A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: A Multifandom Comment Fic Meme
Have you seen a hot photo at Sex is Not the Enemy and you wish there were a fic to go with it? Is there a still from your favorite series that needs a story to accompany it? Do you have a vast stockpile of pictures of outer space that would make amazing back drops for a sci-fi story? Well, this is your place! You're invited to post an
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It might just be the best day of Felipe's life. It's a warm morning, the breeze so sweet even the city air smells good, but maybe that's just Aditi, her fingers meshed with his, her long hair fluttering on the wind, her smile bright as they walk down this city street between glittering storefronts and smiling fellow pedestrians. Aditi points at a bookstore's sidewalk display of bright cards and art books, so they set off across the street; the whole world feels beautiful, and the most beautiful girl in it is holding Felipe's hand --
Someone groans, and Aditi gasps. Felipe turns towards the noise and sees a lady drop her shopping bags, clawing at her temples; he turns back to Aditi to suggest they head over to help the woman, and finds her kneeling on the macadam just as he feels her weight dragging on his hand. "Aditi!"
"Felipe," she gasps, pitching over onto her side, her fingers sliding from between his. He kneels beside her, trying to scoop her up -- they're in the middle of the crosswalk, the middle of the street -- but there's a screech of brakes and Felipe glances up to see a minivan turned sideways across the traffic, the driver writhing in her seat.
Aditi's writhing too, clutching her head, gasping in pain; all over the street people are convulsing on the ground with others standing over them or kneeling beside them in horrified dismay. A few feet from them a little boy rolls around screaming on the sidewalk as a fluffy dog whines and paws at his arm. "What's wrong? Aditi?"
Her tender mouth opens and closes, her wide eyes crimped shut; she doesn't actually speak, but Felipe hears her voice all the same, from everywhere and nowhere at once. Don't leave me. Don't leave me.
There isn't time to wonder about it; she gropes blindly for him and he catches her hand, threading their fingers again. "I won't," he promises, "I won't ever."
She smiles through a sob, squeezing his hand, catching his shirt in her flailing fist, and when he bends to kiss her he can feel it somehow, the pounding in her head and the light brush of his lips. He kisses her again and thinks of her smiling even though he can't see it, how good the touch of his mouth feels if it's the last thing she'll ever get to feel.
And then suddenly, as unexpectedly as it began, it stops. Aditi lies still and Felipe's heart clenches -- is she -- but then she takes a huge whooping breath and laughs, soft and wondering, and when she opens her dark eyes they glisten with tears. "Oh, I thought I was going to die," she breathes, and his heart hurts with relief, he pulls her up into his arms and kisses her fervently, crushing her to his chest, and she clings to him, kissing him back. All around them people whimper and laugh and weep, a fire roars in the distance and the breeze fills with smoke, but Aditi's all right, she's all right, and Felipe kisses her as if he might never have gotten to kiss her again.
Until a spike of pain drives through his head.
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"Aditi," he tries to say, but if he opens his mouth he'll scream, the pain ricocheting around his skull will blast out of his mouth, so he grits his teeth and hangs on to Aditi's hands and her voice. I'm with you, she tells him inside his disintegrating mind. You're going to survive this, I won't let you die, just hold onto me!
The pain pops like a soap bubble, not leaving even a residual ache. Felipe blinks and sees the evening sky above them, rich star-scattered blue framing Aditi's worried face, wisps of her hair falling down around his head. "What the hell," he gasps, and she leans down and kisses him quickly, tugging him up while he's still too shaken to move.
"Up, get up," she urges, helping him to his feet. She shouldn't have to lift him -- he feels fine now -- but his body refuses to believe it, his arms and legs are leaden, and he has to lean on her as they shuffle to the sidewalk.
Once there they thump down onto the curb and just clutch each other, her head on his shoulder, her hair spilling silky down his back. "Felipe," Aditi murmurs, "you love me, right?"
"Of course," he says, hand curved around her waist, turning towards her, but she hides her face against his chest. All around them people are helping each other up, dusting each other off, rushing this way and that.
Don't freak out, Felipe hears Aditi say, inside his mind again. He jumps a little, he can't help it, but he doesn't let go, and he can feel her soft relief as she relaxes, slumping against him. Felipe, I love you so much. You need to know, now more than ever -- I'm a mutant.
Felipe blinks, looking down at Aditi's sleek head, the shine of sunshine on her hair the same as ever. After everything today, her confession feels almost anticlimactic; after thinking he might have to watch her die, this certainly won't make him let go of her. "Well, yeah," he answers aloud, and gets that mental image of her smiling again. "But does that mean --"
"Yeah," she murmurs, and goes on in her mental voice. There's a telepath, so much stronger than I am, than anyone else -- he or she or whatever tried to kill all the mutants, and then all the non mutants, and stopped both times, or was stopped. I don't know how. Maybe it was those X-men. I don't know.
Felipe looks around at the people staggering past, most still a bit shell-shocked. The minivan slowly rolls past -- its driver must be a mutant. As is the girl he loves, leaning trustingly on him.
Aditi kisses his cheek. "I think I have it back under control," she whispers. "I'm not in your mind anymore."
Felipe looks at her, and thinks of the right thing to say. "Too bad," he tells her, "the joke about us having a mixed marriage sounded a lot funnier inside my head."
Aditi's grin shines until she hides it with her hand as giggles overtake her, and Felipe grins back as he watches her laugh.
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That picture really is evocative -- I hope to write another ficlet about it, actually, George and Winona caught in a riot on a planet they're visiting.
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