Miércoles: Doomed Love

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

Hello again, we're right in the middle of the week and the weekend is just around the corner. I’m dreammaidenn and today's theme is Doomed Love. Prompts can be about breakups, misunderstandings, confusion, unspoken words, heartbreak, ANYTHING you want and however you choose to interpret the theme. And as always, have fun!

Just a few rules:

1. No more than five prompts in a row.
2. No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
3. Use the character's full names and fandom's full name for ease adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
4. No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here.
5. If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above mentioned spoiler cut.

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]

Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get started:

*Shakespeare, Romeo/Juliet + Any, Modern Day AU. They live-tweet or/and update their Facebook status according to the progression of their relationship.
*Batman comics, Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne, Bruce has trouble asking him to stay, Jason finds it hard to walk away but he always does.
*Any Fairytale, Any, We're all unlucky in love sometimes.

We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2016 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? Check out the just created Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet. For more recent prompts to write, you can also use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community.

While the Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet and LJ's advanced search options are available, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching for in the future.

tag=doomedlove

Comments

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

The Walking Dead, Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, The moment he knew she was really gone time stopped for him.

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

The Walking Dead, Beth Greene/Daryl Dixon, Divorce

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

RPF, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Losing Louis hurt Harry more than he realized it would.

rec

[tigriswolf]

Um, relevant to your interests?

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

any, any M/M, Oh, and so you go again
When the leading man appears
Always the same thing
Can't you see, we've got everything goin' on and on and on?
Every time you go away
You take a piece of me with you
Every time you go away
You take a piece of me with you-Everytime You Go Away by Paul Young

FILL: Original fic, post-apocalyptic

[cozy-coffee.livejournal.com]

He has never been a religious man. Not before the War, and certainly not now with the bloodshed and waves of wrath lurking at his door. His lover is a devout man who prays every night before he goes to sleep and every morning when he wakes to find he wasn’t slaughtered in his dreams.

The world is dark, vicious, and held together by a very thin thread. They need salvation and grace, yet he has never been a man of faith. However, every time his soul mate goes off to war, he drops to his knees and bows his head, whispering to the man up above.

His voice drops down to a low, smooth rumble, respectful words flowing from the beautiful mouth that his boyfriend loves to kiss. “God, please,” he pleads in his prayers. “Please, bring him home to me. Bring him home safe, please.”

He has yet to crack open the bottle of whiskey and soak his worries in the sting and bite. He left the glass sitting idle on the table, and it taunts him with worries, snarling that his lover is lying dead in a ditch, eyes cold and lifeless while evil creatures of the night feast on his flesh.

The world has splintered into a chaotic, post-apocalyptic life filled with blood and death, and monsters, bother human and non-human. Life outside of the compound is deadly, dangerous, and every time his soul mate leaves, there is no guarantee he will return.

With every hunt, when he leaves the shelter of home, he asks his one true love to be safe, cautions when he is on patrol, but his boyfriend simply hums and assures him that God is watching out for him and will keep him safe. He leaves his fate in Heavens hands.

By the grace of God and the angel’s his lover returns home. A bit worse for wear, cut up and bleeding, bruised, but alive and breathing and he doesn’t even step one foot inside the door before his lover is throwing himself into his arms, hugging him with every ounce of love he had beating in his heart. The younger man is crying tears of relief and joy, not even aware that he was sobbing until his lover presses a kiss to his cheeks, his lips and his forehead, murmuring soft words of love and devotion.

He doesn’t know if his lover is home and safe because God heard his prayers, or if his boyfriend was just a badass with a blade and could survive any evil that came his way. Truth is, he does not care. Because the only thing that matters is they are together and safe, and his soul mate kissing him and for a tiny moment in time, life in this Hellish world is perfect.

(END)

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

any, any F/F, Stay
You come back to me always anyway
Leave a mark
You said you never really loved her anyway
Why do I take this lonely road
Nobody here to walk with me
Don't want start fresh all over again
Why won't you just comfort me?-Now I'm All Messed Up by Tegan and Sara

[streussal.livejournal.com]

Black Sails, Max/Anne Bonny, this world is only gonna break your heart

[streussal.livejournal.com]

Daredevil (tv), Elektra Natchios/Matt Murdock, "Will you still love me when I am a spooky ghost? (yes. Yes, always, yes.)" (a softer world)

[streussal.livejournal.com]

Black Sails, James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton (or James/Thomas/Miranda), "Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not. We never are. But that is not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?" (welcome to night vale)

[daria234.livejournal.com]

MCU, Sam/Tony or Steve/Tony or Clint/Pietro, bad romance

Fill, Clint/Pietro (1/2)

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

When he first sees him Clint dismisses him as a kid with too much energy and terrible taste in alcohol. His fingers tapping the beat of the song against the bar, bouncing a little like he can't stay put for a second. His face is flushed and white-gray hair mated to his forehead. He nods as Clint passes him the blue colored drink he ordered and watches him move fast without spilling even a bit of the liquid, before getting lost among the mass of bodies on the dance floor. He doesn't leave a tip and for the rest of the night he grumbles about having to serve alcohol and neon colored cocktails to drunken morons.

The second time, the kid makes a comment about Clint's music taste, pointedly looking at his shirt before he disappears and leaves Clint gaping after him. The Dead Kennedy's are amazing, thank you very much.

The third time he notices his accent, this heavy lilt to his words Clint isn't sure how me missed it before. Natasha has his ID on her hand, checking he's actually legal and Clint peers right over her shoulder.

"What kind of name is Pietro?" Clint asks, and if there's a mocking tinge to his voice he didn't mean to. Okay, only a little.

"And what kind of anti-authoritarian works at a bar?" He returns just as mocking.

Natasha laughs, giving Pietro back his ID possibly willing to disregard the fact it's probably fake, because he leaves Clint stunned as he walks away.

"I like him," she announces and Clint reconsiders their entire friendship on that second.

Except he can't stay mad at her for too long. She's Nat after all. Also, it's never a good idea to argue with your roommate.

>>>

The high energy beats of the techo music Thor keeps subjecting them dances over the walls and jumps over him, a hum beneath his skin. It's too loud and sometimes he has to reach over the bar so he can listen to whatever people are ordering. The place is packed and he's sure Tony is up in the VIP floor patting himself on the back for being such a good business man.

"He's back," Natasha announces over the thump thump of the music, her red hair getting on his face as she turns around, he blows away the pieces close to his mouth. His eyes soon finding the person she's talking about. He's walking over to the bar, like the kid's mission is to constantly annoy the shit out of him.

Automatically he starts preparing a deep blue sea for him, frowning as soon as the glass is full of blue liquid and he's holding it like it's offended him somehow. Natasha snorts right beside him. It's not his fault he's good at his job and remembers what regulars order. It's nothing out of the ordinary, the look Natasha shoots him tells him otherwise.

"The service is getting better around here," Pietro shouts so he can he heard.

"You should be a little nicer, kid," Clint answers, leaning over the bar so they can talk, stupidly noticing the green-blue of his eyes.

"When are you going to stop calling me kid?"

"When you change your shitty attitude."

He laughs, laughs so loud and bright Clint forgets about the loop of noise in the background and focuses on this new fascinating sound he should be hearing more often.

He's utterly fucked.

[daria234.livejournal.com]

DCU, Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, it always ends in anger

Fill

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

The sharp metallic tang of blood swims in his mouth, he coughs cleaning his mouth with the back of his hand. Dick doesn't look much better, a bruise beginning to blossom on his jaw, completely breathless. Jason laughs, a harsh sound cutting through the night like the edge of a razor. Dick comes closer mouth twisted up into something that isn't his sunny smile.

"Jason, we really should-"

"Talk? Is that the reason you sought me out? To have a nice talk, Dickie."

"I don't even know anymore."

"Whoa, have you finally run out of words?"

Dick is so close to him now, Jason has the urge to close the distant between them completely. Grab him by the hair and kiss him, bite down on his plush bottom lip until they're both tasting blood and this nonsense of bringing Jason back stops.

"You didn't need to do that," Dick breathes out, challenges. Jason knows he's once again hating on his particular methods of crime fighting. On the trail of bodies he has left behind.

"But I did, maybe this roof isn't big enough for the both of us. You should leave."

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this," Dick says before he reaches forward and kisses him, annoyingly reading him and giving him exactly what he wanted, he pushes his tongue between his lips. The kiss is angry, hard, needy in way Jason hates because he knows this won't be the last time. They'll be back here in no time, even before they go back to try convince the other to join their side.

"No, we shouldn't."

Fingers roam over muscle, and before long he's got Dick pinned down on the concrete floor rutting against him, biting and licking his neck until he's satisfied with the red angry mark on his skin. Tasting something sweet that must be Dick and Dick gives him back as good as it gets, pushing and pulling until they're breathless and bruising, trading punches for kisses.

[daria234.livejournal.com]

The Flash/Arrow/LoT verse, any male/male, they discover that on another Earth they're bitter angry ex-husbands -- they're not surprised that their counterparts fight but they're very surprised that their counterparts were once a couple

[daria234.livejournal.com]

Leverage, Eliot/Damien Moreau, what won't bend will break

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

Shakespeare, Romeo/Juliet + Any, Modern Day AU. They live-tweet or/and update their Facebook status according to the progression of their relationship.

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

Batman comics, Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne, Bruce has trouble asking him to stay, Jason finds it hard to walk away but he always does.

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

Any Fairytale, Any, We're all unlucky in love sometimes.

Fill

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

It's love at first sight.

He discovers her in the middle of a small no-name town, carrying water from the well to one of the huts of the neighborhood. The first thing he sees is her unbound hair. Trails of copper and burned gold, so different from the darker hues women in his country find fashionable.

The sight of her is worth the broken wheel of his carriage, the dusty road, and the thirst clawing at his throat. For this moment, he would have traveled on bare feet and no coin in his purse.

He makes a sound, and she turns to him.

The perfection of her features is unavoidable. He felt like this - almost like this - once before. With hair dark as night, skin white as snow, and lips red as new blood. But that love is gone and buried, and this woman could be a future where he still has the most beautiful woman in the land at his side.

His very soul is drawn to her even before his feet decide to walk in her direction.

Yes, perfection.

The rose of her cheeks. The stormy sea in her eyes. The thin line of her fine lips as they curve into a welcoming smile.

He's never seen eyes so blue, and when they raise to take in his form, they alight with unhidden joy.

She doesn't know his name, but her gaze swears that he's the answer to her most heartfelt prayers.

Too much temptation.

He kneels on the spot and offers his hand (his throne and his country, too, and all this she's already seen in her mirror so of course she says yes without hesitation). He lifts her in his arms and twirls her, laughing at his unparalleled luck.

A beautiful wife for him.

A new mother for his daughter.

He never wonders why she was alone by the well, when women always gather at such places by the dozen. He never asks why the other townspeople didn't come out of their homes to watch and bless the new couple.

He never doubts that he's won the fairest woman of all.

And he lives happily-ever-after. For a little while, anyway.

---

Snow White, King/Evil Queen

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

DCU, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd,
I haven't loved you in a long, long time,
so why do I feel this way?
Can you hear my heartbeat?
Please don't stand so close to me.
Can you hear my heartbeat still beating strong

[angelus2hot]

Charmed, Cole Turner/Phoebe Halliwell, We almost had it all.

filled.

[withasmile87.livejournal.com]

(set in a non-magical au)

Phoebe held back her tears as she looked at Cole, her lip quivering as she stood in front of him and she hated that she was on the brink of tears. Hated that she was the one who was being weak when it was her idea to get the divorce.

"Phoebe," Cole spoke as he tried to reach out to comfort her, obviously sensing her distress. "We don't have to do this."

"I know," Phoebe acknowledged as she backed away from him, her hand gripping on the divorce papers firmly. "I mean we almost had it all or you did. You had me and our two sons. But that wasn't enough for you," she frowned as she shook her head, wishing she could forget the image of finding Cole in their bed with his blonde little secretary.

Cole looked away from Phoebe and for once she thought he actually looked guilty. Something he hadn't seen or looked since being caught.

Shaking her head, Phoebe took a deep breath as she held the papers out to him. "Just sign them and get this over with," she spoke doing her best to will herself to stay strong. After he had signed them and she was out of the penthouse and heading back to the house where she and her sons now lived with her sisters, then she'd break down and cry.

"O..okay," Cole conceded as he looked back up and took the papers from Phoebe. "Doesn't mean I don't think this is the worst mistake of our lives though. I mean you and I both know we'll never truly be done with each other. We still have Elliot and Ezra."

Phoebe laughed a bit bitterly, "And that's all we'll ever have now Cole. Our sons."

[angelus2hot]

Charmed, Dan Gordon/Piper Halliwell, What could have been.

[iceybreath.livejournal.com]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Alexander/Daniel, putting your trust and falling in love with the wrong person

[tigriswolf]

author's choice, author's choice,



You’re a song that I skip on the radio
‘cause I just can’t take the words
I listened once and it burned
I can’t even hum along

Fill: You're a song. OC.

[dresmeinscarlet.livejournal.com]

You’re a song that I skip on the radio
‘cause I just can’t take the words
I listened once and it burned
I can’t even hum along

You're a street I can no longer walk down
'cause I just can't see the end
I went there once and stumbled
I couldn't even crawl

You're a scent that makes me gasp and cough
'cause it takes my breath away
I breathed deeply once and it stung
I can't even exhale

You're a dish I no longer order
'cause the taste is too familiar
Once sumptuous now bitter and dry
I couldn't even swallow

You're a ringtone I deleted
'cause it makes my heart leap too high
even on another's phone
I can't take the shattering fall

You're a sock on the floor

You're the sound of a key in the door

You're an entire life

I can't even



[ooc: God I love this prompt. Where is it from. Is it something that your wrote?]

[tigriswolf]

Author’s choice, any couple that’s broken up,

your love, oh yes,
I always liked that best

FILL: Animal Kingdom, Deran/Adrian

[cozy-coffee.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time there was love in their hearts, a place of laughter and joy where the dreamers lay. Something akin to warmth glows in Adrian’s chest as they kiss, feeling pure happiness flutter in the air. His boyfriend gets a little playful with him, gives his neck a small bite that tickles something silly and bubbly joyful and he squirms like an existed puppy, giggling.

No matter the time of day, be it early dawn when the golden sun is slowly peeking over the horizon, or late in the night when the sky is dark and twinkles with silver stars, a kiss is always waiting for him. At night after they make love, when he moans and trembles, and they cling to each other through the shivery aftershocks, a soft, sweet kiss presses to Adrian’s quiver lips.

When arms wrap around his waist and tug him close, he unconsciously holds his breath before bursting into a giggle fit of laughter as pink, soft lips press to the ticklish spot on his neck. He wiggles, he giggles; Adrian smiles up at Deran as he leans in to kiss him, and every kiss just gets a little sweeter. In the morning, before he steps into the shower, his toes curling into the bathmat as his boyfriend dip down to press the tenderness of a soft caress to his pink lips.

Every kiss is sweet like honey, warm and soft, and he sees stars behind his eyelids every single time Deran palms his cheeks and pulls him into a kiss. “I love you,” Adrian whispers, his fingers sliding over the curve of Deran’s cheeks, smiling fondly.

“I love you, too,” Deran’s lips whisper the words from his heart, pressing kisses soft and tender to Adrian’s sweet lips.

With the warm amber gleam of the candlelight playing across his body, Adrian’s skin appears golden, almost sun-kissed. His lips are pink and plump, delicate nibbled kissed, and his pretty eyes shimmer jewel-bright.

He is smiling like a fool in love as Deran presses soft, tender kisses to each of his cheeks. There is a storm of lust and love in his heart, the way Deran kisses him makes Adrian tremble, yet he is gentled by his lover’s tender touch, soothed as Deran leans in, palming both sides of his face and kissing him sweetly.

Yet the spark of love died out with lies and broken promises, hearts breaking as two souls splintered apart. What was once happily ever after has tragically faded to black.

♥ END ♥

[tigriswolf]

Author’s choice, author’s choice, please just ask me to stay

Fill 1/2: SGA/Night World, Evan/John, background McShep

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Evan knew what John Sheppard was as soon as he looked at him and saw his eyes, color constantly shifting, from gold to grey to green to brown to blue and everything in between. Evan was an artist and he couldn’t have named every shade he saw in those eyes, but he’d know them anywhere: they were Redfern eyes. So when Evan saluted his new commanding officer, he kept his gaze downcast, deferential, because even if John’s last name was Sheppard, he was a Redfern, one of the ruling class of the lamia, the born-vampires, a prince in his own right, and Evan was just a lowly shapeshifter, second-class, lower than even the werewolves.

Evan watched his commanding officer, obeyed his orders punctiliously, and was intrigued, especially by his friendships with Dr. Rodney McKay and Teyla Emmagan, a Pegasus native who pinged on Evan’s radar on not-quite-human (even though best as he could tell, there were no Night Children on other planets in the Milky Way or Pegasus - so far). Evan had learned to keep his head down among ranks of humans, to appear as normal and unremarkable as possible (nope, so superhuman strength or senses here), but with a Redfern in his midst, he had to keep his head down even more.

When Sheppard came to Evan one night, late on a designated Sunday, and asked him about his t-shirt from the black bouquet, Evan confessed his affiliation (California, Bay Area, black jaguar) and waited. For the casual jokes about animals and subhumans he’d endured all his life. For the sly digs and knowing winks and the constant reminder that he was being punished for the mere fact of his existence. So he was unprepared when Sheppard leaned in and kissed him, softly and sweetly, asking for permission, for acceptance. Evan knew the rules and regulations. Sheppard was his commanding officer. Don’t ask, don’t tell. But Sheppard was also a Redfern and Evan was a shapehifter and Forsaken, and Sheppard could have anything he wanted.

He never asked for anything Evan wasn’t willing to give him, so Evan gave him everything, body and soul, and Evan let Sheppard become John in his mind, on his lips when it was just the two of them in bed, making love and dreaming of the stars.

And then one day, while Evan was delivering requisition forms to the lab for John to sign - to the lab because John was acting as a human lightswitch for McKay - Evan felt it. That jolt of Old Power when John reached out and McKay reached out at the same time and their hands met, just for a second, on the surface of the broken Ancient device. Evan knew the sensation of a Silver Cord in the air because his cousin had a soulmate, and Evan had been in the same room as Keller and Galen when they’d connected. John and McKay were soulmates.

John wrenched his hand back, stared at it like it had betrayed him. McKay looked startled and confused, but he grumbled something about static shock and told John to try again.

Evan had heard some soulmates didn’t make it, the lightning and drama was too much for them.

Evan knew John and McKay weren’t like that. He knew John and McKay hadn’t had a chance to even try, for whatever reason, and Evan wanted John to be happy, because he loved John, but the Old Powers were rising, and the Silver Cord wasn’t something Evan could even try to deny.

So Evan confronted John.

[tigriswolf]

author’s choice, author’s choice, I wanted a happy ending – I should have specified for who

Fill: SGA/Night World, Evan Lorne + Thea Harman, PG13 for swearing

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

I wished for a happy ending.

Evan stared at what he’d typed, then at his cousin Thea’s well-meaning but cliched reply.

Be careful what you wish for.

Evan prodded the keys sulkily. I should have specified for who.

Thea’s cursor blinked, and then she wrote, There are plenty of other people out there.

Not plenty of John, with his warm kisses and his sexy smile and his abject bravery and borderline martyr’s tendency to be willing to sacrifice himself for his team. Evan prodded at his keyboard some more. When did my life become Twilight? My life is a supernatural teen romance. Human-vampire-shapeshifter love triangle. Shapeshifter always loses. I should have seen this coming.

No one can see what’s coming. Even Thea’s cursor radiated disapproval at Evan’s pathetic moping.

Evan typed faster. Except for the witches who uttered prophecies about the Old Powers rising and Soulmates returning. Can you check one of your grimoires for a footnote or postscript or something? ‘End of the world is coming. It will be combated by perfectly matched soul-mate pairings. P.S. Fuck Evan Lorne. That guy has bad karma.’

LOL! Thea followed up her exclamation with several different types of smiley faces. You coming to Vegas to visit?

Hell yeah. Let’s eat some humans and get wasted.

Thea’s cursor radiated disapproval again.

Just kidding. Only have two weeks of leave per year. Need to use it wisely. Will go home to the commune and grovel for forgiveness for my soldierly ways. Come visit us. We can go surfing.

I thought cats didn’t like water, Thea wrote.

I thought witches had green skin, Evan shot back, without missing a beat.

There was another pause, and then Thea typed, You really loved him, didn’t you?

Nope, didn’t love him a bit, that’s why it hurt like hell when he let me walk away and took up with his allegedly platonic soulmate two microseconds after.

Thea typed, Come to Vegas and get wasted. I’ll even let you eat a human or two.

Starting with McKay?

Do you want to lose your job?

Right. I’ll catch a red-eye tonight. See you, cousin.

Merry part, cousin. And Thea signed off.

Evan closed his laptop and peered out the window at the full moon, felt his other form itching under his skin. No, no running wild tonight. Tonight was for drinking and for forgetting. He reached for the bottle of vodka and unscrewed the cap and took a long pull, and reflected that it took an awful lot to get a shapeshifter drunk. Good thing he had another bottle to hand and four hours before his flight left.

[tigriswolf]

Author’s choice, any parent who outlived a child, It’s Quiet Uptown

Fill: Stargate SG-1, clone!Jack, Oppie!verse

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

JD went to visit Charlie's gave precisely three times a year: on the anniversary of his birth, Father's Day, and the anniversary of his death. He said nothing, just stood beside the headstone and closed his eyes and remembered, and then left a baseball beside the flower someone put there before he returned to his life.

Memories of Charlie laughing, running around, playing baseball, were always intermingled with memories of Sara's anger, of the judging eyes and damning silence of the neighbors whenever he had walked past them. Memories of Charlie were also intermingled with that fateful trip through the Stargate, to the planet of neon-yellow sand and bright blue crystals and being able to hold his son's hand (almost his son) one last time.

He'd loved Sara, loved her with everything he had, but his failure, losing Charlie, it had broken something between them, and he hadn't figured out how to fix it until it was too late, and by then he was going through the gate on a regular basis, and the weight of Charlie would have been compounded by the weight of secrecy he carried, greater than the classified nature of all his previous work, and he couldn't bring himself to do that to Sara. He'd loved Sam, and he'd loved Daniel, loved them them the same way he'd loved Sara, but nothing would ever come close to the way he'd loved Charlie, and even though Charlie had haunted him on a daily basis in the halls of every high school he went to, coming here and remembering like this was different, was purer, was just for him. It didn't come out of nowhere like a sucker punch, it was something he could steel himself for.

This was the first time he'd ever brought anyone with him. Ever. Even before The Divide, this was a pilgrimage he'd made alone. John, Rodney, Evan, and Cam hung back a respectful distance. Cam had Oppie on his lap, ready to offer him up for comfort at a moment's notice, but all of them were silent while JD stood beside the tombstone, closed his eyes, and remembered.

"I wondered who was leaving the baseballs."

JD opened his eyes and spun around.

Sara stood opposite him, watching him carefully, holding herself still, like if she moved he'd bolt. Maybe he would.

No. The others were behind him. He could feel them. They were his family, his comrades. They would never let him come to harm, and they would never let him face his fears alone.

"Did you know Charlie?" Sara was holding a handful of wild-picked daisies, Charlie's favorite, the kind he'd always picked for her on Mother's Day or her birthday.

He cleared his throat. "We used to play baseball together."

Sara smiled. "He loved baseball."

"That he did. He loved to laugh, too."

"You've been coming here for a long time," Sara said. "But this is the first time we've run into each other."

"I tend to prefer to visit alone."

Sara raised her eyebrows at the men and cat arrayed behind him.

"This is the first time they've come with me," JD said.

"I don't remember every boy who was on Charlie's baseball team, not like his father did. All that military training made Jack good at remembering names. He called you all his 'men'."

"Yes." JD remembered well. He deepened his voice, said, "'Leave no man behind, all right? Throw hard, hit hard, bring every man home.'"

Sara's eyes went wide. "Yes, that was exactly what he'd say. You have a gift for impressions."

"Not really. Just the one." JD tilted his head, smiled at her, and said, "It was good to see you again, Mrs. O'Neill."

"Thanks for coming by," Sara said.

JD tossed her a sloppy salute, did an about face, and fell in beside Evan, grabbed his hand. Oppie launched off of Cam's lap and across JD's shoulders, and for once the gazes of the people he passed didn't feel like judgment, and even if they did, the presence of the men around him felt like love, and he'd never have to come here in quiet, suffering silence again.

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Any, Any,

Just a second we’re not broken just bent
And we can learn to love again

Not a fill yet

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

But I claim this land for Oppie!verse.