assorted ficlets | Alice/Hatter; Zoe/Brick; Jules/Lassiter; + one sentence fics
Assorted tumblr ficlets from the last however long (there's a Halloween fic so VERY long, lol organization I don't understand you)
The Other Side of This - Alice/Hatter - Alice
There are pizza shops and large, sprawling marketplaces, and everyone is always rushing by, chattering on phones and listening to music in their ears - and yet, for all that, Alice’s world seems small.
Wonderland was big. Not just the size of it or the height of it, but it was vivid and it made sense and it was home, after all. Sometimes he misses it with a longing that catches at the back of his throat, but he never tells Alice. Alice, his Alice, has never been good at greys, and he worries that she won’t understand that missing home doesn’t mean he wants to go back, that missing home doesn’t mean she’s not enough.
She’s always been enough.
They rarely talk about Wonderland, but sometimes, when they’re curled up in bed with the hours stretching out before them, she’ll ask him questions, and he’ll tell her - tell her about the real Alice of Legend and how the Queen took power and how the Knights fell. He’ll tell her about his father before he died and his mother that followed after, how he came into being a Tea Shop owner and the first time he saw the Great Library.
And sometimes, sometimes he’ll tell her of the pretty girl in the very wet dress he tried to help, and how she (he says, kissing her jaw, the lean sprawl of her neck, her collarbone) helped him, instead.
She asks him, then, in the darkness: if he misses, if he regrets, if he would change -
And he kisses her knuckles one by one and whispers, no, never, into her hair.
Alice, my Alice, he thinks as their limbs tangle and their breath quickens, and he never asks her back.
it was always to be so - Zoe/Brick - Hart of Dixie
His hand curves down her waist and settles on her hip, his fingers pressingly lightly into her skin. He mouths her name, wet and heavy, into her neck, and she stretches up into him. Her fingers tangle in his white coat, her knee brushing against his thigh, and he says her name again, the word scratching into her skin.
Zoe, he says, and she thinks of the way the letters lie on his tongue, the way words lie and linger in the air, and she licks up his neck, coaxes a moan from his mouth. She gathers up the scattered syllables as he clutches her close and then kisses him, silences him.
It’s cold out, and she knows she should go home, knows Lavon and Wade are waiting for her, knows that Brick will never be able to give her what she needs, but his eyes are kind as he looks at her. His eyes are kind and his fingers are sure and as he tangles them in her hair she thinks that maybe they’re both looking for someone to ground them.
Maybe they both need a secret of their own.
i can see it in your hand - Jules/Lassiter - Psych
His fingers tug at his tie, pulling the cloth until it’s loose around his neck, until he can pull in a full breath through a constricting throat.
“You don’t have to go,” he says, silk smooth against his fingertips, gaze drawn to the ground instead of her. If he were looking, he’d see the way her eyes stutter across his face.
“Lassiter,” she says, but the word grates like glass in her throat and she can’t swallow around it. ”Carlton,” she says. Yesterday’s clothes cling to her skin, and she pushes her hair away from her face as if that will make the difference.
“Juliet,” he says, and she wishes she could capture the way his voice lilts around her name; she wishes she could save the intonation. But she can’t.
“I’ll see you at work,” she says, her fingers scraping against her slacks, her eyes dark as his finally skim up to meet hers. She can’t wait forever. She can’t. She won’t.
“Juliet,” he says, and his fingers curl at his side, resisting the urge to catch her hand in his. But he doesn’t reach out.
And she’s never stayed still.
untitled Halloween fic - Jules/Lassiter - Psych
Shawn and Gus have a Halloween party at the Psych office; Juliet’s not sure how they convinced Lassiter to come, but she’s guessing it probably involved blackmail or duct tape. Either way, he’s two drinks in in a cowboy getup by the time she gets there. She has to bat her way through clouds of fog and fake spiderwebs in the barely lit room to get to his side, but when she does she can feel the intensity in his gaze as he greets her.
“O’Hara,” he says. His voice is a touch rough, and she smiles up at him and clinks her plastic cup lightly against his.
“Long day,” she says, turning so she’s leaning against the wall next to him. It was a long day, a very long day, and the gun in the holster at his side is the only reason that she’s still around for it, which maybe explains why he keeps looking at her as if she’s about to disappear. She leans in closer until her side rests against his. He hesitantly wraps an arm around her back and takes another gulp of his rum ‘n coke with his free hand, tearing his eyes away from her face to scan the room.
“Very long,” he says, squeezing her side, and she looks up at him from underneath her eyelashes, at the bruise on his cheekbone, the set of his mouth. She tucks her hand closest to him into the back of his belt, watching for the flash of surprise, and then grins up at him when he looks at her.
“To partners,” she says, lifting her glass, and there’s something tender in his eyes as he watches her.
“To partners,” he agrees.
ONE SENTENCE FICS
Merry/Pippin - LotR
No one in the Shire sees the difference in Pippin - they see him a fool and a rascal and far too mischievous for his own good; they do not see him sleepless at nights, when only Merry can bring him back from tall mountains and Denethor alight with flame.
Brick/Zoe - Hart of Dixie
Brick comes partly because Lavon calls and mostly because Zoe refuses to; he thinks he’ll rub it in, but when he gets there Zoe’s skin is pale and sweaty and he ends up singing to her and holding her hand, instead.
Lloyd/Julianne - Breakout Kings
His first shower after he finds specks of blood under his fingernails and he scrubs until his skin is red and tender; in the middle of the night he screams for the guards and begs for a phone because he didn’t tell Ray to watch out for Julianne and what if Damien knows all his weaknesses?
The Other Side of This - Alice/Hatter - Alice
There are pizza shops and large, sprawling marketplaces, and everyone is always rushing by, chattering on phones and listening to music in their ears - and yet, for all that, Alice’s world seems small.
Wonderland was big. Not just the size of it or the height of it, but it was vivid and it made sense and it was home, after all. Sometimes he misses it with a longing that catches at the back of his throat, but he never tells Alice. Alice, his Alice, has never been good at greys, and he worries that she won’t understand that missing home doesn’t mean he wants to go back, that missing home doesn’t mean she’s not enough.
She’s always been enough.
They rarely talk about Wonderland, but sometimes, when they’re curled up in bed with the hours stretching out before them, she’ll ask him questions, and he’ll tell her - tell her about the real Alice of Legend and how the Queen took power and how the Knights fell. He’ll tell her about his father before he died and his mother that followed after, how he came into being a Tea Shop owner and the first time he saw the Great Library.
And sometimes, sometimes he’ll tell her of the pretty girl in the very wet dress he tried to help, and how she (he says, kissing her jaw, the lean sprawl of her neck, her collarbone) helped him, instead.
She asks him, then, in the darkness: if he misses, if he regrets, if he would change -
And he kisses her knuckles one by one and whispers, no, never, into her hair.
Alice, my Alice, he thinks as their limbs tangle and their breath quickens, and he never asks her back.
it was always to be so - Zoe/Brick - Hart of Dixie
His hand curves down her waist and settles on her hip, his fingers pressingly lightly into her skin. He mouths her name, wet and heavy, into her neck, and she stretches up into him. Her fingers tangle in his white coat, her knee brushing against his thigh, and he says her name again, the word scratching into her skin.
Zoe, he says, and she thinks of the way the letters lie on his tongue, the way words lie and linger in the air, and she licks up his neck, coaxes a moan from his mouth. She gathers up the scattered syllables as he clutches her close and then kisses him, silences him.
It’s cold out, and she knows she should go home, knows Lavon and Wade are waiting for her, knows that Brick will never be able to give her what she needs, but his eyes are kind as he looks at her. His eyes are kind and his fingers are sure and as he tangles them in her hair she thinks that maybe they’re both looking for someone to ground them.
Maybe they both need a secret of their own.
i can see it in your hand - Jules/Lassiter - Psych
His fingers tug at his tie, pulling the cloth until it’s loose around his neck, until he can pull in a full breath through a constricting throat.
“You don’t have to go,” he says, silk smooth against his fingertips, gaze drawn to the ground instead of her. If he were looking, he’d see the way her eyes stutter across his face.
“Lassiter,” she says, but the word grates like glass in her throat and she can’t swallow around it. ”Carlton,” she says. Yesterday’s clothes cling to her skin, and she pushes her hair away from her face as if that will make the difference.
“Juliet,” he says, and she wishes she could capture the way his voice lilts around her name; she wishes she could save the intonation. But she can’t.
“I’ll see you at work,” she says, her fingers scraping against her slacks, her eyes dark as his finally skim up to meet hers. She can’t wait forever. She can’t. She won’t.
“Juliet,” he says, and his fingers curl at his side, resisting the urge to catch her hand in his. But he doesn’t reach out.
And she’s never stayed still.
untitled Halloween fic - Jules/Lassiter - Psych
Shawn and Gus have a Halloween party at the Psych office; Juliet’s not sure how they convinced Lassiter to come, but she’s guessing it probably involved blackmail or duct tape. Either way, he’s two drinks in in a cowboy getup by the time she gets there. She has to bat her way through clouds of fog and fake spiderwebs in the barely lit room to get to his side, but when she does she can feel the intensity in his gaze as he greets her.
“O’Hara,” he says. His voice is a touch rough, and she smiles up at him and clinks her plastic cup lightly against his.
“Long day,” she says, turning so she’s leaning against the wall next to him. It was a long day, a very long day, and the gun in the holster at his side is the only reason that she’s still around for it, which maybe explains why he keeps looking at her as if she’s about to disappear. She leans in closer until her side rests against his. He hesitantly wraps an arm around her back and takes another gulp of his rum ‘n coke with his free hand, tearing his eyes away from her face to scan the room.
“Very long,” he says, squeezing her side, and she looks up at him from underneath her eyelashes, at the bruise on his cheekbone, the set of his mouth. She tucks her hand closest to him into the back of his belt, watching for the flash of surprise, and then grins up at him when he looks at her.
“To partners,” she says, lifting her glass, and there’s something tender in his eyes as he watches her.
“To partners,” he agrees.
ONE SENTENCE FICS
Merry/Pippin - LotR
No one in the Shire sees the difference in Pippin - they see him a fool and a rascal and far too mischievous for his own good; they do not see him sleepless at nights, when only Merry can bring him back from tall mountains and Denethor alight with flame.
Brick/Zoe - Hart of Dixie
Brick comes partly because Lavon calls and mostly because Zoe refuses to; he thinks he’ll rub it in, but when he gets there Zoe’s skin is pale and sweaty and he ends up singing to her and holding her hand, instead.
Lloyd/Julianne - Breakout Kings
His first shower after he finds specks of blood under his fingernails and he scrubs until his skin is red and tender; in the middle of the night he screams for the guards and begs for a phone because he didn’t tell Ray to watch out for Julianne and what if Damien knows all his weaknesses?