purplelaterade

[purplelaterade]

Bros

TITLE: Bros FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, Nelson, Kevin, Kacey RATING: K+ WORD COUNT: 955 SUMMARY: Three short future!Zevie drabbles, vaguely inspired by HIMYM NOTES: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE so basically what I did here was I took kind of Swarkles-esque situations and put Stevie and Zander in them instead and uh I'm not even sure they're all that good but I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM ANYWAY AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY. <3

-----

It’s just the two of them at the bar tonight; Nelson and Grace are still on their honeymoon, and Kevin and Molly are out on a double date with Kacey and her new guy, What’s-His-Face. (Stevie leans over to ask Zander if he remembers the guy’s name, but Zander just shrugs and pulls a “who cares?” face. He’s got a point. The guy probably won’t last the month.) The night starts off fairly unremarkably, just small talk over drinks – there’s some game on the TV, but it’s just background noise, really. No one seems invested in the outcome, least of all the two of them.

It’s not until she’s downing the last of her first drink and mentally debating whether to order another when Zander nudges her under the table with one foot. “Hey, Stevie, be my wingwoman?”

She follows his gaze to a short blonde girl standing at the bar. “No way,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Besides, Nelson’s already cornered the market on short blondes.”

“Stevieeeeeeeee,” he whines at her, reaching across the table to grab her hands earnestly. “Come on. Be a bro.” When she hesitates, he presses on. “Please? I haven’t had a decent wingman since Kevin started dating Molly.”

Eventually she gives in, just to stop his begging (it was getting pathetic, honestly), and heads over to strike up a conversation with the girl. She’s all gleaming teeth and hair and jewelry. Stevie forgets her name as soon as she hears it. When Zander comes over a few moments later, Stevie fumbles her way through an introduction before retreating back to their table, stopping on the way back to order another drink. Zander turns to shoot her a grin and a wink. She forces one in return and rolls her eyes as soon as his back is turned.

What’s-Her-Name won’t last the month, but it doesn’t stop Stevie from downing her drink as soon as it’s brought to the table.

Secrets

Stevie’s face is buried in her hands, but she can still picture the look on Zander’s face when he says, “I think this is the lamest thing I have ever seen in my life.”

“I should’ve had that disk burned when I had the chance,” she groans, voice muffled.

“This is the best thing ever to happen to me.”

“Please stop talking about it.”

“Oh, Stevie Baskara, I am never going to stop talking about this. I can’t believe you were-”

“Don’t say it, Zander, I swear to God-”

“-a pageant girl!”

Stevie groans again, still not daring to look up. “I told you not to say it!”

“How did this even happen?”

“My mother.” Zander leans in to better hear her voice through her palms. “She was a pageant girl when she was young and she hated it, so of course she thought it was only fair I go through the same thing. And my dad just liked having an excuse to doll me up a little, after four boys.”

There’s a moment of silence. Then, “Are you tap-dancing?”

“Okay, that’s enough of this!” She makes a grab for the remote, but he holds it out of her reach, laughing.

Transitions

The first time it happens, it seems a natural enough transition, so they don’t really talk about it. Besides, Stevie reasons, if they talk about what’s happening that will make it real, and then they’ll have to talk about it with everyone else, and it’ll be a big hassle. (Also, she’s almost positive the group’s been taking bets on them, and she doesn’t want to prove anyone right.)

So they keep their relationship, or whatever it is, hidden for a while. The problem is, the longer they stay in the bubble the harder it seems to be to get out of it.

Until Kacey throws open the door of one of the dressing rooms before a show and pops the bubble entirely.

Behind her, Nelson pulls a paper out of his pocket and unfolds it, murmuring to himself as he makes tick marks (“fifty dollars to Molly for ‘in a dressing room,’ ten each to Kevin, Molly, and me for ‘getting caught,’ fifteen to Grace for…”). Kacey lets out an almost unholy screech and launches herself at them, flinging arms around both their necks in a hug and prattling on at about a hundred miles a minute. It’s all so sudden that it takes Stevie a while to focus in on anything Kacey is saying.

“-and I mean, I’m sure some of Zander’s fangirls will be upset when we introduce you two as boyfriend and girlfriend but I think the band is popular enough that we can take the hit-”

“Whoa, whoa.” Stevie quickly detangles herself from the arm Kacey’s got around her. “We’re not… I mean, this isn’t exactly….”

Kacey looks back and forth between the two of them. “Isn’t exactly what?”

“We’re not exactly dating,” Zander supplies, and Stevie nods.

“But you were making out on the couch.”

“Yeah.”

“So then what are you doing?”

“That particular topic of conversation hasn’t exactly come up yet.”

“I see.” Kacey stands up. “Nelson, Kevin, go out in the hall.” Once they’ve left, Kacey takes a deep breath. “Okay, so, what’s going to happen now is-”

She breaks off mid-sentence and bolts out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Stevie rushes after her to find she’s holding the door shut. “Kacey!”

“You can come out after you’ve talked about your relationship!”

“We have to be on-stage in a half hour!”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you let me catch you making out!”

Stevie shoots a look to Zander, who just shrugs helplessly. She sighs. “Well, I guess that’s the end of the bubble.”

[purplelaterade]

In A Moment

TITLE: In A Moment FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, Nelson, Kevin, Kacey RATING: K+ WORD COUNT: 695 SUMMARY: Four unrelated Zevie drabbles. NOTES: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEREE! I wanted to do something more elaborate than this but as you well know I have been and continue to be under the crushing weight of schoolwork, so. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE ANYWAY I had fun writing them. And I hope your birthday is and has been fabulous because you are fabulous and you deserve the most awesome of birthdays. <3

-----

“Say ‘uncle!’”

“No way!”

“Say it!”

“Get off! Your knees are bruising my biceps!”

“Am I interrupting something here?”

Stevie and Zander both freeze before slowly craning their necks to look up at Kacey. She looms over them, arms folded and one eyebrow raised.

“I, uh, we were just-”

“Zander took my… pencil.” The words aren’t even fully out of Stevie’s mouth before she realizes how stupid they sound.

“So you wrestled him to the ground and pinned him down.”

“It’s my favorite pencil,” Stevie says lamely.

Kacey just rolls her eyes and walks off, throwing out the words “get a room” before she shuts the door behind her.

Germ

No one in Gravity 5 is particularly surprised when Zander comes down with a bad case of mono - the "kissing disease." "Statistically speaking, it was bound to happen sometime, all things considered," Nelson says matter-of-factly, while Kevin nods in assent and Kacey frets and checks the calendar to see which gigs they’ll have to cancel.

They’re all quite a bit more surprised when Stevie comes down with the same thing days later. “Must’ve been that smoothie we shared last week,” she mutters uncomfortably when the three healthy members of Gravity 5 bring her homework by.

“But the incubation period of infectious mononucleosis is four to seven weeks, you shouldn’t be showing symptoms already-” Nelson begins, cutting off abruptly when he notices Stevie’s death glare. “Right, smoothie, must’ve been it,” he backpedals, but he gives her suspicious looks the rest of the visit.

(“Called it,” Nelson crows when they walk in on Zander and Stevie on the couch in the band room a few weeks later. Kacey grumbles and shoves a ten-dollar bill into his hand.)

Young

“You know it’s not actually a child, right? It’s just a bag of flour.”

“Yes, Stevie, I know the difference between a bag of flour and a child.”

“Then why did you buy it a tiny ukulele?”

“Because I didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t start learning young! Never too early to take up the uke.”

“Zander. Repeat after me. It. Is. A. Sack. Of. Flour.”

“I can’t believe you’re talking about our son like that!”

“We don’t have a son! We have a sack of flour for a health class project!”

“What’s next -  you’re going to tell me we’re not really married?”

“I’m not having this conversation.”

“Our relationship isn’t important to you? Do you care about this family at all?”

“I’m going to class.”

“Wait! You’re supposed to have Zander Junior this period!”

“I told you, we are not calling him Zander Junior!”

“So you admit he’s a he.”

“Bye, Zander.”

“You’re not going to say goodbye to Junior?”

“Sack. Of. Flour!"

“You’re so cold.”

Nonsense

On a clear, bright February day during their senior year, Zander stops by Stevie’s locker before class and hands her a folded slip of paper. She opens it to find a jumble of letters scrawled in Zander’s messy handwriting. “What’s this?”

“Unscramble it.” He grins and punches her lightly in the shoulder as he jogs off to class.

She works at it all day, with increasingly ridiculous results (she’s pretty sure “ego hill row outwit pommy” doesn’t actually mean anything). Between classes she begs him to just tell her what it says, but he refuses. Finally, she hands it to Nelson during their final class of the day.

“Nellie, unscramble this for me? I’ve been trying all day and I have no idea what it says.”

Thirty seconds later he looks back over at her, one eyebrow raised. “This is Zander’s handwriting, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Why?”

He passes the paper back to her. Underneath the scrambled letters is Nelson’s solution, in blocky capitals – “WILL YOU GO TO THE PROM WITH ME?”

“Oh, of course, how did I not get that?” Stevie says with a relieved sigh. “Thanks, Nellie.”

Nelson waits. Penny in the air.

Five seconds later, Stevie lets out a strangled, “Oh.”

“There it is.”

After class, Stevie sneaks a slip of paper into Zander’s guitar case with the letters “SYE” on it. He finds it during rehearsal and grins at her from across the room.

[purplelaterade]

Dear Diary

TITLE: Dear Diary FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, Nelson, Kevin RATING: K WORD COUNT: 604 SUMMARY: Zander keeps a diary during his first week or so of Brewster High. NOTES: This is pretty blatantly dumb and plotless and silly. And not even like good plotless and silly. BUT IT'S A FRIENDIVERSARY PRESENT FOR SHEREE BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FOR A WHOLE YEAR SO YOU BETTER LIKE IT EVEN THOUGH IT'S AWFUL. It might have been better if I hadn't forgotten when our friendiversary was until like an hour and a half ago. (You forgot too so. Don't give me crap.)

SO THANKS FOR RANDOMLY DECIDING TO TALK TO ME ONE DAY AND THANKS FOR ADDING ME ON FB AND TEXTING ME AND STILL LOVING ME EVEN WHEN I NEVER WATCH ANYTHING I SAY I'M GOING TO WATCH AND PUTTING UP WITH ME WHEN I DRUNK-TEXT YOU AND PUTTING UP WITH MY TENDENCY TO GET RIDICULOUSLY FIXATED ON SINGLE THINGS AND FOR BEING MY BRAINTWIN. I'M GLAD WE'RE FRIENDS AND I HOPE THIS MAKES YOU GIGGLE.

-----

well today was my first day at Brewster High. i did not have even a single girl fawning over me. was v. disappointed. must remember to bring uke tomorrow. it’s hard to resist a handsome man with a uke. i miss Seattle. they knew how to appreciate beauty.

the girl in front of me in history handed me my pencil when it rolled off my desk. she was so so so pretty. i think i’m in love. will see what she thinks of uke.

more later,

z

-----

dear diary,

brought uke to school today. people seemed confused by it. i think they thought it was a toy.

haven’t met any girls yet. just two boys. they were sort of weird but cool. i think maybe they are dating? they reminded me of my dads. they said they both play instruments too. i suggested we jam sometime. the blonde one said he wasn’t really into jam because he didn’t like picking seeds out of his teeth. had to explain the colo collokwi coloqi slang meaning of ‘jam’ to him. they said they’d invite some guy named Stevie along too. i didn’t meet him because he was out sick, but they said he should be back tomorrow.

history girl wasn’t in class today so i couldn’t impress her with my uke. maybe tomorrow.

z

-----

dear diary,

STEVIE = HISTORY GIRL

HISTORY GIRL = STEVIE

z

-----

dear diary

jam session with Nelson and Kevin (those are their names and also they are not dating?) after school today.

and Stevie. Stevie.

omg i don’t think i have anything to wear!

z

-----

dear diary,

found something to wear. crisis averted.

CRISIS BACK ON. SPILLED COFFEE ON MYSELF. AM GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL AND NOW I REALLY HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR

-----

dear diary,

omg Stevie is pretty and funny and smart and plays bass and can sing and she’s pretty and plays bass and she knows what a ukulele is and she smiled at me

i think i am going to write a hundred songs about her

stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie stevie

(the next five pages are just Stevie’s name repeated over and over until it becomes an unintelligible scribble)

z

-----

dear diary,

today Stevie beat up a guy who was trying to take Nelson’s lunch money.

we can add “butt-kicking” to the list of reasons why Stevie is the best girl ever.

is there anything she can’t do?

z

-----

dear diary,

Stevie tripped no less than five times while we were jamming today. i think i found something she can’t do.

may try to nonchalantly follow her around so i can catch her incase she trips again.

z

-----

dear diary,

scratch that plan. girls don’t like it when you try to follow them into the bathroom.

z

-----

dear diary,

WE DECIDED TO BE A BAND

THAT MEANS I GET TO SEE STEVIE ALL THE TIME

we don’t have a name yet. will see what happens.

z

-----

dear diary,

IT HAPPENED

STEVIE TRIPPED AND I CAUGHT HER

well i kind of caught her.

…i made a valiant attempt at catching her?

i cushioned the blow at least. she kind of landed on top of me. i think i bruised my ribs.

it was sooooo worth it.

but hey at least i came up with a sweet name for the band. “gravity 4.” because there’s four of us. and gravity because, well. gravity was the best part of my day today.

i don’t miss Seattle even a little bit.

z

[purplelaterade]

Bargains

TITLE: Bargains FANDOM: Doctor Who CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Eleven/Clara RATING: K+ WORD COUNT: 1127 SUMMARY: The Doctor knows the universe doesn’t make bargains. NOTES: This kind of started out as one thing and turned into quite another and I don't actually even know what it is aside from a sort of feelsdump, but. Oh well. (There's a reason I don't usually write DW fic siiiiiiigh.)

-----

The Doctor knew the universe didn’t make bargains. It had never stopped him from trying, of course; gods knew he’d tried, pleaded time and time again for lives and loves, for do-overs and timelines that could never be. Clara was hardly the first. “I don’t think the universe makes bargains,” Madame Vastra had spat at him in the TARDIS, and even as he argued back he knew in his hearts she was right. He knew that Clara was dying and he couldn’t stop it and it was his fault because he should’ve been thinking more clearly, should’ve shut the TARDIS door, should’ve stayed closer to her.

Should’ve, should’ve, should’ve. His entire existence was a series of those.

He’d saved the world, and she’d died anyway. So much for bargains. 

But then he’d seen her gravestone and realized the impossible. They’d met before, in another time, another place, thousands of light-years away. Oswin Oswald. Clara Oswin Oswald. Junior entertainment manager. Barmaid and governess. And if there were two, maybe there was a third.

Perhaps it wasn’t a bargain. It definitely wasn’t a miracle. But it was something, and he’d take it for now.

The TARDIS had traced another Clara to London, 2013. He’d knocked on the door to her flat and she’d answered, this girl with his Clara’s face and voice, staring up at him with the curious expression he so associated with her.

“Clara Oswin Oswald,” he’d begun, holding up a key and secretly enjoying the flicker of confusion that crossed her face, “would you like to see the stars?”

-----

The Doctor knows the universe doesn’t make bargains. It doesn’t give out rewards for good behavior, for saving peoples and planets and not backing down in the face of everything that has ever been thrown at him. Whatever impossible thing Clara is, she isn’t a miracle or a reprieve. Her existence isn’t some cosmic blessing; knowing how things in his life go, it’ll likely be just the opposite. Living twice had been pushing it. Living three times is taking the limits of the universe to their absolute maximum. Clara’s on borrowed time twice over, and perfectly human on top of it, as far as his scans can determine. And he knows what happens to humans, in the end.

She’s a mystery to him, in a different way than humans usually are, and he’s dying to solve her but terrified to at the same time. The mysteries that find him never end well, and he’s had about enough of endings for a while, thanks very much.

All he wants is to show her the stars.

So he does. And he keeps her as safe as he can (she’s the worst one yet, with a curiosity to match his own, and he can hardly even blink without losing track of her), because he’ll be damned if he’s going to be careless with her again, and there’s no guarantee there’s more Claras out there. Even if there are, they wouldn’t be this Clara, and he’s grown rather fond of her: of the faint smell of burned soufflés that now permeates the TARDIS, of the way she leans in close and watches him intently whenever he’s flying even though he knows she can’t possibly understand (after all, even he’s not always sure what he’s doing). It doesn’t mean she stays out of danger; like everyone else he’s ever taken along with him, danger seems to find her. It does mean that sometimes he finds his hand on the back of her neck or his arm looped through hers and can’t quite remember how or when it got there, and it also means that sometimes he goes to slightly extreme lengths to keep her out of harm’s way.

They fight about it, once. Not the playful bickering Clara seems to so enjoy, but a proper row, after he tricks her into the TARDIS and locks her in on a particularly dangerous planet. By the time he makes it back, singed and dirty but otherwise unhurt, she’s had a few hours to stew and she lets him have it as soon as he walks through the doors.

“What the hell,” she begins, marching up to him with her hands on her hips, and he’s not sure he’s ever seen quite so much fury in such a small package, “did you think you were doing?”

He steps around her, ignoring the finger she’s thrust accusingly in his face, and heads for the TARDIS console. “Keeping you safe,” he says tersely, fiddling with a knob that he’s (pretty) sure has no actual use.

“You asked me if I wanted to see the stars, remember?” She follows him to the console, and he can feel her staring him down but he doesn’t look at her. “You turned up on my doorstep and handed me a key and I came away with you. And sorry, but I was expecting a bit more adventure and a bit less coddling!”

“I’m not coddling you, Clara-”

“I may not be a thousand-year-old timelord but I am an adult woman and I can take care of myself-”

“Like you did on Onzod?” he interrupts as he flicks a switch on and off (or off and on, or on and more on; he really shouldn’t have thrown the manual into that supernova).

“Oh, sure, get thrown into a Kwian prison camp one time and suddenly sweet little Clara needs to be led around by the hand and locked in the TARDIS because she’s too stupid to-”

“I don’t think you’re stupid, I just-”

“-think I’m a child? Think I can’t keep up with you? What, Doctor?”

“I just am not going to watch you die again!” he roars finally, whirling to face her, and there’s a flicker of what he thinks is recognition across her face before it’s replaced with confusion.

In the end, he makes her a deal, there by the TARDIS console, with his arms wrapped around her and his chin resting on her head (she makes a crack about how bony it is, and he smiles). He’ll be less overbearing if she’ll promise to just listen to him once in a while. When he lets go, she makes a “cross my heart” gesture and winks at him before skipping off, presumably to burn another soufflé, and he realizes that impossible Clara doesn’t make bargains either, that she’s going to drop this one as soon as it’s convenient for her to do so.

Of course, if she doesn’t stick to her end of the deal, he’s going to have to fight her on it.

And when the universe decides to renege on their bargain, he’ll fight that too.

Until then, they’ll run.

[purplelaterade]

wait, i am confused- are the blow cold the season prompts taken from the ones that were asked of you, or did you scrap the requests and just do christmas-themed fics? i hope it doesn't seem like i'm complaining, i do love them (and miss them!!) :D

Blow Cold the Season prompts are separate from the Christmas ones. :) Which will be late, I'm afraid. I seem to have gotten rather a bit ambitious and/or I underestimated the amount of time I'd be spending with friends/family while I was home for break. Blow Cold the Season will get finished, as will the Christmas prompts. I'm glad you like them, and I'm really sorry I haven't been updating as regularly as I had hoped! <3

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 13 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander PROMPT: “snowmen" RATING: K WORD COUNT: 532 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #13: Stevie and Zander have a snowman-off.

-----

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 12 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, the Baskara siblings PROMPT: “quilts" RATING: T WORD COUNT: 605 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #12: Sometimes Stevie really hates her brothers. NOTES: Okay, so I'm still behind. Turns out that when you don't see your friends for three months they miss you and want to hang out with you. Who knew? It also turns out that 7+ hours in a car is not conductive to fic writing, so.

-----

Zander flings both his hands straight into the air (nearly sending popcorn flying everywhere) and Stevie rolls her eyes, reaching up to pull them down. “You don’t need to do that every time he says ‘hands,’ Zander,” she tells him, shooting a glare at her oldest brother, who’s just walked in the room.

“He absolutely does,” her brother disagrees. He flops down next to Stevie, throwing one arm around her shoulders and using the other to reach for the bowl. “Otherwise, how will I know Robbins isn’t besmirching your honor underneath that quilt?”

Zander chokes on a piece of popcorn. Stevie’s face wrinkles up at the insinuation. “First of all,” she begins, “his hands were on top of the quilt when you walked in. Second of all, no one’s besmirching anyone’s honor in here, okay? We’re trying to watch a movie.” She gestures to the TV.

“For now.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Stevie elbows him in the stomach, hard.

“Ben, will you please just get out of here?”

“Hands!”

Up go Zander’s hands again as another brother waltzes in. Stevie buries her face in her own hands and lets out something between a groan and a yell because God sometimes she hates her brothers.

“Don’t worry, I already checked,” Benedict says.

“Oh. Good.” Adrian squishes in between Zander and the arm of the couch and stuffs a handful of popcorn in his mouth. Zander looks somewhat uncomfortable.

“I swear to God, if you two don’t get out now-”

“Hands!”

The twins burst in at opposite ends of the living room. Stevie grabs Zander’s hands before he can put them up a third time.

“Oh, looks like you guys beat us to it,” one of the twins says, crossing the living room. “Is that A Christmas Story?” He grabs an oversized beanbag chair and pulls it in front of the couch, sinking into it and leaning back so that his head is on Stevie’s knee. With a jerk, she knees him hard in the back of the head. “Hey!” he whines.

“And is that popcorn?” The other twin snatches the bowl off of Zander’s lap and sits down hard next to his brother in the beanbag chair.

Stevie takes a deep breath. “Okay, look,” she says, using her deadly calm voice. Her brothers all exchange nervous glances. “I am going to give you rejects about five seconds to completely vacate the room or I swear I’m going to-”

“Hey,” Zander interrupts quietly, and she feels his fingers entwine with her own. “If they want to watch the movie with us, let’s let them.”

“Hands,” one of her brothers says – Stevie doesn’t catch which one.

“I am going to hold hands with my girlfriend, though.”

Stevie winces but her brothers just laugh. “I like this one, Steves,” Benedict says, mussing up her hair. She knocks his hand away.

“You’ve always liked Zander,” she reminds him.

“Yes, but now we officially approve of him. You know, as a boyfriend and all that,” Adrian says. The rest of them make noises of assent.

“Who says you have to approve of my boyfriends?” she grumbles. Secretly, though, she’s a little pleased, because if anyone ever mattered enough for her to want approval from her brothers, it would be Zander. He gives her hand a squeeze, and she can tell he’s glad, too.

The boys all stay until the end of the movie, and when they leave Benedict grabs the quilt that’s been covering Zander and Stevie and takes it with him with a “You won’t be needing this.” Stevie sighs.

“Next time, we’re watching a movie at your place.”

[purplelaterade]

Directions

TITLE: Directions FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, Grace/Nelson, Kacey, Molly, Kevin RATING: T WORD COUNT: 280 SUMMARY: Post-HTR Christmas. "I think I got just about everything I want for Christmas already.” NOTES: This is unrelated to the winter fics - I just had a lot of feelings. And I still do, but channeling them helps a bit.

-----

Stevie looks around. At Grace and Nelson sitting arm in arm, at Kacey and Molly and Kevin laughing together in a corner, at the decked-out Christmas tree. At her phone with texts from her mom congratulating her on her first arrest (even though they weren’t exactly arrested) and telling her they’re all waiting for her to get back so they can play Tackle Charades. At her best friend, who is currently smirking at her expectantly because sometimes he’s a cocky S.O.B. but whom she loves all the same. He’s the best friend that she always wanted and never had until he unwittingly sat next to her that first day in math class. “I think I got just about everything I want for Christmas already,” she tells him.

He looks slightly crestfallen. “Oh.”

Laughing at the look on his face, she adds, “But you know, Christmas brings out my nice.” Stretching up a little bit, she presses her lips to his cheek, for maybe a second longer than necessary. “Merry Christmas, Zander.” She regards him seriously for a moment. “Actually, I heard it was the person on your right….”

“Well, I think I just got what I wanted, but I guess it can’t hurt.” He kisses her cheek and pulls her into a hug. She buries his face in the crook of his neck, momentarily overcome with an urge to press a kiss to his collarbone that she decides not to act on for now. “Merry Christmas, Stevie.”

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 11 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander, Molly/Kevin, Grace/Nelson, Kacey PROMPT: “mistletoe" RATING: K+ WORD COUNT: 1060 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #11: He didn’t want to be coerced into their first kiss in front of a hundred people. That seemed like it might detract from the moment. NOTES: It's finally, finally done. I apologize for the wait - but it IS quite a bit longer than most of the other fics, so. ;) Hopefully I should be able to get back on track now that this one is out of the way. (Fingers crossed.)

-----

Stevie laughs. “You’re sure it was Kevin?”

“Positive. I’m pretty sure there’s no one else at this party who’s wearing socks with their sandals.”

“That would be Kevin, all right.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “So what are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you.” He slides in next to her; the little bench barely fits the two of them, even squished together. “What are you doing out here? Aren’t you cold?”

“After a month and a half of snow? Please, this is practically tropical.”

“Fair point,” he concedes.

“Anyway, I just figured I’d come out and get some fresh air. I love Kacey, but sometimes her parties are a little….”

“Much?” Zander supplies.

Stevie nods. “Yeah. And she’s put that stupid mistletoe up everywhere. I walked into five different people tonight because I was so busy looking up, making sure I wasn’t about to stand under any.”

“She did get a bit… generous with it.” It really was all over the place – hanging over door frames and chairs, randomly dangling from the ceiling….

“She even hung it over where we were playing, which is totally ridiculous. I mean, Nelson’s got Grace, and Kevin’s got… whatever it is he’s got going with Molly. I don’t know who she thought was going to be doing all this kissing onstage.”

Zander is pretty sure he knows. Kacey’d been side-eyeing both him and Stevie all night, and she’d tried to casually herd them under the mistletoe more than once. Clearly Stevie hadn’t noticed, but he had. Kacey wasn’t exactly subtle. Fortunately, she hadn’t been successful.

Not that he didn’t want to kiss Stevie. He’d actually been thinking about it to the point of distraction ever since that night in the lounge. But he didn’t want to be coerced into their first kiss in front of a hundred people. That seemed like it might detract from the moment. (Besides, Stevie seemed rather opposed to the idea of mistletoe in general, so she probably wouldn’t appreciate being kissed underneath it.)

“Yeah, well. You know Kacey,” he says lightly, hoping she won’t think too much about it.

She turns to look at him – not easy considering the way they’re both pressed together on the bench. “I’m surprised you’re not hanging around the mistletoe, actually. There’s a lot of girls in there who I bet are just dying to catch you underneath it.”

“It hurts that you have such a low opinion of me.” He’s not entirely joking when he says it.

Stevie leans into him. “Oh, you know I love you,” she says, and he knows how she means it but his stomach does a bit of a flip at the words anyway. “But come on. You ran a kissing booth once.”

“Once! And it was like two years ago, Stevie. God.” Frustrated, he runs a hand through his hair. If it were anyone else, he’d probably laugh it off, but Stevie apparently thinking he was some kind of indiscriminate Casanova who’d go after anything with a rack bothered him for a whole host of reasons. (The worst part was that it wasn’t exactly an unfair assessment.)

“I’m just saying that your track record would seem to suggest a house full of mistletoe and girls would be for you what a candy shop is to a little kid. That’s all.”

“I told you. I’m not interested in being with the wrong girls anymore.”

“And every single girl in that house is the wrong girl?”

“Yes.” It’s not a lie; the two of them are outside, so Stevie’s not in the house.

“So there’s a right girl, then?” she challenges.

“That would be the idea.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Are we really going to talk about this right now? Here on Kacey’s back porch with a party going on?”

“It’s as good a place as any.”

“It’s just someone who’s important to me, all right?” he blurts, and then instantly wishes he could take the words back. God, Zander, could you be any more obvious?

Stevie’s silent for a moment, and he’s sure she’s working it out, because how could she not? “Do I know her?” she asks finally.

Zander sighs and turns to face her, struck again by how little room there is on the bench; her face is inches from his. “Do I really have to spell it out, Stevie?”

She bristles. “Well, it’s not my fault if you’re in love with some girl you never even talk about,” she begins hotly; “I mean, you’d think you’d at least mention her once or twice to me – we are best friends, or I thought we were, but apparently you’ve got this secret girlfriend or something and you’ve never even-”

He kisses her. Her tirade ends rather abruptly.

When he pulls back, Stevie breaks the silence with one word.

“Oh.”

-----

Two stories up, Kacey Simon is doing a victory dance.

“See? See? I told you it would work. Didn’t I tell you it would work? I told you it would work.”

Nelson pokes his head out the window and peers down at his two friends on the bench below. Next to him, a fishing pole protrudes from the window, and dangling from the hook is a sprig of mistletoe. “I dunno, Kacey,” he says, once his head is back inside. “I don’t even think they saw the mistletoe at all."

Kacey slings one arm around him and another arm around Grace, nearly knocking the fishing pole from Grace’s hands in the process. “They didn’t need to see it, Nelson. It just needed to be there. That’s the magic of mistletoe.”

“Does mistletoe really work like that?” Grace asks, confused.

Nelson just shakes his head. “Of course it doesn’t. C’mon, let’s go back downstairs before Kevin eats all the good food.” Grace pulls the fishing rod back in the window and sets it on Kacey’s bed before the two leave, hand in hand.

Kacey leans out the window one more time, just in time to see Stevie lean forward and kiss Zander. She sighs happily.

“I am such a good friend.”

[purplelaterade]

So my house does this thing where it literally sucks what limited productivity I have from my body and leaves me with nothing I’M NOT KIDDING IT’S A REAL THING THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS shhhhh.

So I’m working on the next chapter of Blow Cold the Season but it’s going very slowly and I apologize. It doesn’t help that this chapter is kind of a big deal and so I’m agonizing over it more than I would with most chapters. Siiiiiiiigh. Plus, it’s longer too.

But it should hopefully, hopefully be finished tonight. Fingers crossed!

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 10 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander PROMPT: “snowed in" RATING: K WORD COUNT: 823 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #10: It's time to head home for the holidays, but the two get stuck at the airport. NOTES: Sorry this is somewhat late; it wound up quite a bit longer than the others and also I don't post anything without the approval of my beta, who is rather busy with finals at the moment (thank you for taking the time to read this, dear <3). Also, fair warning: it is entirely possible that tomorrow's fic will either be very very late or will not be posted until Thursday. There are a couple reasons for this. 1) I am a college student, and I have a final tomorrow afternoon and then immediately after said final I have to start a three+ hour trek back home to see my family. I haven't seen them in months, so I'm not even sure how much I'll be online tomorrow night, if at all. 2) Tomorrow's fic will also be long, possibly even longer than this as I'm wrapping this particular arc that I'm on. It's also for the prompt that everyone's been waiting for (I think you can guess), so I don't want to half-ass it. I'll make an attempt to do it tonight so I can post it before I leave tomorrow, but I also have to study tonight, so we'll see. On the chance that I DO have to postpone it until Thursday, I promise I'll try to make it worth the wait.

-----

The line through security is way longer than they anticipated. Somehow, it hadn’t really occurred to either of them that everyone else would be going home for Christmas, too. When they finally make it through to the end, Zander sets off the metal detector about ten times before they pull him off to the side to do a pat-down. (It turns out there was some weird metal embedded in his designer jeans and Stevie has to stop herself from throttling him.) With only a few minutes until their flight is supposed to start boarding, they rush to their gate…

…only to find that their flight’s been delayed due to the snow.

Stevie groans and sinks into the nearest chair, dropping her carry-on unceremoniously on the ground. Zander sits down next to her, and she immediately turns and buries her face in his shoulder. She feels him tense, for just a moment, but before she can think much about it he relaxes and wraps his arms around her.

“It’s just a delay, Stevie,” he says.

“I know,” she mumbles against his collarbone, “but I want to go home.”

He shifts a little and grabs her arms, pushing her back gently so that she’s sitting up. “Look, why don’t you call your parents and let them know we’ll be a bit late, and I’ll go get us some coffee?”

“You know what I want?” she asks as she digs her cell phone out of her pocket.

Zander pulls a look of mock offense. “Of course I do. I can’t believe you would doubt me.” Despite herself, she laughs, and he winks. “Be right back,” he tells her as he heads off (she hopes he’s going the right direction).

Her mom pitches a fit, of course; not at her, but at the airline, the weather, New York City – everything she can think of. Stevie can hear her father in the background, trying to calm her, but it’s futile and eventually he just takes the phone. “Just give us another call before you board, okay, Steves?” he says.

Zander comes back with coffee right as she’s hanging up. “The board says the flight’s only delayed an hour,” he tells her, jerking his head toward a big electronic display.

“Good.” She takes the cup he hands her and sips, letting the familiar taste and warmth work its way through her body and unwind her a little.

“Not like you to get worked up like that.” He sits back down next to her, nudging her gently.

Sighing, she runs her free hand through her hair. “I’m just ready to be home for a while. It’s been a long week.” They shudder in unison at the thought of their chemistry final. “And I miss everyone. I’m ready to see them all again. Even Molly.” She laughs as she says it. Their enmity had faded into frienmity and then into something almost resembling a friendship by the time they graduated. Stevie hadn’t quite kept in contact with her after graduation the way she had with everyone else (even Grace had called her up a couple times; phone calls with Grace were an… interesting experience), but she knew Kacey was planning a party once they were all back in California, and she knew Molly would show up even though she’d loudly be telling anyone who would listen that she was only there to make the party less lame.

“Let’s not get crazy,” Zander jokes.

“Hey, you have to admit she grew up a lot. Besides,” she says, raising an eyebrow at him. “you dated her.”

“For like a week, okay? You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Stevie laughs. “Nope.” She starts to lean into him, but then a thought hits her and she sits up again. “You know, I don’t think you dated a girl all quarter.” Zander lets out a strangled sound and splutters something incoherent while she thinks back. Nope, not a single girlfriend; he’d barely even noticed that girl from their chem class that had been practically throwing herself at him. Zander Robbins, going a whole three months without dating a girl. That probably hadn’t happened since he hit puberty. “What happened to ‘man, there’s going to be so many cute girls in New York?’”

“Maybe I decided it wasn’t as important as I thought,” he says, and she’s sure he’s avoiding looking at her. “Dating the wrong girls, over and over. Didn’t seem worth it, I guess.”

“But how do you know they’re the wrong girls if you haven’t dated them?” she presses.

He does look at her then, and after a few seconds she’s the one who has to avoid his gaze because she’s pretty sure she’s seen that look a hundred times but it’s never been directed at her before. “I just know,” he tells her. 

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 9 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander PROMPT: “fireplaces" RATING: K WORD COUNT: 351 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #9: Zander and Stevie have a late-night study session before finals.

-----

It’s late the night before their chem final; so late it’s early. They’re both sitting on the floor with books and papers spread out around them, using the coffee table in front of the fireplace as a workspace. Zander finishes working out a review problem and looks up to compare answers with Stevie only to find that she’s fallen asleep, head resting on her arms.

“Stevie,” he whispers, poking her in the shoulder with the eraser end of his pencil. Nothing. “Stevie,” he says again, crawling around the table to shake her shoulder. “Steves, wake up.”

Stevie mumbles something unintelligible into her arms.

He shakes her again, just a little. “C’mon, Stevie, we should probably get you back to your room.”

“Ten minutes,” she says, voice thick with sleep. “Then… study more.”

Zander sighs. “No, come on. It’s late and I think we’ve probably done all the studying we can.”

“Ten minutes,” she insists, sliding herself off of the table. Before he can protest, she’s lying down facing the fireplace, her head in his lap.

“Stevie-” he starts, but she’s already out again. Sighing, he reaches carefully for his jacket, trying to move as little as possible so he doesn’t disturb her, and covers her with it. Ten minutes, he allows, and then he’ll get her back to her room so she can get some actual sleep.

It takes less than ten minutes, though, of listening to Stevie’s deep, even breathing and watching the light from the fire flicker on her face for him to realize that he’s probably in love with his best friend and things are really, really going to suck from now on.

[purplelaterade]

Your fics are too cute! And the mention of Seddie in the last one, awww <3 (:

Thanks! And yeah, I'd been planning to throw Seddie into these ever since I started planning this out earlier in the month. Decided I wasn't going to let that complete debacle of a finale change my plans, so. xD There'll be a little Seddie in future ones, as well.

[purplelaterade]

I certainly hope there is more of part 8 or IMMA SMACK SOMEONE! i just found your fics (recently started watching how to rock but from the moment i saw stevie and zaner i wanted zevie!!!) so these are AMAZING!!! but i need more. Please. Thanks. :D Bye

Well, most of these are stand-alone, but they're all building on each other - this is a chronological thing. Part 8 is its own little story, but it ~means~ something in the grand scheme of things, so. ;D Glad you like them!

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 8 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander PROMPT: “snow angels" RATING: K WORD COUNT: 219 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #8: Stevie makes a snow angel. NOTES: There's a little bit of Seddie in this one too kinda FAIR WARNING.

-----

She’s never made one before, though. A snow angel, that is. She made a cheese angel that one time in the macaroni pool, but that was goopy and messy and gross and really not at all how she envisions making a snow angel to be. So on the way to class one day, she stops suddenly and flops down in the middle of the walkway.

“What are you doing?” Zander asks her, baffled.

“Making a snow angel,” she replies as she lies back in the snow. Some of the snow finds its way into her sleeves and collar as she waves her arms and legs back and forth, but it’s not enough to deter her. Zander helps her back to her feet when she finishes, but before he does, she sees him snap a picture of her with his phone.

She catches him looking at it later that day.

[purplelaterade]

Im waiting for the christmas fic so Stevie and Zander have a special mistletoe kiss.

Well, patience is a virtue, and all. ;D

[purplelaterade]

Blow Cold the Season

TITLE: Blow Cold the Season CHAPTER: 7 FANDOM: How To Rock CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Stevie/Zander PROMPT: “sledding" RATING: K WORD COUNT: 483 SUMMARY: A series of winter-themed shortfics, following Stevie and Zander as they are away at college. #7: Stevie and Zander go sledding. NOTES: Sorry this is later than usual; I didn't have this one pre-written and I had stuff to do today, so. Also this one is a continuation of sorts from the previous one.

-----

“Is that a sled?” she calls from the door.

“Yep,” he calls back. “Borrowed it from a friend. I thought we could go, if you wanted.”

“Be right back,” she says, and when she reappears she’s bundled back into the marshmallow jacket from earlier.

“Ready?” he asks, and she jogs over and loops her arm through his free one (the jacket makes it a little difficult, but as he’s apparently back on her good side for now he wisely decides to not say a word).

“Lead the way.”

-----

There’s a hill on the outskirts of campus that some friends told him about, so it’s there they go. They’re not the only ones – a few other students are there, too. A girl from their chem class sees them and waves. Zander starts to wave back, but Stevie tugs him rather quickly in the opposite direction.

A lot of the snow has been worn down by previous sledders, but they manage to find to find a mostly-untouched spot a bit away from the others. It’s not quite as steep, but they’re also less likely to get a face full of frozen mud if they overturn (considering that it’s a plastic kiddie sled, he figures there’s a high enough chance of the sled tipping that they probably don’t want to risk it).

Zander drops the sled at the edge of the hill, and Stevie gives it a quizzical look. “So are we taking turns, or…?”

Right. California girl – probably not overly familiar with sleds. “Well it’s a two-person sled, so without two people it flips over really easily.”

“So we… ride together.”

“Yeah.”

There’s a slight moment of hesitation before, “Okay.” She starts to climb in.

“Wait, Stevie, don’t-!”

His warning comes too late – Stevie sits down in the front, and the sudden weight tips the sled over the edge and sends it shooting down the hill. She shouts in surprise and the sled wobbles for a ways before overturning about halfway down the hill. Zander half-runs, half-slides down to her.

“I’m not sure you and winter activities mix,” he tells her as he helps her up.

“Just get the sled so we can try this again.”

Their second attempt goes much better; Zander climbs in first so that his weight balances out the sled. They both push off and then they’re whizzing down the hill. Stevie shrieks and Zander wraps his arms around her instinctively to keep them both steady and doesn’t let go until the sled coasts to a stop at the bottom.

Stevie twists around to look at him. She’s breathless and grinning, with tiny tears in the corners of her eyes; from the wind or her laughter, Zander’s not sure. “Again?”

“Again,” he agrees.