LDWS Round 2, Week 4 Voting!
The prompt for this week was hotel with the required word count being exactly 400 words. This week, there will be one winner and since we had 2 people not submit drabbles, no one will be eliminated. There won't be an elimination next week, either, so maybe this time total scores from the 3 weeks will be tallied together. I haven't decided yet. Thoughts anyone?
Thank you to everyone that participated!
1. Author: rfg_72
Title: Whose Life?
Rating: T
Warnings: Implied slash
Word count: 400
He hated hotels. No, he loathed and despised them. The same bland paint on every wall, the carpet that felt sticky under his toes. About the only thing that changed was whether it was on the left side of the hall or the right. They all smelled the same. Some weird combination of cleaning fluid and whatever they dipped the sheets in to make them scratchy.
He sighed heavily, thankful that this floor didn't have an asthmatic ice machine to heave and pant away the hours. Slumping against the wall, he slid the card in the slot. This one worked on the second try, the baleful green eye allowing him entrance to the cell beyond.
Yep, two steps in, drop the case in the closet. Three more steps would carry him to the bathroom and another six would have him at the blessedly horizontal bed.
Suddenly, little things began to penetrate his sleep hazed mind. Hotels don't have lit candles. Or little baskets on the nightstand.
Hurriedly he turned, thinking he was in the wrong room. He took as step and slammed into something that hadn't been there before. A warm wall of firmly muscled chest, and strong arms that gently caught hold of him in a long desired hug.
“Hey, baby, he whispered as soft, warm lips claimed his in an authoritative kiss.
His shirt was quickly stripped off, his jeans following, socks and shoes haphazardly kicked around the room.
“Lay down” a tap on his ass indicating his lover wanted him face down.
Complying, he heard the snap of a lid opening. He tried to shimmy out of his underwear, but the weight straddling his lower back pinned him down.
“Just relax,” the voice commanded, as hands now slick with oil dug into the his shoulders causing him to hiss in pained pleasure as his muscles finally began to loosen. Long strokes up and down his spine soon made him forget the funky smells. The teasing of his legs and toes banished the memory of the scratchy floors. The scorching licks and kisses reminded him that hot water was nearly endless here. And finally, as his lover stroked him to completion, his eyes closed in bliss, blocking out the puke cream colored ceiling.
Maybe he didn't hate hotels as much as he thought he did as he drifted off in the warm cocoon of his beloved's embrace.
~~~
2. Author: future_ex
Title: The Price of a Room
Rating: R
Warnings: Nudity, Coersion
Word count: 400
“Shit!”
A laugh. “Five puts you on Mayfair, where I have a hotel - pay up!”
Ted scowled, rifling through his depleted cash. “Did I mention I hate monopoly?”
“You have, often. Pay me!”
“I haven't got enough.”
Cody chuckled. “You've landed on my hotel without money for a room?”
“Y'know, gloating isn't attractive.”
Cody grinned widely. “Look, it's sad you can't afford your bill, but you might be able to pay in... other ways.”
Ted agonised over it for a moment. It was only a game, not even one he liked, the outcome didn't matter. But he hated losing.
“I'll sweeten the deal.” Cody smiled wickedly. “There's other things someone with that ass can do for extra money. For example...” He picked up a wad of the money he had beside the board and waved it enticingly at Ted. “I'll pay top dollar if you'll give me a strip tease.”
Ted stared at him blankly. “Seriously?”
“You could be back in the game, all it takes is two minutes and losing the modesty.”
Ted looked reticent but he picked up on the spirit of the game, pushing his chair back and slowly pulling his shirt off over his head. His hands dropped to the fly of his jeans, not looking but well aware of Cody's eyes on him.
“Slower baby.”
Blushing slightly, Ted did as he was told, lowering his jeans and kicking them off, his already bare feet meaning that he stood there in only his boxers.
“Everything.”
“But--”
Cody waved the money at Ted, smirking. Biting his lip, secretly rather enjoying himself, Ted lost the boxers and stood in front of Cody, head down meekly. Cody chuckled. “Turn around from me, let me see the view from the back.”
Ted did as he was told, knowing that Cody's eyes were firmly on his ass. He remained in place for a moment then turned back to face Cody, who beamed at him and handed over the money.
“Can I put my clothes back on now?”
Cody tilted his head, pretending to think about it. “Better not,” he said eventually. “After all, I haven't told you what you have to do to earn a free night in my hotel - and it doesn't involve you wearing any clothes.”
~~~
3. Author: jezziejay
Title: Haunted
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 400
“…and her body, or what remained of it, was discovered by housekeeping on Halloween morning. Ever since, guests have reported eerie sights and sounds on this very floor. And it is said that room 633, the scene of the tragedy, is the most haunted hotel room in the United States.” Ted finished his story with a booming mwah-ha-ha-ha, manically clicking the flashlight on and off.
Cody rolled his eyes. “What a coincidence that we happen to be staying in this very room, in this very hotel, on the very eve of the anniversary of the massacre.”
“It’s worse than that, Cody,” Ted said gravely. “It is said that on Halloween morning, any guest who sleeps in the bed nearest the window - the one on which she died - wakes up next to her ghost.”
“Jesus,” Cody wrinkled his nose. “They kept the bed? Wasn’t there blood and brains all over it?”
“They got it cleaned,” Ted snapped, not letting minor details stand in the way of a good story.
“Still,” Cody replied dubiously. “Ewww.”
“You do know that yours is the bed nearest the window?” Ted tried to get back on point. “You’ll probably wake up cuddled up to her, like spoons.”
Cody snorted. “Does she fork?”
“Yes. And then she knifes.”
“Sheesh, I’m really scared now.”
“Maybe you should sleep in beside me,” Ted teased.
Cody thought for a minute. “Nah. Think I’ll take my chances with the ghost chick.”
Ted laughed and fell asleep soon after. But Cody stayed awake and listened to the usual noises he heard in every hotel room, almost every night. The hum of the air conditioner, the rustle of sheets, the quiet swipes of cards in doors.
It was after two am and he was still awake, trying to figure out what could be making that soft scratching noise. Mice? And that clicking sound. Insects? And that whooshing sound. Homicidal ghosts with their heads bashed in and bloody brains leaking out?
He got up and jumped on top of Ted’s bed.
“Fuck, Cody. You just scared the shit out of me. Jesus.”
“Yeah, well, consider it payback. And move over.”
Ted pulled back the blankets and made room for Cody. “I knew that was a good ghost story,” he said victoriously.
Cody grunted and shuffled closer. “Spoon me.”
Ted sighed, his breath washing over Cody’s shoulder, but he did, and Cody closed his eyes.
~~~
4. Author: alex_royale
Title : It's Been A While
Rating : T
Warnings : Angst. A fair bit.
Word Count : 400
Days shuffle by. Calendars are practical - the one on Ted DiBiase's phone is letter perfect. There are days where he works,
and days where he works a little. And then, there are days that are his alone.
Ted swiped his hotel keycard, and waited as the red eye on the door turned green. He went in, closed the door behind him, and set his bags down at his feet.
He took it in. The pale colours. The strange, cloned nature of the pictures on the walls. He hasn't stayed in this hotel before, but it all
settles around him that he's been here. Somehow. Ted removed his dark jacket, folding and placing it on the end of the closest bed. He doesn't remember to forget that he doesn't need a room with two beds. Hasn't needed it in a while. He pulled out his cell phone, and checked for messages. Nothing since the last five minutes he'd looked. Ted took off his shoes and his socks, and sat by his jacket. He settled there, with his bare feet against the carpet. Ted looked down at his clenched toes, and said softly, "Fists with your toes."
After long days of travelling, and a particular red-eye from Los Angeles to Boston, (a hundred stopovers in between), he'd woken up mid-flight to Cody laughing quietly to himself, watching a film.
Cody said "Hey" and put something in Ted's ear that made noise, ..."You want to know the secret to surviving air travel? When you get where you're going, you take off your shoes and your socks and walk around barefoot on the rug making fists with your toes."
Another voice now. Ted knew this movie. It's Bruce Willis speaking now. It's Die Hard. "Fists with your toes?"
He'd watched it all through a comforted, sleepy daze. And all he could remember is Cody laughing.
Off the last plane, and into another hotel ; pale walls, and mottled pictures, and the one double bed. The two of them ditching their shoes and trying out the advice from the film, and always laughing, laughing, laughing. There were other ways, Ted found, to relax after long days. Ways that were filled with laughter, and the curling of toes and bodies. But now there are days that are just his, and his alone.
~~~
Voting will stay open until Saturday whenever I get home, since trick-or-treating got postponed until then.
You all have 1 vote for most favorite and 1 vote for least favorite drabbles. Participants are encouraged to vote, but you may NOT vote for yourselves!
I should explain a bit more how this works, I guess. The winner isn't decided by whoever gets the most most fav votes. Each most fav vote gets +1. Each least fav gets -1. Once those are tallied, a winner will be determined. If there's a tie, there will be a tie breaker so that there is one winner and one person eliminated.
When you vote, please fill out the poll, stating the number and the title of the drabbles.
Poll LDWS Week 4