Five things meme responses
Thanks to everyone who gave me prompts for the five things meme! Collected here, hopefully with fewer typos.
wordscomekinda asked for:
Five times Eric Roberts was not a douche
1.) So there was that one time, where Kitty was like. Really fucking sick. She was all gross and snotty and pale and miserable and sulky. It kinda sucked hanging out with her, but like. He brought her a to go container of her favorite soup from that little deli down the street from her apartment (it was on his way, whatever) and brings her more tissues and watches bad soaps with her for awhile.
2.) Then there's that time Travis and Matt are doing that we-aren't-doing-anything thing, where they act like they're not together and they're totally straight. Eric's tired of watching it, so he tells them to stop being such fucking girls about it, jesus.
Shockingly enough, they actually kind of talk about their issues and stuff after.
3.) He was back upstate visiting his mom, and fuck did he need to get out of the house and away from his little sister. So he called up Disashi and asked if the sumo wrestler was available for hangs. When he gets there, both of them look so completely haggard. They actually let him leave the house with the baby after Bluejay gives him a crash course in baby care and makes him promise not to go any further than like the Italian restaurant down the street.
4.) Then, uh, there was that time he opened the door to his apartment and his little sister was there. Turns out she, like, had a really shitty break up and had a fight with their mom and everything. He texted his mom that she was there and she was fine, and then stayed like half sober while he let his sister get completely fucking plastered. To watch out for her. Also to lord it over her when she had a hangover the next morning and he didn't.
5.) When she was able to move without throwing up, though, he took her out to breakfast and told her guys are jerks.
Five times Eliot got in trouble (and once when he just took the rap) (from this epically self-indulgent and perpetually unfinished verse wordscomekinda and I have been passing around, the Mike Carden/Greta Salpeter bits are posted here and baby Eliot's first introduction is here)
1.) "Eliot Robert Carden!" Mommy yelled. "What did you do to your sister?"
"Uh-oh," he told Ari before he made a run for it. (Ari totally pointed Greta which way he went. He is not yet well versed in the art of covering for your stupid friends when they draw on their baby sisters with permanent markers.)
2.) "Eliot Carden!" Mrs. Nelson scolded.
"He pushed Sammy!"
"Then you tell an adult and let us take care of it."
Eliot crossed his arms and sulked all the way to the principle's office. The last time someone told the teachers Trent was being mean, he said sorry and pushed 'em again the next time he wanted the jump rope.
Eliot's way was totally better.
3.) "Eliot!" Grace shouted so loud it rang throughout the house.
"What?" he shouted back, full of attitude.
"Dude," Ari said. "Don't you remember--"
"--oh shit." By the time Eliot started moving it was already too late; Grace was in the hallway brandishing her ruined dress.
4.) "Eliot Carden!" Dad yelled.
"I'm right here," Eliot muttered, sulkily.
"Try listening to me." Dad was tapping a pen against his leg like he did when he really wanted a cigarette. "Look for other cars and your little brother before you pull out, understand?"
Eliot took a deep breath and let it hiss out between his teeth. "Fine," he said. He looked over his shoulder, where there were no other cars and Jimmy was on the Jones' lawn across the street--if anyone got yelled at it should have been Jimmy, who the fuck ran out in front of a car like that just to fuck with someone?
5.) "Eliot!" Miranda shouted, scandalized as she threw a book at his head, when she came home a day early and found him in bed with Jake.
6.) The door burst open and Caroline barreled in behind it. Eliot threw off his headphones and shouted, "Hey!"
"I'm so sorry," she whispered furiously. "I'm--I don't know--crap." She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Eliot Robert Carden!" Dad yelled from downstairs.
He gaped at the door, then at Caroline. "Seriously?"
"I'm so sorry!" She did cry then, out of panic.
Eliot sighed and threw his headphones on the bed. "You owe me so bad."
"Anything!"
Eliot moved her aside and marched out the door. She followed after him like she was heading to a funeral. Eliot couldn't help but smile, just a little, though. He was going to have so much fun making her make it up to him. He wondered how much he could get Grace to pay him for getting Caroline to do her chores, too.
Five ways Matt knows Travis loves him
1.) There's a piece of Travis' skin that's all for Matt. It's different than the places that are for the band, and it's not hidden under clothes like the ones that are for girls. He wears it on his arm, out in the open for everyone to see.
2.) Travis listens to the Kill the Frontman demos with this excited grin that only has a little to do with how far gone they both are. He sketches out a dozen tour posters when he puts it on repeat.
Matt tries to shrug it off. "No one's gonna listen to it, much less come see us."
"They'll listen," Travis says like there's not a doubt in his mind.
3.) Matt's busy, with classes and family stuff and then Miss Petey gets sick. It's a clusterfuck of life getting in the way of seeing Travis off properly.
"I'm sorry, dude," Matt says. He has to hold the phone with his shoulder and juggle it, Petey, his keys, and dinner. He almost drops all four.
"Man, it ain't nothin," Travis replies easily. He's just at the gate waiting for his plane to board, but he already sounds a million miles away. It makes Matt sad, uneasy for a fleeting moment, but Miami is what Travis needs right now, just like Matt needs to stay in New Jersey.
The door finally opens. Matt puts the take out on the hall table so he can let Petey down when Dexter comes bounding up with his tail wagging.
"I'm seeing you in a couple weeks," Travis says. "It'll be like nothing, blinking an eye." Matt didn't think he was searching too hard when he heard a kind of wistfulness there, like maybe Travis didn't quite believe it either.
He shifts the phone so he's holding it in his hand, grabs his dinner off the hall table. Underneath it he notices an envelope, unopened among the bills and simply reading "Matty" in Travis' sloppiest scrawl.
"What's this?" he asks the phone.
"I don't know." Matt can hear Travis' grin too clearly to believe his plot at innocence. He rips open the envelope, and all that falls out is a key.
"Is this...?"
"Mi casa es su casa. I'm expectin' you to use that. Anytime you want. Like maybe next week."
Matt can't stop himself from grinning as he adds it to his key ring, right next to his house key. "Next week, huh? You sure I won't be crowdin' ya?"
"Never."
It would depend on if Petey was back to 100%, but he figured he was probably due for a road trip.
4.) Matt tends to stay on the bus when their set's done. He's got last minute reading, or he's got too much work the next day to waste the morning on a hangover. It's not so bad since Disashi's mostly settled down himself, Travis and Eric usually find somewhere else to blow off steam.
It means the bus is quiet enough that exhaustion from the first week of shows after a long enough break starts to overcome the adrenaline from the performing the songs he loves. The warm glow from the TV, the low murmur of Disashi saying his goodnights to Bluejay and the baby, it's enough to make Matt's eyes heavy.
The door opens, which startles Matt awake. Travis walks in with a wide grin. "Has the geriatric bus retired for the evening?"
Matt shrugs, letting himself be lulled again. Disashi flips him off before heading back to the bunks to finish his phone call.
Travis sinks into the couch beside Matt, pouring himself all over the places of Matt he can reach. "What're we watchin'?" His voice is warm like honey rumbling its way up Matt's spine.
Matt shrugs easily, already on his way to sleep.
5.) Matt's 15 and Travis is the coolest kid he's ever met. He feels a million kinds of awkward and gangly and out of place when he follows Travis to his other friends--the cool kids, the bad kids, the kids Matt's always been in awe of even if he won't admit it. But Travis just slings his arm around Matt's shoulders, easy and familiar like they've never been apart. "This is my boy Matt," he tells them. "We're gonna be in a band." He drags Matt closer and smacks a noisy kiss against his hair.
Five times Thomas Dutton changed the world
1.) Okay, so like. There was that one time, where, you know, he and Nic MIGHT HAVE gotten some highly suspect weed, because Casey totally doesn't believe them when they tell him, but okay, they totally came up with the most epically beautiful arrangement of songs. They played them for hobos on the street and it moved the hobos to tears. They just. You know, kind of lost the masters. The roughs Casey found the day he came home from his honeymoon were nooothing like the final product.
2.) Thomas is, well. He didn't really know what those pills were and what exactly Johnny's friend Nick was pouring, but he has very strong memories of warning air traffic control about a plane that was going to go down on the way to Hawaii.
3.) Then there's that one time when he's walking toward the El on his way home from rehearsal and he sees one of Darren's kids. Thomas has only met him the once but it's pretty hard to miss him, with the curly hair and the fey softness in his face and that spaced out look he wears when he's not being an obnoxious little prick. Thomas is half tempted to leave the kid to it--he doesn't know what's going on, for all he knows the kid could have permission to be out there! Except he knows Jon and Brendon and he knows the kid probably does not. And he knows what Darren would say. And, really, he's not willing to leave the kid to the mean Chicago streets all on his own. So he goes up to the kid and asks what's up, and he gets out of the kid that he's just...not ready to go home yet.
Thomas can respect that. So he texts Darren that he's going to be late and buys the kid dinner at a greasy spoon. They sit in silence for awhile and Thomas thinks, whatever, this kid is just going to sit there like a bump on a log and Thomas is going to wish he could play Words with Friends without getting caught. But then Drew spits out what he seems to have been mulling over this whole time, and Thomas listens to every word.
4.) Then there's the time Thomas puts out this record with some guys he's kind of friends with but kind of not. He's embarrassed about it later, mostly because it's got some bad memories and it wasn't exactly a world-wide success or anything, but it means something to some of the people who listen to it.
5.) There's the time Thomas needs an actualfax job to support his studio time, back when Casey still tried to get Thomas to actually schedule instead of just coming by whenever it wasn't occupied or they were bored. He starts tutoring kids in math, some kids who are college-bound looking for extra help on their SATs and some who need the help to graduate high school. It's hard work, but the times he can see it on their faces when they start to get what he's been trying to tell them.
Well, it's almost as good as playing to a crowd that sings his words back.
delphinapterus asked for:
Five times Mikey earned his inheritance (in the Western)
1.) A prospector comes to town looking to buy up parcels of land to build a railroad. He finds out from the gossips that Gerard is the eldest son of the late Ways, and he just returned from New England. He pours Gerard drinks and stories about how good the railroad will be for the town, how much money he'll be able to get for the acreage, the kind of life he and Mikey and Frank would be able to have (Ma Way wanted to raise doctors and lawyers, not ranchers). Bob hears about it from overhearing an argument between Gerard and Mikey, where Mikey tells him in no uncertain terms that Gerard is not selling their home. (I have no idea if this will end up fitting in the final draft, but Bob would panic over the idea that Mikey and Frank might leave him.)
2.) The barn catches fire in the middle of the night the winter after the bulk of the story takes place. The horses barely escape (Mama was totally the first critter out--well, maybe the cat was but Mama was the first to escape her stall) and Bob burns his leg, which Mikey and Frank only find out the next day. They barely get the horses settled in safely at Spencer's barn before Mikey's pumping Bob for what they need to rebuild.
3.) Lindsey and her merry band of performance bandits eventually leave for trains they can actually rob, and Gerard sighs over the letters he writes for her but can only send by way of Chantal with a ridiculously long delay for her replies. Mikey tells him to go after her, and Gerard hasn't looked happier since she left. Their grandmother, in her more lucid moments, would cluck that Gerard was always looking for greener pastures. Mikey thought he was still looking for one that was just right. Mikey's found him early on.
4.) With being the owner of the biggest ranch in town (it was never something anyone confirmed or denied, but after Gerard leaves to follow Lindsey people just assume) comes a certain amount of pull. Mikey has always been the more sociable Way, accompanying his mother and grandmother to town and all that, but slowly people seem to start taking a different notice of him, hearing him a little more when he speaks. Still, he never says anything that means much until Maja finally tells Brian she'll marry him. The bordello slowly loses its workers (they get married or move on, and Maja is just slow to replace them until the only people working there are Alex, the funny little kid she gets to replace her last bartender, and herself. And the only thing she's getting paid for is renting out her rooms like a proper hotel). The townsfolk are remarkably adept at having a selective memory (when Mike and Greta save up enough to buy a farm and get married, people act like she just came to town except for how they know her--it's a very small part, glaring social inaccuracies are totally acceptable!), except when it comes to Maja. She's never been shy and she's one ruthless business owner. Mikey is in town with Bob and Frank, visiting with Brian and Maja to congratulate them, and--so the gossips can hear him perfectly--asks them to dinner that night.
5.) When he's an old, old man nearing his deathbed, his oldest niece, at a sort of crossroads in her own life, asks him if he would have done something different given the chance. "No," he tells her. "I lived my life exactly how I wanted to live it."
Five times Brian found physical violence to be the answer
1.) When that dicksmack senior Johnny Jones wouldn't leave Brian and his freshmen friends alone. Brian sees him in a mosh pit one night and fucking goes after him. It gets him kicked out of the bar, but the band was shitty anyway and he can get another fake ID. He doesn't get arrested, so it's a win. The next time Johnny's giving Brian a hard time, Brian cracks his knuckles and Johnny's insults stutter, just a little. For the first time since starting high school (maybe ever), Brian feels like he has a little bit of power over his situation.
2.) The last time his dad hit his mom. Brian was done with hiding in another room like it wasn't happening. She signed a lease for an apartment for just her, him, and his siblings before his bruises even healed completely.
3.) The time it sort of looks like the merch girl for this shitty little tour he's teching looks like she's been roofied.
4.) The time he didn't believe he didn't have a problem, he wasn't out of line, he had everything under control. The fact that he punched Bob and almost broke his damn nose was the thing that highlighted to Brian just how wrong he was.
5.) The time Frank decides Brian's harshing the part-aaaay and takes away his laptop. And his Blackberry. Motherfucker deserved the swirly he got for that.
rsadelle asked for:
Five times Greta scared the shit out of Mike
1.) The first time they go out on a proper date, she asks if she can drive his car. Because it's an awesome car! She drives them out to the sticks and finds a stretch of highway that's empty save for them, and gets it going faster than even Mike's been willing to take it.
2.) She gets sick while he's in a different state. It's serious and it happens fast, he gets a text while they're on stage that someone thinks she should go to a hospital and then he's completely out of contact with anyone who knows what's going on for 12 hours.
3.) When he realizes he loves her.
4.) When he realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life waking up next to her and going to bed beside her and arguing over whether or not tofu has a place in daily meals and whether Smashing Pumpkins would win in a cage fight against the Beach Boys (Mike says they would pwn and Greta is obstinate that the Beach Boys in their prime were totally fierce--it's one of those stupid little arguments that hits at the right time and drags into an epic fight that becomes a sore spot. Mike is crashing on someone's couch and realizing that, even though she is so wrong he still wants to be arguing over it when they're 90, as long as they're together. The next day he serenades her with "Wouldn't it be Nice" even though he can't sing it for shit, and Greta fucks him to "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT).
5.) Greta says, "I'm pregnant." All Mike can say (over and over) is, "I don't know what you do with a baby! Oh my god, what do you do with a baby!"
Five times Mike realized Michael Guy Chislett belonged in his life
1.) The first time they hang out, Chiz picks up a guitar and explains his thoughts in chord progressions.
2.) When Mike's girlfriend dumps him, Chiz takes him out after he recovers from the epic hangover the other guys helped him get and buys him ice cream.
3.) At their first practice with Chiz on guitar, Mike turns to look at his band and what he sees just. Feels right.
4.) Then there's this time when, yeah okay Mike's being kind of an ass about this song. But he's right, goddammit! He's got Bill so wound up that he's stuttering pretty bad, and that's just making him more pissed off at Mike, Sisky's hovering like he's waiting for Bill to say the word and he'll punch Mike, Butcher's drawing something on the floor like up stage doesn't exist. Chiz gets between the two of them and says softly, "Let's take a break." He goes outside while Mike smokes and listens to Mike rant about how right he is, and when he can get a word in edgewise he says, "Right, but you could try not being a jerk about it."
5.) Mike is about to get married. He's pacing the hallway like he just can't quite believe it--he's about to get married, holy shit!--and half his groomsmen aren't even there because Chiz's flight got delayed. When Greta hears about it she says their guests can wait for their booze, they're not going on without everyone there.
Sisky pulls up to the church and doesn't even try to find a parking space that's legal. He and Chiz race up the steps and Bill claps him on the shoulder. "Should I tell them we're ready to get this show on the road?"
They crest the staircase, Chiz panting his apologies and Sisky relaying the story of their daring drive there, and Butcher is laughing at them while he fidgets with his tie.
Suddenly, Mike doesn't feel all that nervous anymore.
Five important things about the Mike/Greta space AU (a verse that will [siiiiiigh] probably never get finished, standalone snippet posted here.
1.) Greta gets her man. He's not quite whole, but he's still her love and that's all that matters. She brings him home safe and sound and reintroduces him to their son.
2.) William Beckett is Mike's platoon leader. He argued with anyone he could--and a whole lot of people he wasn't supposed to have access to--that the stop loss should be rescinded on the basis of time served and how very close their last mission came to killing both of them, but in the end he can't make a difference.
3.) Bill is the one who tells Greta that Mike died. He's also the one who delivers the intel 2 years later that maybe he really isn't.
The knocking on the door struck through the house. She opened it quickly, brisk and businesslike even as she held out a foot to gently block her the baby from crawling out the door. “Yes?” she asked, looking up from him a beat later. The indulgent smile died on her lips at what she saw.
William Beckett was standing in front of her with healing bruises mottling his skin and a stiffness to his carriage.
He was on their doorstep alone.
“No,” Greta insisted.
“I’m sorry, Greta,” he responded, choking on the words as he held out an ident. chain.
4.) The Butcher is actually the one who finds out where Mike is, but he just can't get through to him.
5.) Mike and Greta's son grows up happy and healthy and loved by both his parents and his extended family.
mahoni asked for:
Five fights Bob got into
1.) (Amos is a slimy former ranch hand in the Western.) Bob tethers Dixie in front of Brian's general store, thinking only of the good whiskey Brian keeps under the counter and the beds pushed together in the middle of Frank and Mikey's room.
"Well, hell," Amos drawls. Bob had no idea he was even on the street. "What are you doin' away from the little ladies?"
Bob's hands clench into fists. He has to will them to stay at his sides.
Amos gets close enough that Bob can smell the moonshine and tobacco on his breath. "I suppose this means things ain't lookin' too pretty."
"It's none of your never mind." He turns his back on Amos, to head into the store, but Amos grabs his shoulder and shouts, "I ain't done with you yet!"
Before Bob realizes what he's doing, he's wheeled around and punched Amos in the jaw.
2.) Then there's the time Bob is right goddammit, and Brian is so fucking wrong that Bob can't even come up with words to describe how wrong he is. The fight between them fumes until Bob just has to get the hell away because he's so sick of Brian's face. So he crashes on Gerard's couch educating the baby on the finer points of Ninja Turtles until Lindsey asks (fondly) when he's going to stop hiding behind an infant and grow a pair.
He rolls his eyes and heads home to an empty house with a pro/con list on the fridge of all the arguments Brian could think of on either side and why he is still right. Bob rolls his eyes and lights the list on fire. He sends Brian as many pictures of it as he can snap with his iPhone with a text: dork come home b4 9 ill make u dinner n u cn blow me 2 thank me and Brian responds, finalizing tour stuff, home by 7. It's as close to saying sorry as either of them are comfortable with. It mostly works.
3.) When Bob was a kid there was this girl in his daycare, Judy. She stole his firetruck and he drew on her bear with marker to get back at her. She pushed him when Miss Maggie wasn't watching, except she pushed him off the swing set. He needed five staples to close the place where his skin split open. He can still find the scar on the crown of his head.
4.) The first time they start talking seriously about writing Black Parade, Ray comes to him with mostly-formed drum parts for a couple songs and Bob can see how it could go, mostly with Ray not trusting him to come up with his own parts. It's not that Ray's aren't good, it's just. He's not a drummer. Bob's first reaction is to flat-out refuse to play it Ray's way, which in hindsight probably wasn't diplomatic. But he's not willing to back down. Bob would rather get fired than not play as well as he knows he can on his first record.
It takes almost two weeks, but eventually Ray and Bob both calm down enough for Bob to say "I was thinking something more like this" and for Ray to hear him out.
5.) Bob doesn't mean to become one of the crusaders for gay marriage, it just kind of happens after Bob's relationship accidentally goes public. The real problem comes when Bob gets tired of being asked the same goddamned question about it by interviewer and tells the next one something flippant about how he wishes he could get married. His tone doesn't really translate well in print. Or, apparently, in Swedish.
He has to admit, though, that he's so proud of the kids who show up at their shows with a shirt Gerard designed calling for marriage for all who want it. All the proceeds go to organizations fighting to overturn unconstitutional legislation.
Five ships from the Western and the one happiest moment together for each of them
1.) Bob/Frank/Mikey: There's a knot in Bob's shoulders chasing tangles up his neck and down his back. He doesn't think it's from the work, thinks maybe it's from sleeping so cramped together. He wonders what it would take to make a bigger bed.
Frank and Mikey have pulled a bench to the middle of the empty garden. Their heads are bowed together over a piece of paper Frank holds between them. Last spring Bob would have retraced his steps, given the two of them whatever privacy they wanted. Instead he holds his place and watches.
Mikey raises his head, like he can feel eyes on him. He smiles when he catches Bob, the soft one he's so quick to share with Frank and Bob. Mikey holds out his hand for Bob and pulls him in close when he's near enough.
"Took you long enough," Frank tells Bob with fond irritation. "I'm thinking of planting apple trees along here." He turns the paper, a rough map of the land around the house, and draws his finger along one edge.
Bob shrugs. "Whatever you think is best."
Frank shrugs and folds the map up again. He kisses Mikey's lips, then darts up to kiss Bob with easy affection. "Let's start dinner."
2.) Gerard/Lindsey: They're in Santa Fe at the most opulent hotel they could find. It's built from mud and furnished with impossibly white sheets; Lindsey finds herself fond of the juxtaposition. Steve and Jimmy are more fond of the clientele's wallets. The morning light is just starting to stream in the window they left open against the heat that baked into the land even at night. It gives Gerard's skin an ethereal glow. Lindsey bites her lip as she traces out his form on a fresh sheet of paper.
Eventually she loses herself in the movement of her pencil, in recreating the body she knows so well. When she looks up again Gerard's eyes are open and on her.
"How long have you been awake?" she asks.
"Awhile," he tells her. "I didn't want to ruin your drawing."
"Aren't you cocky," she grins. "What makes you think I was drawing you?"
He shrugs but doesn't move any more than that. She doesn't pretend that she's not racking her eyes over his form. The light has changed again, shortening the shadows around him. Lindsey doesn't want to draw him anymore, though. She sets aside her paper and crawls across the bed, pressing their smiles together and sketching his skin with her fingertips.
3.) Ray/Christa: Miss Maja opens the door and steps aside before Ray has time to worry about being polite. He only has eyes for Christa on the bed and--
--the baby in her arms.
He didn't quite find himself believing, even when he could feel the baby kick in Christa's stomach, that one day. One day...
One day there would be a baby in her arms, small and perfect and screaming under a shock of dark hard.
"Christa," he says, full of wonder.
She looks up at him where he's frozen just beside the bed. Her eyes are shining. "Our baby," she tells him like she can't quite believe it, either.
4.) Brian Schechter/Maja Ivarrson: Brian's back is twisted and stooped by age. Still, he holds out his arm for her and she accepts it. The two of them walk side by side through the streets, the same way they have since they were first married. In that time the town has grown from his store, her hotel, Dr. Stump's, the sheriff's and the bank. Now there's a schoolhouse and a seamstress and a proper church.
"What are you thinking about?" she asks him quietly. The years still haven't taken away her accent.
"Thirty-five years with you."
It makes her smile. She kisses him, chastely, in front of God and gossips alike. The prim ladies around town are used to them by now, though.
5.) Ma Way/Pa Way (I feel odd giving them names; Bob calls them Mr. and Mrs. Way and Frank and Mikey just call them Ma and Pa): Pa pulls up on the reigns in front of a weak stream. Their remaining ox automatically bows his head for a good long drink. The sun is high above the land, slowly scorching the grass a warm golden color.
Pa wraps an arm around her shoulders and kisses her cheek sweetly. "Where would you like the house?" he asks.
She looks out on the land--their land--and imagines what it may look like next summer in full working order. "Somewhere the children will have enough room to play."
She feels his smile against her cheek when he kisses her again. "Anywhere you want."
mourning_night asked for:
Five times Frank and Jamia were happy
1.) When Frank gets her name tattooed above his heart. She unwraps him like a present and afterward, she falls asleep tracing her fingers over the ink like she can feel the letters.
2.) Frank comes home with another dog and takes Jamia at her word that, after the last one, he had to do a hell of a job convincing her that they should take in another. She didn't really mean it, but damn did she enjoy his ideas for convincing her. The dog was really cute, too.
3.) When the first band they sign to S//C puts out their first album, it's the product of a whole lot of work and love from everyone involved. At the listening party Frank feels as proud as he does of a record he played on, and Jamia feels like she's watching her own baby that's all grown up. They're both so goddamn proud.
4.) They get married surrounded by friends. Jamia has never been happier than when she slips her ring on Frank's finger, and when they dance at their reception she can't help but wiggle her fingers around just to feel the weight of his. She hides her smile in his neck and feels his own against her hair.
5.) When they bring their baby home from the hospital. There's this moment of perfect silence that descends on the house, when Frank and Jamia have nothing to say and the baby is quietly looking up at either of them. Frank and Jamia look at each other and Frank's smile is like a disease Jamia can't help but catch because, holy fuck this is their kid?
Then the baby lets out this unhappy wail and they laugh, because, yeah it's their kid.
5 times Frank and Jamia (and Bob) realized Bob was more than their friend
1.) The time they invited Bob over for the weekend when "for the weekend" meant "for an extremely naked weekend" and Bob didn't bail on them for Ray's when they both came down with the flu. Instead he took care of the dogs and made them chicken soup.
2.) They're in a hotel in who the fuck knows where, and it's ass o'clock in the morning when Jamia wakes up feeling like something's just wrong. She rolls away from Frank's octopus impression and finds Bob sitting at the table under the window bathed in blue light from his laptop and wearing his headphones. "Hey, Bryar," she gripes. "YouTube will be there tomorrow, get the fuck back here." And Bob rolls his eyes, but he shuts down his computer and gets back under the covers.
3.) Bob is telling them (all of them--the guys ambushed him after Ray's wedding with their wives to break through his vow of silence on the subject) the risks of the wrist surgery (that he might never drum again, he can totally deal with the pain, it'll be fine). Frank shouts, "Fuck the band, you're in pain!" and he means it.
4.) When Bob has his surgery Leathermouth is on tour (and fine, maybe he knew the dates when he scheduled it). He's shocked when Jamia shows up with her laptop the day before he's going under and sets up S//C headquarters in his living room. Afterward, Bob's hurt and cranky and scared that it won't have worked and he'll be even worse off, and no matter what shit he says he can't get Jamia to leave him alone. Frank calls him up and tells him that if he keeps pushing, Bob will find the thing that will make Jamia leave. If he really wants to find that point, he should keep doing what he's doing and wait for Frank to get home and fucking kill him. Otherwise he should shut up and let them be there for him, Jesus Christ you stubborn fuck.
5.) Frank and Jamia are crashing at Bob's place in LA. The three of them take custody of Bandit for some quality bonding time (both for the four of them and for Gerard and Lindsey) at a park. Bob sets her beside him on the grass and she sits there, investigating the ground tentatively and looking up at them like she's asking 'what the fuck is this shit?' She makes a disgruntled noise, and the three of them laugh. Frank has never felt more at home in fucking hel-LA.
5 times someone else realized Bob was more than Frank and Jamia's friend
1.) Bob's mom is not surprised that she's not alone in the waiting room while Bob is in surgery. She does raise an eyebrow when Bob mentions that no, really, she doesn't need to come over after work to make sure he's not wallowing in his own filth. She still does, of course. She is surprised to find that Jamia has turned his living room into an office. When he wakes up, she puts everything aside. His mom knows it takes Jamia a lot less effort to bully him into a shower than it would take her, and she's the one who raised him.
2.) They're making plans for the end of tour, and Frank says he and Jamia were planning on crashing at Bob's until it's time to leave for Europe. She's already heading out there with the dogs. Ray points out that they're on break for two months and Frank called Ray a dirty quitter when they bought their place in LA. Frank shrugs, but Bob comes back on the bus and Frank launches himself at Bob's shoulders. Bob barely pauses in telling Gerard how many ways he is wrong about the prowess of the Ninja Turtles as he dumps Frank on his ass.
3.) The vet comes to the house to put Duke down in the comfort of his own dog bed. She's known Bob since he started fostering with the German Sheppard Rescue, he's a good guy. He's only been looking after Duke for about a year, but he's really broken up over it when she explains what's going to happen. Duke lies his head in Bob's lap, Bob strokes his fur while the doctor administers the shot. His friends sit on either side of him, and when the doctor says Duke's gone, the man with all the tattoos wraps his arms around Bob and the woman soothes her hand through his hair. The doctor leaves, glad that he has them to lean on.
4.) On their first day off after a long string of rehearsing, Lindsey informs Gerard that he and the baby need to please get the fuck out of the house so she can have two hours uninterrupted alone time. Gerard finds himself driving around aimlessly, telling Bandit in the backseat about the song he's trying to write while she stares at the world passing through the back window. He gets lost in wondering what she's seeing, what she's thinking, and veers over the drunk bumps. His heart lodges in his throat because holy fuck what if he had crashed with he baby in the back? He's near Bob's anyway, so he heads over and lets himself in because Bob never seems to think he has to lock his front door. He finds Bob and Frank and Jamia sprawled together on Bob's extremely unlikely, massive couch in a pile, wrapped around each other. They look so cozy and peaceful and homey that Gerard feels like he's intruding. He takes the baby back outside, closing the door carefully behind him, and calls. Bob sounds grumpy and half asleep when he answers his phone, but Gerard says Bandit misses his uncle, he'll bring coffee if he can come over, and Bob tells him to bring four because Frank and Jamia just got in.
5.) Mikey is walking around Tokyo with Frank. He's only half paying attention to what Frank is saying, something about getting something about Jamia--he's busy looking around like a tourist. When he rejoins the conversation he realizes Frank has started talking about Bob somewhere, with the exact same tone he uses when he talks about Jamia.
pinkichan asked for:
Five times Jon thought he was pregnant and one time he was but actually got four times he wasn't and twice when he was, because that fifth time was kind of elusive.
1.) Jon says, "I think I'm pregnant," and Spencer falls off the couch because he's laughing so hard. Jon straddles his chest, because he can, and stares into Spencer's bloodshot eyes. "This is serious business," he says solemnly.
"Okay," Spencer says, but Jon can still feel the way Spencer's shaking with laughter. "What are your symptoms? More importantly, who's the baby daddy?" He lays a hand on Jon's shoulder and bites his smile into a straight face. "Jon. Do we need to make a call to Maury?"
Jon slugs Spencer on the shoulder as hard as he can. He sort of misses and the punch glances off the top of his shirt and on to the floor. "Dick. See if I tell you important shit anymore."
2.) There's the time he's so hungry he can't think about anything but the bag of Fritos he knows he put in Ryan's cupboard. Somewhere. Or maybe his fridge. Definitely not the vegetable crisper. It might still be in the car. "Where are my fucking Fritos?" he yells, and Ryan says, "Sorry, I might have eaten them last night. Eat some pretzels." But Jon didn't want some fucking pretzels, he wanted the Fritos.
3.) Jon stares and stares at the little stick, thinking of course it must have been twenty minutes by now, why is it not doing anything? She looks at her cell phone and it hasn't even been a full minute. Fuck.
4.) Jon stares down at his distended belly, watching with horror as it slowly expands until his belly button pops out like a thermometer on a Thanksgiving turkey. He feels something move within him, and then a small bump appears under his skin. It pushes and pushes until the pressure changes and he intrinsically knows his skin is splitting under the force.
And then he wakes up. He flips the covers back and is greeted by the same beer belly he fell asleep with.
Ryan mumbles unhappily beside him. Jon asks his sleeping form, "What do you think about STD testing? So next time we run out of condoms it's not a big deal."
5.) Jon's laying on his side with Ryan tracing nonsense patterns across his sun-warmed skin. He traces around the little thumps of the baby's fists and feet against Jon's belly like ripples around a stone in a placid pond. Ryan smiles this soft little smile that's still so full of wonder, Jon can't help but smile back.
6.) Ryan's got the baby swaddled (finally--she is one remarkably patient infant [sometimes]) and cradled safely in his arms. Jon can't help but smile at the pair of them as he steps out of the shower. Ryan throws him a towel and tells him about the new rhymes he thought up to go with Petra for her lullaby while Jon was showering. Jon wipes the towel over his stretch marks and the long smile of scar tissue curving under his belly button and he listens.
I was debating about how to tag this. I can't decide if my tag system is pretty handy or really freaking cumbersome. Hm.
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comments there.
wordscomekinda asked for:
Five times Eric Roberts was not a douche
1.) So there was that one time, where Kitty was like. Really fucking sick. She was all gross and snotty and pale and miserable and sulky. It kinda sucked hanging out with her, but like. He brought her a to go container of her favorite soup from that little deli down the street from her apartment (it was on his way, whatever) and brings her more tissues and watches bad soaps with her for awhile.
2.) Then there's that time Travis and Matt are doing that we-aren't-doing-anything thing, where they act like they're not together and they're totally straight. Eric's tired of watching it, so he tells them to stop being such fucking girls about it, jesus.
Shockingly enough, they actually kind of talk about their issues and stuff after.
3.) He was back upstate visiting his mom, and fuck did he need to get out of the house and away from his little sister. So he called up Disashi and asked if the sumo wrestler was available for hangs. When he gets there, both of them look so completely haggard. They actually let him leave the house with the baby after Bluejay gives him a crash course in baby care and makes him promise not to go any further than like the Italian restaurant down the street.
4.) Then, uh, there was that time he opened the door to his apartment and his little sister was there. Turns out she, like, had a really shitty break up and had a fight with their mom and everything. He texted his mom that she was there and she was fine, and then stayed like half sober while he let his sister get completely fucking plastered. To watch out for her. Also to lord it over her when she had a hangover the next morning and he didn't.
5.) When she was able to move without throwing up, though, he took her out to breakfast and told her guys are jerks.
Five times Eliot got in trouble (and once when he just took the rap) (from this epically self-indulgent and perpetually unfinished verse wordscomekinda and I have been passing around, the Mike Carden/Greta Salpeter bits are posted here and baby Eliot's first introduction is here)
1.) "Eliot Robert Carden!" Mommy yelled. "What did you do to your sister?"
"Uh-oh," he told Ari before he made a run for it. (Ari totally pointed Greta which way he went. He is not yet well versed in the art of covering for your stupid friends when they draw on their baby sisters with permanent markers.)
2.) "Eliot Carden!" Mrs. Nelson scolded.
"He pushed Sammy!"
"Then you tell an adult and let us take care of it."
Eliot crossed his arms and sulked all the way to the principle's office. The last time someone told the teachers Trent was being mean, he said sorry and pushed 'em again the next time he wanted the jump rope.
Eliot's way was totally better.
3.) "Eliot!" Grace shouted so loud it rang throughout the house.
"What?" he shouted back, full of attitude.
"Dude," Ari said. "Don't you remember--"
"--oh shit." By the time Eliot started moving it was already too late; Grace was in the hallway brandishing her ruined dress.
4.) "Eliot Carden!" Dad yelled.
"I'm right here," Eliot muttered, sulkily.
"Try listening to me." Dad was tapping a pen against his leg like he did when he really wanted a cigarette. "Look for other cars and your little brother before you pull out, understand?"
Eliot took a deep breath and let it hiss out between his teeth. "Fine," he said. He looked over his shoulder, where there were no other cars and Jimmy was on the Jones' lawn across the street--if anyone got yelled at it should have been Jimmy, who the fuck ran out in front of a car like that just to fuck with someone?
5.) "Eliot!" Miranda shouted, scandalized as she threw a book at his head, when she came home a day early and found him in bed with Jake.
6.) The door burst open and Caroline barreled in behind it. Eliot threw off his headphones and shouted, "Hey!"
"I'm so sorry," she whispered furiously. "I'm--I don't know--crap." She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Eliot Robert Carden!" Dad yelled from downstairs.
He gaped at the door, then at Caroline. "Seriously?"
"I'm so sorry!" She did cry then, out of panic.
Eliot sighed and threw his headphones on the bed. "You owe me so bad."
"Anything!"
Eliot moved her aside and marched out the door. She followed after him like she was heading to a funeral. Eliot couldn't help but smile, just a little, though. He was going to have so much fun making her make it up to him. He wondered how much he could get Grace to pay him for getting Caroline to do her chores, too.
Five ways Matt knows Travis loves him
1.) There's a piece of Travis' skin that's all for Matt. It's different than the places that are for the band, and it's not hidden under clothes like the ones that are for girls. He wears it on his arm, out in the open for everyone to see.
2.) Travis listens to the Kill the Frontman demos with this excited grin that only has a little to do with how far gone they both are. He sketches out a dozen tour posters when he puts it on repeat.
Matt tries to shrug it off. "No one's gonna listen to it, much less come see us."
"They'll listen," Travis says like there's not a doubt in his mind.
3.) Matt's busy, with classes and family stuff and then Miss Petey gets sick. It's a clusterfuck of life getting in the way of seeing Travis off properly.
"I'm sorry, dude," Matt says. He has to hold the phone with his shoulder and juggle it, Petey, his keys, and dinner. He almost drops all four.
"Man, it ain't nothin," Travis replies easily. He's just at the gate waiting for his plane to board, but he already sounds a million miles away. It makes Matt sad, uneasy for a fleeting moment, but Miami is what Travis needs right now, just like Matt needs to stay in New Jersey.
The door finally opens. Matt puts the take out on the hall table so he can let Petey down when Dexter comes bounding up with his tail wagging.
"I'm seeing you in a couple weeks," Travis says. "It'll be like nothing, blinking an eye." Matt didn't think he was searching too hard when he heard a kind of wistfulness there, like maybe Travis didn't quite believe it either.
He shifts the phone so he's holding it in his hand, grabs his dinner off the hall table. Underneath it he notices an envelope, unopened among the bills and simply reading "Matty" in Travis' sloppiest scrawl.
"What's this?" he asks the phone.
"I don't know." Matt can hear Travis' grin too clearly to believe his plot at innocence. He rips open the envelope, and all that falls out is a key.
"Is this...?"
"Mi casa es su casa. I'm expectin' you to use that. Anytime you want. Like maybe next week."
Matt can't stop himself from grinning as he adds it to his key ring, right next to his house key. "Next week, huh? You sure I won't be crowdin' ya?"
"Never."
It would depend on if Petey was back to 100%, but he figured he was probably due for a road trip.
4.) Matt tends to stay on the bus when their set's done. He's got last minute reading, or he's got too much work the next day to waste the morning on a hangover. It's not so bad since Disashi's mostly settled down himself, Travis and Eric usually find somewhere else to blow off steam.
It means the bus is quiet enough that exhaustion from the first week of shows after a long enough break starts to overcome the adrenaline from the performing the songs he loves. The warm glow from the TV, the low murmur of Disashi saying his goodnights to Bluejay and the baby, it's enough to make Matt's eyes heavy.
The door opens, which startles Matt awake. Travis walks in with a wide grin. "Has the geriatric bus retired for the evening?"
Matt shrugs, letting himself be lulled again. Disashi flips him off before heading back to the bunks to finish his phone call.
Travis sinks into the couch beside Matt, pouring himself all over the places of Matt he can reach. "What're we watchin'?" His voice is warm like honey rumbling its way up Matt's spine.
Matt shrugs easily, already on his way to sleep.
5.) Matt's 15 and Travis is the coolest kid he's ever met. He feels a million kinds of awkward and gangly and out of place when he follows Travis to his other friends--the cool kids, the bad kids, the kids Matt's always been in awe of even if he won't admit it. But Travis just slings his arm around Matt's shoulders, easy and familiar like they've never been apart. "This is my boy Matt," he tells them. "We're gonna be in a band." He drags Matt closer and smacks a noisy kiss against his hair.
Five times Thomas Dutton changed the world
1.) Okay, so like. There was that one time, where, you know, he and Nic MIGHT HAVE gotten some highly suspect weed, because Casey totally doesn't believe them when they tell him, but okay, they totally came up with the most epically beautiful arrangement of songs. They played them for hobos on the street and it moved the hobos to tears. They just. You know, kind of lost the masters. The roughs Casey found the day he came home from his honeymoon were nooothing like the final product.
2.) Thomas is, well. He didn't really know what those pills were and what exactly Johnny's friend Nick was pouring, but he has very strong memories of warning air traffic control about a plane that was going to go down on the way to Hawaii.
3.) Then there's that one time when he's walking toward the El on his way home from rehearsal and he sees one of Darren's kids. Thomas has only met him the once but it's pretty hard to miss him, with the curly hair and the fey softness in his face and that spaced out look he wears when he's not being an obnoxious little prick. Thomas is half tempted to leave the kid to it--he doesn't know what's going on, for all he knows the kid could have permission to be out there! Except he knows Jon and Brendon and he knows the kid probably does not. And he knows what Darren would say. And, really, he's not willing to leave the kid to the mean Chicago streets all on his own. So he goes up to the kid and asks what's up, and he gets out of the kid that he's just...not ready to go home yet.
Thomas can respect that. So he texts Darren that he's going to be late and buys the kid dinner at a greasy spoon. They sit in silence for awhile and Thomas thinks, whatever, this kid is just going to sit there like a bump on a log and Thomas is going to wish he could play Words with Friends without getting caught. But then Drew spits out what he seems to have been mulling over this whole time, and Thomas listens to every word.
4.) Then there's the time Thomas puts out this record with some guys he's kind of friends with but kind of not. He's embarrassed about it later, mostly because it's got some bad memories and it wasn't exactly a world-wide success or anything, but it means something to some of the people who listen to it.
5.) There's the time Thomas needs an actualfax job to support his studio time, back when Casey still tried to get Thomas to actually schedule instead of just coming by whenever it wasn't occupied or they were bored. He starts tutoring kids in math, some kids who are college-bound looking for extra help on their SATs and some who need the help to graduate high school. It's hard work, but the times he can see it on their faces when they start to get what he's been trying to tell them.
Well, it's almost as good as playing to a crowd that sings his words back.
delphinapterus asked for:
Five times Mikey earned his inheritance (in the Western)
1.) A prospector comes to town looking to buy up parcels of land to build a railroad. He finds out from the gossips that Gerard is the eldest son of the late Ways, and he just returned from New England. He pours Gerard drinks and stories about how good the railroad will be for the town, how much money he'll be able to get for the acreage, the kind of life he and Mikey and Frank would be able to have (Ma Way wanted to raise doctors and lawyers, not ranchers). Bob hears about it from overhearing an argument between Gerard and Mikey, where Mikey tells him in no uncertain terms that Gerard is not selling their home. (I have no idea if this will end up fitting in the final draft, but Bob would panic over the idea that Mikey and Frank might leave him.)
2.) The barn catches fire in the middle of the night the winter after the bulk of the story takes place. The horses barely escape (Mama was totally the first critter out--well, maybe the cat was but Mama was the first to escape her stall) and Bob burns his leg, which Mikey and Frank only find out the next day. They barely get the horses settled in safely at Spencer's barn before Mikey's pumping Bob for what they need to rebuild.
3.) Lindsey and her merry band of performance bandits eventually leave for trains they can actually rob, and Gerard sighs over the letters he writes for her but can only send by way of Chantal with a ridiculously long delay for her replies. Mikey tells him to go after her, and Gerard hasn't looked happier since she left. Their grandmother, in her more lucid moments, would cluck that Gerard was always looking for greener pastures. Mikey thought he was still looking for one that was just right. Mikey's found him early on.
4.) With being the owner of the biggest ranch in town (it was never something anyone confirmed or denied, but after Gerard leaves to follow Lindsey people just assume) comes a certain amount of pull. Mikey has always been the more sociable Way, accompanying his mother and grandmother to town and all that, but slowly people seem to start taking a different notice of him, hearing him a little more when he speaks. Still, he never says anything that means much until Maja finally tells Brian she'll marry him. The bordello slowly loses its workers (they get married or move on, and Maja is just slow to replace them until the only people working there are Alex, the funny little kid she gets to replace her last bartender, and herself. And the only thing she's getting paid for is renting out her rooms like a proper hotel). The townsfolk are remarkably adept at having a selective memory (when Mike and Greta save up enough to buy a farm and get married, people act like she just came to town except for how they know her--it's a very small part, glaring social inaccuracies are totally acceptable!), except when it comes to Maja. She's never been shy and she's one ruthless business owner. Mikey is in town with Bob and Frank, visiting with Brian and Maja to congratulate them, and--so the gossips can hear him perfectly--asks them to dinner that night.
5.) When he's an old, old man nearing his deathbed, his oldest niece, at a sort of crossroads in her own life, asks him if he would have done something different given the chance. "No," he tells her. "I lived my life exactly how I wanted to live it."
Five times Brian found physical violence to be the answer
1.) When that dicksmack senior Johnny Jones wouldn't leave Brian and his freshmen friends alone. Brian sees him in a mosh pit one night and fucking goes after him. It gets him kicked out of the bar, but the band was shitty anyway and he can get another fake ID. He doesn't get arrested, so it's a win. The next time Johnny's giving Brian a hard time, Brian cracks his knuckles and Johnny's insults stutter, just a little. For the first time since starting high school (maybe ever), Brian feels like he has a little bit of power over his situation.
2.) The last time his dad hit his mom. Brian was done with hiding in another room like it wasn't happening. She signed a lease for an apartment for just her, him, and his siblings before his bruises even healed completely.
3.) The time it sort of looks like the merch girl for this shitty little tour he's teching looks like she's been roofied.
4.) The time he didn't believe he didn't have a problem, he wasn't out of line, he had everything under control. The fact that he punched Bob and almost broke his damn nose was the thing that highlighted to Brian just how wrong he was.
5.) The time Frank decides Brian's harshing the part-aaaay and takes away his laptop. And his Blackberry. Motherfucker deserved the swirly he got for that.
rsadelle asked for:
Five times Greta scared the shit out of Mike
1.) The first time they go out on a proper date, she asks if she can drive his car. Because it's an awesome car! She drives them out to the sticks and finds a stretch of highway that's empty save for them, and gets it going faster than even Mike's been willing to take it.
2.) She gets sick while he's in a different state. It's serious and it happens fast, he gets a text while they're on stage that someone thinks she should go to a hospital and then he's completely out of contact with anyone who knows what's going on for 12 hours.
3.) When he realizes he loves her.
4.) When he realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life waking up next to her and going to bed beside her and arguing over whether or not tofu has a place in daily meals and whether Smashing Pumpkins would win in a cage fight against the Beach Boys (Mike says they would pwn and Greta is obstinate that the Beach Boys in their prime were totally fierce--it's one of those stupid little arguments that hits at the right time and drags into an epic fight that becomes a sore spot. Mike is crashing on someone's couch and realizing that, even though she is so wrong he still wants to be arguing over it when they're 90, as long as they're together. The next day he serenades her with "Wouldn't it be Nice" even though he can't sing it for shit, and Greta fucks him to "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT).
5.) Greta says, "I'm pregnant." All Mike can say (over and over) is, "I don't know what you do with a baby! Oh my god, what do you do with a baby!"
Five times Mike realized Michael Guy Chislett belonged in his life
1.) The first time they hang out, Chiz picks up a guitar and explains his thoughts in chord progressions.
2.) When Mike's girlfriend dumps him, Chiz takes him out after he recovers from the epic hangover the other guys helped him get and buys him ice cream.
3.) At their first practice with Chiz on guitar, Mike turns to look at his band and what he sees just. Feels right.
4.) Then there's this time when, yeah okay Mike's being kind of an ass about this song. But he's right, goddammit! He's got Bill so wound up that he's stuttering pretty bad, and that's just making him more pissed off at Mike, Sisky's hovering like he's waiting for Bill to say the word and he'll punch Mike, Butcher's drawing something on the floor like up stage doesn't exist. Chiz gets between the two of them and says softly, "Let's take a break." He goes outside while Mike smokes and listens to Mike rant about how right he is, and when he can get a word in edgewise he says, "Right, but you could try not being a jerk about it."
5.) Mike is about to get married. He's pacing the hallway like he just can't quite believe it--he's about to get married, holy shit!--and half his groomsmen aren't even there because Chiz's flight got delayed. When Greta hears about it she says their guests can wait for their booze, they're not going on without everyone there.
Sisky pulls up to the church and doesn't even try to find a parking space that's legal. He and Chiz race up the steps and Bill claps him on the shoulder. "Should I tell them we're ready to get this show on the road?"
They crest the staircase, Chiz panting his apologies and Sisky relaying the story of their daring drive there, and Butcher is laughing at them while he fidgets with his tie.
Suddenly, Mike doesn't feel all that nervous anymore.
Five important things about the Mike/Greta space AU (a verse that will [siiiiiigh] probably never get finished, standalone snippet posted here.
1.) Greta gets her man. He's not quite whole, but he's still her love and that's all that matters. She brings him home safe and sound and reintroduces him to their son.
2.) William Beckett is Mike's platoon leader. He argued with anyone he could--and a whole lot of people he wasn't supposed to have access to--that the stop loss should be rescinded on the basis of time served and how very close their last mission came to killing both of them, but in the end he can't make a difference.
3.) Bill is the one who tells Greta that Mike died. He's also the one who delivers the intel 2 years later that maybe he really isn't.
The knocking on the door struck through the house. She opened it quickly, brisk and businesslike even as she held out a foot to gently block her the baby from crawling out the door. “Yes?” she asked, looking up from him a beat later. The indulgent smile died on her lips at what she saw.
William Beckett was standing in front of her with healing bruises mottling his skin and a stiffness to his carriage.
He was on their doorstep alone.
“No,” Greta insisted.
“I’m sorry, Greta,” he responded, choking on the words as he held out an ident. chain.
4.) The Butcher is actually the one who finds out where Mike is, but he just can't get through to him.
5.) Mike and Greta's son grows up happy and healthy and loved by both his parents and his extended family.
mahoni asked for:
Five fights Bob got into
1.) (Amos is a slimy former ranch hand in the Western.) Bob tethers Dixie in front of Brian's general store, thinking only of the good whiskey Brian keeps under the counter and the beds pushed together in the middle of Frank and Mikey's room.
"Well, hell," Amos drawls. Bob had no idea he was even on the street. "What are you doin' away from the little ladies?"
Bob's hands clench into fists. He has to will them to stay at his sides.
Amos gets close enough that Bob can smell the moonshine and tobacco on his breath. "I suppose this means things ain't lookin' too pretty."
"It's none of your never mind." He turns his back on Amos, to head into the store, but Amos grabs his shoulder and shouts, "I ain't done with you yet!"
Before Bob realizes what he's doing, he's wheeled around and punched Amos in the jaw.
2.) Then there's the time Bob is right goddammit, and Brian is so fucking wrong that Bob can't even come up with words to describe how wrong he is. The fight between them fumes until Bob just has to get the hell away because he's so sick of Brian's face. So he crashes on Gerard's couch educating the baby on the finer points of Ninja Turtles until Lindsey asks (fondly) when he's going to stop hiding behind an infant and grow a pair.
He rolls his eyes and heads home to an empty house with a pro/con list on the fridge of all the arguments Brian could think of on either side and why he is still right. Bob rolls his eyes and lights the list on fire. He sends Brian as many pictures of it as he can snap with his iPhone with a text: dork come home b4 9 ill make u dinner n u cn blow me 2 thank me and Brian responds, finalizing tour stuff, home by 7. It's as close to saying sorry as either of them are comfortable with. It mostly works.
3.) When Bob was a kid there was this girl in his daycare, Judy. She stole his firetruck and he drew on her bear with marker to get back at her. She pushed him when Miss Maggie wasn't watching, except she pushed him off the swing set. He needed five staples to close the place where his skin split open. He can still find the scar on the crown of his head.
4.) The first time they start talking seriously about writing Black Parade, Ray comes to him with mostly-formed drum parts for a couple songs and Bob can see how it could go, mostly with Ray not trusting him to come up with his own parts. It's not that Ray's aren't good, it's just. He's not a drummer. Bob's first reaction is to flat-out refuse to play it Ray's way, which in hindsight probably wasn't diplomatic. But he's not willing to back down. Bob would rather get fired than not play as well as he knows he can on his first record.
It takes almost two weeks, but eventually Ray and Bob both calm down enough for Bob to say "I was thinking something more like this" and for Ray to hear him out.
5.) Bob doesn't mean to become one of the crusaders for gay marriage, it just kind of happens after Bob's relationship accidentally goes public. The real problem comes when Bob gets tired of being asked the same goddamned question about it by interviewer and tells the next one something flippant about how he wishes he could get married. His tone doesn't really translate well in print. Or, apparently, in Swedish.
He has to admit, though, that he's so proud of the kids who show up at their shows with a shirt Gerard designed calling for marriage for all who want it. All the proceeds go to organizations fighting to overturn unconstitutional legislation.
Five ships from the Western and the one happiest moment together for each of them
1.) Bob/Frank/Mikey: There's a knot in Bob's shoulders chasing tangles up his neck and down his back. He doesn't think it's from the work, thinks maybe it's from sleeping so cramped together. He wonders what it would take to make a bigger bed.
Frank and Mikey have pulled a bench to the middle of the empty garden. Their heads are bowed together over a piece of paper Frank holds between them. Last spring Bob would have retraced his steps, given the two of them whatever privacy they wanted. Instead he holds his place and watches.
Mikey raises his head, like he can feel eyes on him. He smiles when he catches Bob, the soft one he's so quick to share with Frank and Bob. Mikey holds out his hand for Bob and pulls him in close when he's near enough.
"Took you long enough," Frank tells Bob with fond irritation. "I'm thinking of planting apple trees along here." He turns the paper, a rough map of the land around the house, and draws his finger along one edge.
Bob shrugs. "Whatever you think is best."
Frank shrugs and folds the map up again. He kisses Mikey's lips, then darts up to kiss Bob with easy affection. "Let's start dinner."
2.) Gerard/Lindsey: They're in Santa Fe at the most opulent hotel they could find. It's built from mud and furnished with impossibly white sheets; Lindsey finds herself fond of the juxtaposition. Steve and Jimmy are more fond of the clientele's wallets. The morning light is just starting to stream in the window they left open against the heat that baked into the land even at night. It gives Gerard's skin an ethereal glow. Lindsey bites her lip as she traces out his form on a fresh sheet of paper.
Eventually she loses herself in the movement of her pencil, in recreating the body she knows so well. When she looks up again Gerard's eyes are open and on her.
"How long have you been awake?" she asks.
"Awhile," he tells her. "I didn't want to ruin your drawing."
"Aren't you cocky," she grins. "What makes you think I was drawing you?"
He shrugs but doesn't move any more than that. She doesn't pretend that she's not racking her eyes over his form. The light has changed again, shortening the shadows around him. Lindsey doesn't want to draw him anymore, though. She sets aside her paper and crawls across the bed, pressing their smiles together and sketching his skin with her fingertips.
3.) Ray/Christa: Miss Maja opens the door and steps aside before Ray has time to worry about being polite. He only has eyes for Christa on the bed and--
--the baby in her arms.
He didn't quite find himself believing, even when he could feel the baby kick in Christa's stomach, that one day. One day...
One day there would be a baby in her arms, small and perfect and screaming under a shock of dark hard.
"Christa," he says, full of wonder.
She looks up at him where he's frozen just beside the bed. Her eyes are shining. "Our baby," she tells him like she can't quite believe it, either.
4.) Brian Schechter/Maja Ivarrson: Brian's back is twisted and stooped by age. Still, he holds out his arm for her and she accepts it. The two of them walk side by side through the streets, the same way they have since they were first married. In that time the town has grown from his store, her hotel, Dr. Stump's, the sheriff's and the bank. Now there's a schoolhouse and a seamstress and a proper church.
"What are you thinking about?" she asks him quietly. The years still haven't taken away her accent.
"Thirty-five years with you."
It makes her smile. She kisses him, chastely, in front of God and gossips alike. The prim ladies around town are used to them by now, though.
5.) Ma Way/Pa Way (I feel odd giving them names; Bob calls them Mr. and Mrs. Way and Frank and Mikey just call them Ma and Pa): Pa pulls up on the reigns in front of a weak stream. Their remaining ox automatically bows his head for a good long drink. The sun is high above the land, slowly scorching the grass a warm golden color.
Pa wraps an arm around her shoulders and kisses her cheek sweetly. "Where would you like the house?" he asks.
She looks out on the land--their land--and imagines what it may look like next summer in full working order. "Somewhere the children will have enough room to play."
She feels his smile against her cheek when he kisses her again. "Anywhere you want."
mourning_night asked for:
Five times Frank and Jamia were happy
1.) When Frank gets her name tattooed above his heart. She unwraps him like a present and afterward, she falls asleep tracing her fingers over the ink like she can feel the letters.
2.) Frank comes home with another dog and takes Jamia at her word that, after the last one, he had to do a hell of a job convincing her that they should take in another. She didn't really mean it, but damn did she enjoy his ideas for convincing her. The dog was really cute, too.
3.) When the first band they sign to S//C puts out their first album, it's the product of a whole lot of work and love from everyone involved. At the listening party Frank feels as proud as he does of a record he played on, and Jamia feels like she's watching her own baby that's all grown up. They're both so goddamn proud.
4.) They get married surrounded by friends. Jamia has never been happier than when she slips her ring on Frank's finger, and when they dance at their reception she can't help but wiggle her fingers around just to feel the weight of his. She hides her smile in his neck and feels his own against her hair.
5.) When they bring their baby home from the hospital. There's this moment of perfect silence that descends on the house, when Frank and Jamia have nothing to say and the baby is quietly looking up at either of them. Frank and Jamia look at each other and Frank's smile is like a disease Jamia can't help but catch because, holy fuck this is their kid?
Then the baby lets out this unhappy wail and they laugh, because, yeah it's their kid.
5 times Frank and Jamia (and Bob) realized Bob was more than their friend
1.) The time they invited Bob over for the weekend when "for the weekend" meant "for an extremely naked weekend" and Bob didn't bail on them for Ray's when they both came down with the flu. Instead he took care of the dogs and made them chicken soup.
2.) They're in a hotel in who the fuck knows where, and it's ass o'clock in the morning when Jamia wakes up feeling like something's just wrong. She rolls away from Frank's octopus impression and finds Bob sitting at the table under the window bathed in blue light from his laptop and wearing his headphones. "Hey, Bryar," she gripes. "YouTube will be there tomorrow, get the fuck back here." And Bob rolls his eyes, but he shuts down his computer and gets back under the covers.
3.) Bob is telling them (all of them--the guys ambushed him after Ray's wedding with their wives to break through his vow of silence on the subject) the risks of the wrist surgery (that he might never drum again, he can totally deal with the pain, it'll be fine). Frank shouts, "Fuck the band, you're in pain!" and he means it.
4.) When Bob has his surgery Leathermouth is on tour (and fine, maybe he knew the dates when he scheduled it). He's shocked when Jamia shows up with her laptop the day before he's going under and sets up S//C headquarters in his living room. Afterward, Bob's hurt and cranky and scared that it won't have worked and he'll be even worse off, and no matter what shit he says he can't get Jamia to leave him alone. Frank calls him up and tells him that if he keeps pushing, Bob will find the thing that will make Jamia leave. If he really wants to find that point, he should keep doing what he's doing and wait for Frank to get home and fucking kill him. Otherwise he should shut up and let them be there for him, Jesus Christ you stubborn fuck.
5.) Frank and Jamia are crashing at Bob's place in LA. The three of them take custody of Bandit for some quality bonding time (both for the four of them and for Gerard and Lindsey) at a park. Bob sets her beside him on the grass and she sits there, investigating the ground tentatively and looking up at them like she's asking 'what the fuck is this shit?' She makes a disgruntled noise, and the three of them laugh. Frank has never felt more at home in fucking hel-LA.
5 times someone else realized Bob was more than Frank and Jamia's friend
1.) Bob's mom is not surprised that she's not alone in the waiting room while Bob is in surgery. She does raise an eyebrow when Bob mentions that no, really, she doesn't need to come over after work to make sure he's not wallowing in his own filth. She still does, of course. She is surprised to find that Jamia has turned his living room into an office. When he wakes up, she puts everything aside. His mom knows it takes Jamia a lot less effort to bully him into a shower than it would take her, and she's the one who raised him.
2.) They're making plans for the end of tour, and Frank says he and Jamia were planning on crashing at Bob's until it's time to leave for Europe. She's already heading out there with the dogs. Ray points out that they're on break for two months and Frank called Ray a dirty quitter when they bought their place in LA. Frank shrugs, but Bob comes back on the bus and Frank launches himself at Bob's shoulders. Bob barely pauses in telling Gerard how many ways he is wrong about the prowess of the Ninja Turtles as he dumps Frank on his ass.
3.) The vet comes to the house to put Duke down in the comfort of his own dog bed. She's known Bob since he started fostering with the German Sheppard Rescue, he's a good guy. He's only been looking after Duke for about a year, but he's really broken up over it when she explains what's going to happen. Duke lies his head in Bob's lap, Bob strokes his fur while the doctor administers the shot. His friends sit on either side of him, and when the doctor says Duke's gone, the man with all the tattoos wraps his arms around Bob and the woman soothes her hand through his hair. The doctor leaves, glad that he has them to lean on.
4.) On their first day off after a long string of rehearsing, Lindsey informs Gerard that he and the baby need to please get the fuck out of the house so she can have two hours uninterrupted alone time. Gerard finds himself driving around aimlessly, telling Bandit in the backseat about the song he's trying to write while she stares at the world passing through the back window. He gets lost in wondering what she's seeing, what she's thinking, and veers over the drunk bumps. His heart lodges in his throat because holy fuck what if he had crashed with he baby in the back? He's near Bob's anyway, so he heads over and lets himself in because Bob never seems to think he has to lock his front door. He finds Bob and Frank and Jamia sprawled together on Bob's extremely unlikely, massive couch in a pile, wrapped around each other. They look so cozy and peaceful and homey that Gerard feels like he's intruding. He takes the baby back outside, closing the door carefully behind him, and calls. Bob sounds grumpy and half asleep when he answers his phone, but Gerard says Bandit misses his uncle, he'll bring coffee if he can come over, and Bob tells him to bring four because Frank and Jamia just got in.
5.) Mikey is walking around Tokyo with Frank. He's only half paying attention to what Frank is saying, something about getting something about Jamia--he's busy looking around like a tourist. When he rejoins the conversation he realizes Frank has started talking about Bob somewhere, with the exact same tone he uses when he talks about Jamia.
pinkichan asked for:
Five times Jon thought he was pregnant and one time he was but actually got four times he wasn't and twice when he was, because that fifth time was kind of elusive.
1.) Jon says, "I think I'm pregnant," and Spencer falls off the couch because he's laughing so hard. Jon straddles his chest, because he can, and stares into Spencer's bloodshot eyes. "This is serious business," he says solemnly.
"Okay," Spencer says, but Jon can still feel the way Spencer's shaking with laughter. "What are your symptoms? More importantly, who's the baby daddy?" He lays a hand on Jon's shoulder and bites his smile into a straight face. "Jon. Do we need to make a call to Maury?"
Jon slugs Spencer on the shoulder as hard as he can. He sort of misses and the punch glances off the top of his shirt and on to the floor. "Dick. See if I tell you important shit anymore."
2.) There's the time he's so hungry he can't think about anything but the bag of Fritos he knows he put in Ryan's cupboard. Somewhere. Or maybe his fridge. Definitely not the vegetable crisper. It might still be in the car. "Where are my fucking Fritos?" he yells, and Ryan says, "Sorry, I might have eaten them last night. Eat some pretzels." But Jon didn't want some fucking pretzels, he wanted the Fritos.
3.) Jon stares and stares at the little stick, thinking of course it must have been twenty minutes by now, why is it not doing anything? She looks at her cell phone and it hasn't even been a full minute. Fuck.
4.) Jon stares down at his distended belly, watching with horror as it slowly expands until his belly button pops out like a thermometer on a Thanksgiving turkey. He feels something move within him, and then a small bump appears under his skin. It pushes and pushes until the pressure changes and he intrinsically knows his skin is splitting under the force.
And then he wakes up. He flips the covers back and is greeted by the same beer belly he fell asleep with.
Ryan mumbles unhappily beside him. Jon asks his sleeping form, "What do you think about STD testing? So next time we run out of condoms it's not a big deal."
5.) Jon's laying on his side with Ryan tracing nonsense patterns across his sun-warmed skin. He traces around the little thumps of the baby's fists and feet against Jon's belly like ripples around a stone in a placid pond. Ryan smiles this soft little smile that's still so full of wonder, Jon can't help but smile back.
6.) Ryan's got the baby swaddled (finally--she is one remarkably patient infant [sometimes]) and cradled safely in his arms. Jon can't help but smile at the pair of them as he steps out of the shower. Ryan throws him a towel and tells him about the new rhymes he thought up to go with Petra for her lullaby while Jon was showering. Jon wipes the towel over his stretch marks and the long smile of scar tissue curving under his belly button and he listens.
I was debating about how to tag this. I can't decide if my tag system is pretty handy or really freaking cumbersome. Hm.
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