretty sure he wasn't getting back to sleep now anyway. "What are you doing?" he asked as he sat up, leaning against the wall behind his bed to watch Cooper.
"Packing."
"I thought you did that last night."
"Most of it, sure," Cooper answered, pausing long enough to glance over at Josh. "But I have to pack the last-minute stuff. The car's coming to pick me up in like two hours."
Josh had been so intent on finally getting some sleep that he hadn't thought about the fact that Cooper was leaving before him, but as soon as Cooper said it Josh realized what it meant. Three whole weeks of no Cooper, no crazy schemes and no pathetic attempts to charm Josh into partying instead of studying. No Cooper murmuring in his ear late at night, no kisses and definitely no sex. Last night he'd come home and passed out, and that had blown their last chance to spend any time together until next year.
If he was lucky he'd get a phone call over break, and even that would probably just depress him, because Cooper was bound to have a good time at home and Josh…well, nothing interesting ever happened in Indiana. "I completely forgot," Josh said, his big plans to sleep in forgotten as he pushed the covers back and climbed out of bed. "I didn't mean to sleep through our last night."
"It's okay, Josh, I know how hard you've been working," Cooper said, still grinning but Josh could tell he was just faking it. Because Cooper wasn't exactly the understanding type, and even though he got why Josh was working so hard, he'd never liked it.
"No, it's not okay," Josh answered. He pulled the bag Cooper was holding out of his hand and let it drop to the floor, his free hand sliding around Cooper's waist to pull him forward. "Coop…oh. Hang on a second."
"No way," Cooper said when Josh started to pull away, hands on the front of his shirt to hold him in place.
"I'm just going to brush my teeth," Josh said, laughing at the determined expression on Cooper's face.
"No you're not. We've got less than two hours and we're not wasting a second," Cooper answered as he pushed Josh back toward his bed. "Jesus, I thought you'd never wake up."
It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, but when they did Josh stopped, the backs of his legs pressed against his mattress. "Wait a second. You were trying to wake me up?"
Cooper shrugged and tried to look sheepish, but Josh could tell he wasn't sorry. "I wasn't going to leave without saying goodbye. Besides, you can sleep when you get home, right?"
And later Josh would be annoyed, but for now he agreed with Cooper: they'd already wasted enough time.
~
And that's all you'll be hearing out of me tonight, I promise. I'm too tired to do any more spamming, fic-related or otherwise. I'm still not caught up on comments, but I'm working on it.
Prompt #3 came from bloody_american, who shares my mad love for all things Bradley Cooper. This is Touching Evil fic, featuring my personal favorite Bradley slash pairing, Creegan/Rivers. Only it's third person voyeuresque fic from Swopes' POV. I have no idea. I'm just happy to be writing. The prompt was Creegan/Rivers, drunkenness, an office Christmas party, and a Santa hat. 698 words.
He didn't mean to see. He was just minding his own business, really, trying to stay out of the way of drunk coworkers and the inevitable fights that broke out any time the OSC threw a party.
For awhile he'd tried talking to Susan, mostly because she was standing in a corner looking lonely. And it was strange to see her without Creegan or Rivers - sometimes both - hanging around, so Swopes…well, he sort of felt sorry for her. It was just that she looked so sad, like she was thinking about everything bad that had happened this year instead of all the good things.
Not that he could blame her, really, because a lot of bad things had happened this year. It sort of went with the territory, and they all thought he didn't understand since he spent his whole day in the lab and never went into the field, but he knew. He was still a federal agent, after all, and he knew what went on out there.
Trying to talk to her about it was probably a mistake. He knew better than to bring up all the attention Creegan had been giving to Rivers; Creegan was her partner, after all, and partners were supposed to stick together. So trying to sympathize with her about the fact that her partner was giving all his attention to another agent…well, it definitely wasn't the best approach he could have taken.
But he hadn't expected her to look so…well, he wasn't sure what, exactly, but whatever the emotion that made her eyes narrow and her hand clench hard on her glass of wine, he hadn't been expecting it. To be honest, he wasn't really sure what he'd been expecting Susan's reaction to be. The truth was, he'd always kind of thought of her as above falling for Creegan.
She was definitely above Rivers, because he was good-looking, sure, in a superficial way, but he was way too crass and at least Creegan had a quirky sort of charm going for him. But really she was too good for both of them, so he didn't understand why it bothered her that they were spending all their time together.
Until he turned a corner and saw them, away from the party and down a hall, pressed together in a doorway. At first he didn't even see them, because most of the building was dark already and he wasn't expecting to find anyone hanging around the hall that led to the A/V lab.
He was halfway down the hall when he saw something move in the doorway, then he heard a familiar voice whispering something he couldn't make out. He stopped in the middle of the hall, mouth open and he was too surprised to make a sound, but that was probably a good thing.
Creegan was leaning in the doorway, dopey smile on his face and Rivers was leaning into him. His hand was…somewhere - Swopes was pretty sure he didn't want to know where - and he was murmuring something that made Creegan laugh. Then he leaned even closer and Creegan leaned in too, and before Swopes could turn and run in the other direction, they were kissing.
Like they'd done this before, and Swopes had no idea if they were drunk enough not to care or if they just didn't care period, but it was pretty obvious they weren't worried about who might see them. And it was weird, because he knew they were friends, but he didn't know…this.
But the weirdest part of all was that it looked almost natural; Creegan's hands on Rivers' waist to tug him closer, and Rivers' laugh as he reached up to pull off the Santa hat Creegan had been wearing since the beginning of the party. They looked comfortable together, the same way they always did when they were joking around at work, only now he knew why.
He'd never been the judgmental type, so as long as they were happy together, he was happy for them. Besides, if they were all wrapped up in each other that meant they weren't interested in Susan. And really, neither of them was good enough for her anyway.
~
Prompt #4 came from trevorfrost, who asked for Josh/Cooper and someone waking someone else. This is really silly. Possibly to the point of stupid. It's been a long day, so I'm a bad judge. 836 words.
As finals weeks went, it was about as grueling as Josh could have imagined. But he was finally done, and all he really wanted to do was sleep for a week. Or until his mom came to pick him up for Christmas break, whichever came first.
So he wasn't exactly thrilled at the sound of something hitting the floor of his dorm room, followed by a muffled curse that let him know Cooper was trying and failing miserably at being quiet.
But he was trying, so that counted for something. Josh buried his head a little further into his pillow and willed Cooper to either shut up and go back to bed, or find somewhere else to make noise. And for a few minutes it actually worked; the room was silent, and Josh was drifting on the edge of sleep when another crash jolted him awake.
He let out a groan and turned over, blinking against the brightness in the room long enough to squint at Cooper. "Coop, come on. I'm trying to sleep here."
"Sorry," Cooper said, and Josh was too tired to worry about whether or not he meant it. "I'm almost done."
For a second Josh considered asking what exactly Cooper was doing, but if he woke up enough to have an actual conversation he knew that was the end of any chance of sleeping in. Instead he closed his eyes and rolled over again, burying his head under his pillow to block out the light.
A door opened and closed and Josh relaxed, sighing into the sheets as he settled in for what he hoped was several hours' uninterrupted sleep.
That lasted three full minutes.
"Shit, sorry," Cooper said when Josh pulled the pillow off his head and pushed himself up on one elbow, glaring across the room at his roommate.
"I thought you left," Josh said, and yeah, he sounded like he was whining, but he was too tired to care. "Seriously, Coop, I'm exhausted. You know how hard I've been cramming for finals."
"I know, sorry. I swear I'm almost done."
And he knew he shouldn't, but he was already awake and Josh was pretty sure he wasn't getting back to sleep now anyway. "What are you doing?" he asked as he sat up, leaning against the wall behind his bed to watch Cooper.
"Packing."
"I thought you did that last night."
"Most of it, sure," Cooper answered, pausing long enough to glance over at Josh. "But I have to pack the last-minute stuff. The car's coming to pick me up in like two hours."
Josh had been so intent on finally getting some sleep that he hadn't thought about the fact that Cooper was leaving before him, but as soon as Cooper said it Josh realized what it meant. Three whole weeks of no Cooper, no crazy schemes and no pathetic attempts to charm Josh into partying instead of studying. No Cooper murmuring in his ear late at night, no kisses and definitely no sex. Last night he'd come home and passed out, and that had blown their last chance to spend any time together until next year.
If he was lucky he'd get a phone call over break, and even that would probably just depress him, because Cooper was bound to have a good time at home and Josh…well, nothing interesting ever happened in Indiana. "I completely forgot," Josh said, his big plans to sleep in forgotten as he pushed the covers back and climbed out of bed. "I didn't mean to sleep through our last night."
"It's okay, Josh, I know how hard you've been working," Cooper said, still grinning but Josh could tell he was just faking it. Because Cooper wasn't exactly the understanding type, and even though he got why Josh was working so hard, he'd never liked it.
"No, it's not okay," Josh answered. He pulled the bag Cooper was holding out of his hand and let it drop to the floor, his free hand sliding around Cooper's waist to pull him forward. "Coop…oh. Hang on a second."
"No way," Cooper said when Josh started to pull away, hands on the front of his shirt to hold him in place.
"I'm just going to brush my teeth," Josh said, laughing at the determined expression on Cooper's face.
"No you're not. We've got less than two hours and we're not wasting a second," Cooper answered as he pushed Josh back toward his bed. "Jesus, I thought you'd never wake up."
It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, but when they did Josh stopped, the backs of his legs pressed against his mattress. "Wait a second. You were trying to wake me up?"
Cooper shrugged and tried to look sheepish, but Josh could tell he wasn't sorry. "I wasn't going to leave without saying goodbye. Besides, you can sleep when you get home, right?"
And later Josh would be annoyed, but for now he agreed with Cooper: they'd already wasted enough time.
~
And that's all you'll be hearing out of me tonight, I promise. I'm too tired to do any more spamming, fic-related or otherwise. I'm still not caught up on comments, but I'm working on it.