Original: Started as a Flicker, Meant to be a Flame (Rick/Mel) PG
Title: Started as a Flicker, Meant to be a Flame [ INDEX]
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Mel and Rick
Rating: PG-ish
Summary: Uh.. he's a fireman and she lives down the hall. They're both sci-fi nerds and completely clueless...
Warning: Any drooling brought on by a certain fireman being awesome is expected... *Written for Round 10 of prompt-in-a-box. Prompt: Only thing I ever could need, only one good thing worth trying to be and it's love. (Bottle It Up) Sara Bareilles
Disclaimer: For the first time, I can say that EVERYTHING about this one is MINE, ALL MINE. Mwahaha!! Inspirations all come from characteraday, with thanks. Title comes from Bottle It Up by Sara Bareilles. Much love to luxuria_oceanus for the beta, the pep talk and the laughs, for continuing to try and convince me to write smut. Keep dreamin', schmoopsie!
Originally posted: January 05, 2009
In the nearly two years they'd lived down the hall from each other, Mel and Rick had become friends. They didn't exactly "hang out," but they did take care of each other; case in point: Mel bringing dinner over.
Rick was an excellent cook when he was at the firehouse - all the guys on the squad loved the nights he worked because they all knew dinner would be good - but he tended to fail at cooking for himself. Usually, it was because he was too tired to remember to eat, or he would get sidetracked with some book or TV show.
They met in the elevator, of all places. She'd come in with a box and a bag and he held the door. He pushed the button for her and they'd shared the ride in silence. When the doors opened, Rick offered to hold the box so Mel could open her door. Between the Monty Python and Wizard of Oz posters on her wall, as well as the large bookshelf of DVD cases, they'd spent another twenty minutes discussing favorite movies.
Two weeks later, they passed in the lobby as Rick was heading for the gym and she was coming home from work with an armful of folders and a stuffy nose. He stopped at the neighborhood grocery on the way home and picked up some ingredients for soup and showed up at her door that night with chicken broth, crackers and his phone number, in case of an emergency.
Between the schedule at the firehouse and her workaholic tendencies, they rarely saw each other, but would occasionally meet at the mailbox or on the sidewalk. A few times, they made it to Barnie's, the sports bar a few blocks over, and had a few beers while watching a game. When Sci-Fi was running a movie-of-the-week marathon, he suggested pizza.
They made it halfway through the first movie before pulling out Apollo 13.
And, for the next six months, they would make or order extra of whatever they were having for dinner on the nights both were home - which was down to almost once a week, those days - and they would trade movies back and forth.
Then, two months ago, Mel's job had shifted her department into another and she suddenly found herself with the ability to work from home, only having to go to the office once a week or so. That was driving her crazy, actually, because Mel was getting her work done twice as fast at home, then having to find things to entertain herself.
Her friends all had regular office jobs, so she couldn't hang out with them. When she did, they were always trying to set her up on dates and worried for her social life and wondering what she was trying to accomplish with that shirt or this hairdo. She loved her friends, but was grateful for the nature of her job, keeping her busy and at work.
In her newfound free time, Mel read all the books in her apartment then started reading the books in Rick's. She watched all the movies she hadn't seen in years and, in one desperate act for something to distract herself, made the mistake of finding a random link on a random website which led her to a fanfiction crossing The X-Files and Independence Day.
That led to an evening of pizza and crowding the monitor while she and Rick read through random stories online, laughing at the very bad and actually impressed by the more decent ones.
When Rick began the dramatic readings of the really bad ones, she pulled him away from the computer and suggested they find a new hobby.
Quickly.
To say that Emmaline Walker had a crush on Patrick Harper from the first moment would be a lie. There was a good ten seconds there, at least, before she looked up from the box of junk and into his grey-blue eyes and proceeded to curse the world and half the planets in the solar system for looking like she'd just escaped from the basement of a library.
Rick, of course, was oblivious to much past the fact she was a girl and he had manners. Once he helped her get the box inside, however, and took in the sight of her geekiness... He turned back to ask if one of the cases on the shelf was the movie he thought it was and stopped short at the sight of her.
She'd set the bag on the counter, pulled her glasses off and yanked her hair free of the messy ponytail. Mel was in the process of pulling her hair back up again when Rick had turned, but in that second, he was shocked that such a beautiful girl could be such a geek.
For whatever reason, though, neither of them ever had said anything to the other. Sure, they'd talked about bad dates or offered to set each other up if desperation kicked in - usually while watching some cheesy romance scene in a movie. The two of them had fallen into a comfortable relationship that was more akin to a brother and sister.
Little did either of them know, however, that that was about to change.
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Mel and Rick
Rating: PG-ish
Summary: Uh.. he's a fireman and she lives down the hall. They're both sci-fi nerds and completely clueless...
Warning: Any drooling brought on by a certain fireman being awesome is expected... *Written for Round 10 of prompt-in-a-box. Prompt: Only thing I ever could need, only one good thing worth trying to be and it's love. (Bottle It Up) Sara Bareilles
Disclaimer: For the first time, I can say that EVERYTHING about this one is MINE, ALL MINE. Mwahaha!! Inspirations all come from characteraday, with thanks. Title comes from Bottle It Up by Sara Bareilles. Much love to luxuria_oceanus for the beta, the pep talk and the laughs, for continuing to try and convince me to write smut. Keep dreamin', schmoopsie!
Originally posted: January 05, 2009
In the nearly two years they'd lived down the hall from each other, Mel and Rick had become friends. They didn't exactly "hang out," but they did take care of each other; case in point: Mel bringing dinner over.
Rick was an excellent cook when he was at the firehouse - all the guys on the squad loved the nights he worked because they all knew dinner would be good - but he tended to fail at cooking for himself. Usually, it was because he was too tired to remember to eat, or he would get sidetracked with some book or TV show.
They met in the elevator, of all places. She'd come in with a box and a bag and he held the door. He pushed the button for her and they'd shared the ride in silence. When the doors opened, Rick offered to hold the box so Mel could open her door. Between the Monty Python and Wizard of Oz posters on her wall, as well as the large bookshelf of DVD cases, they'd spent another twenty minutes discussing favorite movies.
Two weeks later, they passed in the lobby as Rick was heading for the gym and she was coming home from work with an armful of folders and a stuffy nose. He stopped at the neighborhood grocery on the way home and picked up some ingredients for soup and showed up at her door that night with chicken broth, crackers and his phone number, in case of an emergency.
Between the schedule at the firehouse and her workaholic tendencies, they rarely saw each other, but would occasionally meet at the mailbox or on the sidewalk. A few times, they made it to Barnie's, the sports bar a few blocks over, and had a few beers while watching a game. When Sci-Fi was running a movie-of-the-week marathon, he suggested pizza.
They made it halfway through the first movie before pulling out Apollo 13.
And, for the next six months, they would make or order extra of whatever they were having for dinner on the nights both were home - which was down to almost once a week, those days - and they would trade movies back and forth.
Then, two months ago, Mel's job had shifted her department into another and she suddenly found herself with the ability to work from home, only having to go to the office once a week or so. That was driving her crazy, actually, because Mel was getting her work done twice as fast at home, then having to find things to entertain herself.
Her friends all had regular office jobs, so she couldn't hang out with them. When she did, they were always trying to set her up on dates and worried for her social life and wondering what she was trying to accomplish with that shirt or this hairdo. She loved her friends, but was grateful for the nature of her job, keeping her busy and at work.
In her newfound free time, Mel read all the books in her apartment then started reading the books in Rick's. She watched all the movies she hadn't seen in years and, in one desperate act for something to distract herself, made the mistake of finding a random link on a random website which led her to a fanfiction crossing The X-Files and Independence Day.
That led to an evening of pizza and crowding the monitor while she and Rick read through random stories online, laughing at the very bad and actually impressed by the more decent ones.
When Rick began the dramatic readings of the really bad ones, she pulled him away from the computer and suggested they find a new hobby.
Quickly.
To say that Emmaline Walker had a crush on Patrick Harper from the first moment would be a lie. There was a good ten seconds there, at least, before she looked up from the box of junk and into his grey-blue eyes and proceeded to curse the world and half the planets in the solar system for looking like she'd just escaped from the basement of a library.
Rick, of course, was oblivious to much past the fact she was a girl and he had manners. Once he helped her get the box inside, however, and took in the sight of her geekiness... He turned back to ask if one of the cases on the shelf was the movie he thought it was and stopped short at the sight of her.
She'd set the bag on the counter, pulled her glasses off and yanked her hair free of the messy ponytail. Mel was in the process of pulling her hair back up again when Rick had turned, but in that second, he was shocked that such a beautiful girl could be such a geek.
For whatever reason, though, neither of them ever had said anything to the other. Sure, they'd talked about bad dates or offered to set each other up if desperation kicked in - usually while watching some cheesy romance scene in a movie. The two of them had fallen into a comfortable relationship that was more akin to a brother and sister.
Little did either of them know, however, that that was about to change.