secondratefiction

[secondratefiction]

Nothing Ever Goes to Plan

A Stargate: Atlantis blurb I wrote for @bebbie-the-hufflepuff in the mist of the sickness and sleep deprivation

Prompt: "How many fingers am I holding up"/"I don't have six fingers."

----

There was utter chaos outside, the sounds of people screaming and running for their lives as Wraith Darts continued to ravage the village. John groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, looking around the small cave they’d been knocked into

There had been an explosion near the gate that sent the team flying in all different directions. He had no idea where Teyla and Ford were, but he could just make out McKay laying across from him in the stone alcove they’d rebounded into.

“McKay,” He groaned, hauling himself up to check on the scientist, “McKay, you alright?”

When the other man still failed to respond, panic began to set in. Rodney McKay never missed a chance to complain or show off his flair for the dramatic…

John was on him in a second, turning the other man on his back so he could get a look at him. Rodney groaned at being shifted and John let out a small sigh of relief, he was alive at least.

But his face was covered in blood, and John started to panic again - at least until he noticed the gash on McKay’s forehead. Not ideal, but not as bad as it could have been…

John dug through his pack for the first aid kit, pulling out a wad of gauze to press it to the cut on McKay’s head, “C’mon McKay… talk to me… Rodney! Say something!”

“Stop shouting…” He finally groaned, one eye opening slightly to glare at him, “My head’s killing me.”

“Yeah, well, you took a pretty good hit to the head, so that’s understandable…” John said, holding up his other hand, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Rodney took longer than John would have liked for him to answer, “I… uh…. Six….”

“I don’t have six fingers, McKay.” John said, cursing under his breath as he applied more pressure to the wound on his head.

“You asked, I answered!” The other man snapped back at him, “Clearly I have a concussion or some other kind of TBI - everything is spinning and…”

He cut himself off, hand pressed to his mouth with a groan. John groaned as well, shaking his head, “Don’t you dare throw up on me…”

Whatever snappy comeback Rodney was about to make was cut off as he dove to the side, retching as he tried to hold himself up and John kept the bandages pressed to his head.

“Just perfect…” John muttered before the com devices crackled and Ford reported that he and Teyla were ok.

“Good.” John said back tensely, “Get the gate open and let Atlantis know we need Beckett on standby. Teyla, I need your help getting McKay back to the gate.”

[secondratefiction]

It's official! Ya girl did it!

(Red hood is for earning an associates degree, silver tassle is for being an honors grad)

[secondratefiction]

Requests are Open

(Hyper fixation edition)

Inbox is empty, so I'm looking for any kind of prompt or request

The fandoms I'm really wanting to write for are Star Wars, The Outsiders and The Hunger Game, but there is a full list of everything I write for in my pinned post.

I specialize in headcanons and short/blurb type pieces, so if you have anything you'd like to see, I'd love to hear from you

[secondratefiction]

Could you do a Wyatt Callow as your brother hcs

You’ve had this boy wrapped around your finger from day one

There’s about a 6 year age difference between the two of you, but he still makes sure to take you everywhere with him.

Everyone in 12 knows you as Wyatt’s shadow.

Tries to teach you how his job with the family works, but it doesn’t come nearly as easily to you as it does to him.

You whine and complain about it, he huffs and tells you to focus. But in the end, he lets you sit there and doodle on the paper he gives you and works out his calculations on his own.

He never gets a big take, but religiously buys you treats with whatever money he does make.

Y’all do a lot of those ‘chewy’ marshmallows from the Donner candy shop

He was aging out of the reaping the same year you became eligible… he didn’t sleep the night before worried sick about your name coming out of that bowl.

[secondratefiction]

hiii can u please do johnny cade x reader prom story ?? like basically reader is getting all dolled up and johnny comes to pick her up and sees her and stuff and the go to the actual hall where it's set ??

Johnny was dreading this.

Not spending the evening with you, of course, but the idea of going to prom at all.

Honestly, if he didn’t know the guys would never let him hear the end of it, he might have backed out entierly.

He almost did that night…

Originally, it was supposed to be Darry driving the two of you, along with Pony and his date to the dance… but things had gone awry and now it was Two-Bit charged with getting you all there.

He seriously thought about jumping out of the car and just walking the whole thing on the way to your house. But he didn’t.

Two-Bit and Pony stayed in the car when he came up to meet you, and when your father answered the door he suddenly felt very inadequate in the borrowed clothes he’s managed to pull together for the night

One of Steve’s cleaner white shirts, and a pair black jeans that might have been Darry’s at one point, but they’d come from Pony’s laundry. And Dallas had leant him his leather jacket as well.

He was already swimming it, but he shrank into it even more under the older man’s harsh gaze until your mother chased him aside ushering Johnny in as she called you down stairs.

Instantly Johnny was struck dumb. He stood there in the entryway, mouth handing open like a fool for several moments before he finally got ahold of himself.

“Golly… if you ain’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen…”

Thankfully Two-Bit wasn’t too rough on you two on the way to pick up Pony’s girl - some nice middle class girl he sat next to in science, according to Pony she looked ‘real good in yellow’ - or the way to the venue… though he couldn’t resist entirely.

“Don’t y’all behave now, don’t do anything I would do!” He yelled loudly as he pulled away.

Johnny sighed, but you only chuckled and squeezed his hand where you wrapped your arms around his, and suddenly, nothing else mattered to him. 

The night went fairly well. You were enjoying yourself and really, that was all he cared about.

He walked you home at the end of the night. He actually ended up carrying you the last half of the way when you said your feet were hurting from your shoes.

Which just made you giggle as he adjusted you on his back, and he swears he’s never heard a better sound in his life.

You gave him a quick kiss goodnight before ducking inside before your parents came to the door.

He walked back to the Curtis house with the dopiest smile on his face for the rest of the night.

[secondratefiction]

could u do johnny cade dating hc??

This sweet baby… honestly the amount of pining that went on before he finally worked up the confidence to ask you out…

(and by ‘finally working up the confidence’ I mean: Dallas had to literally bully him into it. Because as much as he loves this kid, he CANNOT listen to him carry on about how pretty he thinks you are, but never being able to say anything to you.)

He panicked his whole way through the first couple of dates because he honestly never thought he would get this far.

But once it finally registers that you two are an official thing… he is on cloud freaking 9.

He makes the effort to walk you to and from school everyday.

No matter where you two are walking, he always puts you to the inside of him.

He’s constantly carrying your books from class to class for you

He is constantly holding your hand, or finding some way to touch you

It’s grounding. He’s way less anxious when he’s around you.

Everyone notices the shift in him. He’s still jumpy, but it’s like he’s less tightly wound all the time. And he’s more confident.

He’s also a giant flirt, but only with you. He was constantly tripping over his words talking to girls with the guys before, but that’s all but gone now.

He’s never going to be on the same level as Ponyboy, but he can be hella smooth and romantic when he wants to be.

He’s got you blushing like no tomorrow, and literally all he’s done is whisper some sweet words in your ear.

[secondratefiction]

Requests are Open

(Hyper fixation edition)

Inbox is empty, so I'm looking for any kind of prompt or request

The fandoms I'm really wanting to write for are Star Wars, The Outsiders and The Hunger Game, but there is a full list of everything I write for in my pinned post.

I specialize in headcanons and short/blurb type pieces, so if you have anything you'd like to see, I'd love to hear from you

[secondratefiction]

Could you do the batfam finding out about Jason’s all castle training? Like they either need to find a user of the all blades for a case or someone try’s to attack Jason bc of the all blades!

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna be completly honest with you... I have no idea what that is. I'm so sorry hon 🩷🩷🩷

[secondratefiction]

hi saw your requests were open. Can I get something when Boromir or Faramir?

I'd love you for anything - but maybe servant!reader? (np if not)

I do a lot of Boromir, so I figure I'd try my hand at Faramir. Please be gently as I fumble my way through this...

The two of your paths really should never have crossed.

You were a new maid, getting stuck with the more tedious and unpleasant tasks. Like scrubbing the spiral stair cases...

You'd been at it for the third day in a row - seriously, why were there so many towers? - when someone came flying up the stairs, tripping over you and sending you face first into the bucket of cold soapy water.

You choked and sputtered, the person who tripped over you apologizing profusely as they tried to help you sit up.

It was one of the sons of the Steward... great... because the day just couldn't get any better...

Lucky for you, Faramir was such a sweetheart at his core - you'd heard some horror stories about his father and people who had fallen victim to his ire.

After that, he started popping up more and more, following you around while you carried out your duties, and even weaseling his way into helping you with some of them when he could get away with it.

When ever you would ask him why he wasted so much of his time on a maid, he always shrugged and muttered something about 'friends'.

But, there were times you'd catch him just staring at you with something... more, behind his eyes."

[secondratefiction]

Hi ! Could I get cute HC for Viktor Krum and a short reader please? Thank you!

Viktor Krum my beloved! Also, my apologies for the wait - work and finals decided to double team my ass and it has been a whirl wind.

Unlike my usual instinct to say 'this man is a menace' when there is a notable high difference... Viktor is just the absolute sweetest man possible you.

"No, love. Are not short, are perfect"

It is cannon this man gracefulness stops short as soon as he gets off his broom, so he's got close to a whole foot on you, and he's still the one holding onto you for balance.

Tall, gangly, baby deer with no coordination. Please don't let him go to any kind of event on his own. He's still never recovered from the time he tripped in front for 12 countries worth of cameras walking in to the stadium with the team before a big match

Speaking of public events... Man is a text book introvert who unfortunately decided on an extroverted profession.

He has and will continue to hide behind you wen his social battery is tapped out. Does not matter he's a whole head and shoulders taller than you, the man has and will continue to hunch over you to hide his face in your hair while standing in the corner of a crowded room

That is usually your cue to find an excuse to take him home.

[secondratefiction]

Requests are Open!

Been off for a bit, and feel like trying to write again. So all the fandoms and characters I write for will be listed below the cut. If the character is marked [*], then they're one of my favorites to write for.

I specialize in headcanons and short/blurb type pieces

Batman/Batfam:

Dick Grayson, Jason Todd*, Tim Drake*, Damian Wayne, Duke Thomas

Harry Potter:

Harry Potter*, Ron Weasley*, Fred Weasley*, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Viktor Krum*

Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit:

Boromir*, Faramir, Legolas, Aragorn, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Thorin Oakenshield, Fili*, Kili*

Star Wars:

Din Djarin*, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett, Boba Fett

TMNT:

Raph*, Mikey, Leo, Donnie*, Casey

The Lost Boys*:

David, Dwayne, Paul, Marko, Michael Emerson

The Covenant:

Caleb Danvers, Pouge Perry, Tyler Simms, Reid Garwin*

The Outsiders:

Sodapop Curtis*, Two-Bit Matthews*, Dally Winston, Tim Shepherd*

That 70s Show:

Steven Hyde

Stranger Things:

Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dad!Jim Hopper, Billy Hargrove

The Hunger Games:

Peeta Mellark, Finnick Odair,

[secondratefiction]

Food for thought...

Falling back into the Hunger Games b/c of the new book, and I've been listening to other fan theories and such... so I had a thought I had to share...

The third quarter quell had nothing to do with Katniss and was Snow trying to clean house of 'problem' victors. The fact Katniss was going to have to go in again was just a happy little bonus for him.

The games don't come together over night. These have to be planned out a few years in advance to give time for the arenas to be built and such (I think Plutarch Heavensbee even says something to that effect to Katniss in Catching Fire) and a Quell game would need even more prep.

So the whole reaping from previous victors was a way for Snow to get rid of problem victors like Haymitch, Johanna, Beetee, and Finnick and any others he considered to be trouble makers or threats.

Not a single person reaped that day was chosen by chance. They were all hand picked to either get rid of undesirable victors, or be cleaned up neatly with out Snow having to explain or cover up so many victor deaths.

[secondratefiction]

An incomplete list of my owe headcanons/hills I will die on after finish FantasticLand for the second time in a week:

*** Spoilers under the cut***

The pirate that comforted the little boy in the evacuation was not Brock Hockney like people like to speculate, but his brother Bryce.

Brock was not the sociopathic monster they painted him to be at his trial. He was a scared college kid grieving the traumatic loss of his baby brother who suddenly found himself in charge of a bunch of other scared teens and college kids. He suffered a psychotic break, but they needed a 'face of evil' to crucify, and the sword fell on him

Brock didn't even want to be on the Rapture team, but Bryce saw it as an opportunity to make some extra quick cash, so Brock tagged along to look after his brother.

Brock was the one to find Bryce's body. They got separated in the chaos, and Brock couldn't find him in the dark with all the people panicking.

Brock was carrying Bryce's inhaler so he didn't lose it.

Sam Garliek absolutely killed that girl in the storm shelter.

[secondratefiction]

Random life updates that I'm sure nobody cares about, but I'm gonna share anyway...

Your girl finished school! And I'm working now too! I finished school last month, I've taken and passed one of my national board exams (2nd half is scheduled), and I've been at the funeral home for about 4 months now. Also! I'm working with my best friend from school so we're having a ball...

But the home is about an hour away from where I live... so when I work more than one day in a row... I end up staying in the apartment behind the home... Which is where I am now...

But it's okay- I made a new friend:

His name is Terry 🥰

[secondratefiction]

If you missed some of the amazing stories written for this event, here is a list of them, all organized by character and in alphabetical order by title. You can also access a collection of those who posted their work on AO3 HERE! It’s still open in case anyone ends up posting there in the future.

Make sure to show some love to all the authors below :)

NSFW fics are strictly 18+ and are marked as such.

Love & War by @high-ct5555

Mistletoe Kiss by @urfriendlyneighbornightfury

Worthy by @rinwritesfics

A Wonderful Life Day by @apocalyp-tech-a

Handy Can by @diviluscorner

Here's To Many More by @masterjedilenawrites

Lighting The Way To Your Heart by @lonewolflupe

My Heart is Yours, and so are my Brothers by @ireadwithmyears

Rest Your Head by @orbitalmirror

Attempt Seventeen by @kyzyner

Can This Be A Real Thing, Can It? by @intricatechaosofyou

I'd Wait Forever by @writersnook11

The Gift by @alegendoftomorrow

Grease Lightning by @happy-beeeps

Office Gift Exchange by @captainpains

Happy Accidents by @secondratefiction

if the fates allow by @starboytech

Life Day Wishes by @ghostofskywalker

Dashing In The Snow by @eclec-tech

Mischief and Mistletoe by @jetii

You Trust Me With Sprinkles? by @lyaswriting

Check Ups and Pick Ups by @melliejellybellybean

Defenses (NSFW) by @221bshrlocked

Evolving Opinions by @ghostofskywalker

Holly Fall-y Christmas by @bad-batch-pretty-boy

Kiss Me Babe, It's Christmastime by @jedipoodoo

Snowed In by @captainsophiestark

The Snow Globe by @loving-the-cambridges

Tech The Halls by @winniethewife

A Bad Case of Loving You by @arliganzey

Beneath The Snow Lies My Heart by @ladysongmaster

Familiar Hues by @orbitalmirror

[secondratefiction]

Ma'am I was at work when I got this notification! I read it while I was covering my boss's lunch break and had to try to explain why I was smiling like an idiot when he came back...

This was beautiful! You did such an amazing job, and it was more than well worth the wait! Please excuse me, I'm going to go cry about this now because I have no other way to process how much I loved this. Thank you so much 💜🩷❤️

Familiar Hues

For the @cloneficgiftexchange Life Day Exchange 2024

AO3 Link

Summary: The Marauder returns to Pabu on a clear, sunny day, four months after Wrecker, Tech, and Phee set out on a journey that was supposed to take a week—four months of you regretting that you hadn't confessed your feelings to Wrecker when you had the chance. Better late than never, right?

Prompt: "I missed you sunshine", "Can you just…stay? Please…"

Characters: Wrecker / F!Reader (no use of Y/N)

Word count: 4,659

Rating: PG/G (brief mention of alcohol)

A/N: A gift for the lovely @secondratefiction. I cannot thank you enough for your patience and kindness this week. Writing this fic brought me so much joy!

Dividers by @saradika-graphics!

The mid-afternoon sun shone merrily through the windows, casting sharp contrast onto the faces of your students. A lazy silence had fallen over the room, its edges buffed by the crinkle of flimsiplast as they turned their pages, the shuffle of a child turning to lie on her back, the soft shhhhing of a metal water bottle being opened.

A breathy hum—a tune you didn't know.

You rose from your own spot at your desk and began walking to the far end of the room. Frell noticed you before you'd gotten even halfway there; his humming cut off the second he looked up from his book. He smiled sheepishly, and you gave him a small nod of approval. Next to him, Rioran tapped her leg restlessly. Now that you had risen, you had a good angle to look at her face, and her eyes were not fixed on her book, nor anywhere near it. You followed her gaze out the window, to the sea.

Wow, you thought.

It really was a shame that you had to teach the kids on a day like today. You'd much rather have let them loose to go play in the surf—though you were pretty sure that you would have found Frell reading on the beach, anyway. Rioran seemed to draw you into her reverie, and you let your eyes wander over the scene outside. Something caught your attention, far above the horizon. A dark speck, growing larger. Could it be…?

No, you hadn't heard from them in weeks. They were probably caught up in some hare-brained scheme or fantastical adventure.

But Rioran seemed to have noticed the same.

"Wid!" she whisper-shouted. "Look!"

You turned to see the Rodian girl perking up. Wid's antennae twitched, and though her pure black eyes made it difficult to tell where she was looking, you got the sense that she was scanning the scene. A moment passed before she jumped out of her seat with a whoop of delight:

"It's the Marauder!"

It was a good thing that quiet reading time was nearly over, because the room erupted into chaos, and you could feel your own adrenaline jump at hearing the name.

"Be polite!" you chided, as the children shoved each other to see through the window.

You could see it more clearly, now. The ship seemed to be diving sharply towards the sea. Tech was probably the one flying. You smiled a little as your mind's eye conjured up the image of Wrecker holding on for dear life as Tech threw them into his chaotic maneuvers. You'd only been on the ship twice, but that was enough for a lifetime. The Marauder spun through the sky; it flipped; it turned; it skimmed the waves and threw a spray of seawater into the air.

Show-off, you thought, with nothing but fondness.

The roar of the ship grew louder as it approached, and for a moment as it passed overhead, it was the only thing that you could hear. Then it faded, and the children began to chatter among themselves.

Rioran turned to you with that mule-stubborn look on her face that only ever spelled trouble. "You should let us go early."

You tried and failed not to laugh. "That is so not allowed."

"Please! We're not going to be able to focus for another"—she checked the clock—"hour and a half! It would be better to let us go now and see what they brought back, and then we can all go and read at home."

You sighed. "I hear what you're saying, but none of you would actually go home and read, and we—"

"Frell would!"

"—still have math after this!" You paused. "Okay, Frell would, but you would not."

Rioran pouted.

You pouted back at her. "And I'd get fired."

"…touché."

You laughed at that. Still, Rioran had a point, clever girl that she was—the children weren't going to focus for another hour and a half, not on reading nor on math. They got twitchy at the end of a normal day, and worse still when the weather was beautiful or the harvest in full swing; the return of Tech, Wrecker, and Phee was magnitudes more exciting than those.

"How about this: I'll let you choose what you want to work on until the end of the day, and then anyone who wants to go up to the plaza can walk with me. Deal?"

Rioran turned to her peers, and they whispered among themselves for a moment before she turned back to you.

"Deal. May we work on our rockets?"

You grinned. "Put your books away. I'll go get the tarp for the floor."

Rioran had chosen well, you thought, as the students chatted happily amongst themselves, tinkering with their little model rockets. The project had been Omega's idea, last year. All of the tenth grade students had to do at least one afternoon of community service per week, and she had chosen to volunteer as your teacher's aide. Omega was finished with her hours, but her influence remained, and this year's children loved their rockets just as much as last year's had.

What you hadn't considered was that the students were quite independent at this stage of their project, demanding little help from you, and so your mind was largely left free to wander. Nearly four months had passed since Tech, Wrecker, and Phee set out on their ill-fated adventure, and as selfish as the thought was, you didn't think the timing could have been any worse. Before their departure, Wrecker had settled into a routine of walking you to the school every weekday morning, and in turn, you had been helping him learn all of the ordinary skills that had been neglected in clone military school: cooking, mostly, but also the small repairs for which he didn't want to rely on Tech, woodworking, and net-weaving.

You didn't think yourself insecure in matters of romance, nor particularly timid, but you were pragmatic—Shep would call you cautious, and you weren't sure whether you could argue with that. There was all the time in the world, you had thought, to get to know Wrecker. You hadn't feel the need to push things along and tell him how you felt about him.

Then he was gone, and it only took a few days of his absence before you had regretted your caution very much. Would those gentle flirtations still be there upon his return? Had your affections been clear enough?

Not worth worrying about, you told yourself, and tried to focus on your lesson planning. You ended up writing down 120 as the product of 7 and 30, and resisted the urge to hit your head against your desk.

Finally, the end of the school-day was nearing, and the students rushed through their tidying faster than you had seen since the afternoon of the school-wide surfing competition. Phee's return to the island had always been cause for celebration in the past, as she nearly always brought home with her at least six crates full of goods that couldn't be found on Pabu. Since the clones became part of the community, the arrival of the Marauder had become something of an impromptu holiday, no matter when it occurred.

"Who's planning on going up to the plaza as a group?" you asked.

The majority of your students raised their hands. At the age of ten and eleven, they were largely left to their own devices after school, which made these sorts of miniature field trips quite easy. The island was as safe as any place in the galaxy, and it allowed the children a level of freedom that you'd never had growing up.

They clamored for their bags and spilled out of the classroom, so eager to go that Frell had to remind them to wait for you. You were just rounding the corner to the main entryway when you heard a child's voice shout:

"Wrecker!"

Wrecker?

You were standing in a sea of little beings, so it took you a moment to get through the door. Sure enough, there was Wrecker, tossing a tiny child into the air—Frell's youngest sister, if you weren't mistaken. Their family lived across the street from the Batch. By Wrecker's side was Omega, ruffling Rioran's hair and chatting animatedly.

Cheers and questions and exclamations of delight echoed around you, and you hung back, allowing the children to have their fun. Everyone on the island knew Wrecker, it seemed. Much of that could probably be attributed to the fact that he was simply unmissable, with his enormous stature, booming voice, and unusual knack for arriving just when something heavy needed to be lifted. But, you thought, there was also something about his character that drew people in like moths to a flame. People loved Wrecker. How could they not?

Omega was the one who spotted you first, shouting your name and beckoning you over. Wrecker's gaze found you almost immediately. His wide grin softened a little as his eyes met yours.

"C'mere!" he called.

The throng of students was thinning as the younger ones made their way to their relatives and the older ones set out either for the beach or for the plaza, but there were still a fair number crowding around Wrecker and Omega, demanding stories. You threaded through them, and as you approached the fence, you noticed a pile of boxes stacked next to Wrecker.

"Welcome back," you said. "What are these for?"

Wrecker's hands were occupied with balancing Frell's sister sitting on his shoulders—the kids always treated him like a jungle gym—but he greeted you by nudging you with his elbow.

"Hey, sunshine," he said. "Your delivery, remember?"

No, actually, you didn't remember at all.

"You said that it's hard to find colored pencils on Pabu, so we picked some up," he explained.

"I…" you trailed off, wondering when you had even told him that there was a shortage, and what you could possibly do with that many. There looked to be thousands of them.

"It's not all pencils," said Omega. "We also brought other things. Like calculators! Ours are all ancient."

"You, uh, you still need them, right?" asked Wrecker.

He was looking down at you with a bit of anxiety in his eyes. You smiled at him.

"Yes, we do. Wrecker, I don't even know how to thank you. This is incredible. The kids are going to be so happy."

The worry faded from his face, and the girl perched on his shoulders chose that moment to start playing his head like a drum. She let out a squeal as Wrecker lifted her off his shoulders and gave her a little spin before setting her down. It was the sort of thing that children were usually too heavy for before they outgrew it at heart, but forty pounds was like a paperweight to Wrecker.

"Can I take the things inside?"

"Oh, sure! Here, I'll take some."

As you reached for one of the boxes, Wrecker playfully swatted your hand away.

"Nah. I've got them," he said, and picked up all but one of them, which Omega scooped up immediately.

"Show-off," you teased.

"You know me."

The remaining children seemed eager to find out what was inside the boxes, but you knew that if you let them loose with a cornucopia of art supplies in the middle of the afternoon, they'd never want to go home.

"Alright, kids," you said. "Run along. I bet Tech has treats for you up at the plaza. And make sure your parents know where you're going!"

The children scattered, brainstorming possibilities for what Tech might have in store for them from this run.

"Tech does have treats for them, right?" you asked, suddenly nervous.

"Yep!" said Omega. "Some sort of crispy tuber. I thought they were a little odd."

"You've had two bags already," said Wrecker.

"And Phee said that you ate nine."

You couldn't help the smile that threatened to make your face cramp as you took Wrecker and Omega into the school, listening to them bicker good-naturedly. Most of the teachers were still packing up to leave, and Omega took it upon herself to go into every classroom, asking what each one needed. Wrecker would set the boxes down, and you'd help him pull out the requested supplies.

Jino, the upper-level math teacher, had done a funny little dance when you brought him the brand-new set of calculators. On your way out, he whispered your name, beckoning you closer to his desk as Wrecker and Omega left the room.

He tapped the set of colored pencils that he had swiped for drawing graphs. "Did you ask him for all of this?"

"No. Apparently I mentioned the colored pencils to him at some point, but I'm sure that it was mostly Omega's doing."

Jino gave you that look of his that he perfected on teenagers who tried to convince him that a tooka ate their homework.

"Okay, I get it!" you said. "I'll bring him a bottle of wine or something."

"Maybe give him a kiss for good measure. You know, as a thank-you."

"Stop it."

Jino's giggles followed you out the door.

After you had made all your offers to the teacher who hadn't yet left, and dropped most of the rest of the supplies off in the front office, you returned to your own classroom. Unfortunately, your cabinets and shelves were stuffed to the gills with rockets and their parts, not to mention everything else that a fifth grade classroom needed. You couldn't find space for half of your new supplies. As you were opening your desk drawers, wondering if you could rearrange everything to fit, you glanced up to see Wrecker putting a box on the very top shelf.

"Not up there," you said. "I won't be able to reach it."

"These are the extras. You won't need these for a while, right?"

"Well, no, but I hate having to find a stepladder."

Wrecker grinned. "Well, since I already walk you here, you can just ask me to get them down for you. I don't mind."

Your heart skipped a beat.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Omega chatted your ear off as the three of you walked towards your house, listing the many goods that Phee, Tech, and Wrecker had brought back from their travels. At this rate, the island wouldn't need the Interstellar Postal Service to make deliveries at all. Wrecker had unloaded everything from the Marauder before they had come down to the school, and it was now Shep's job to distribute it, so Wrecker had no more work to do. He and Omega were going to grab their rods and go fishing.

"Do you want to come with us?" Omega asked you.

"Maybe another day," you said. "I'll let you two have your bonding time."

"You'll come to dinner though, right?"

You glanced at Wrecker for confirmation that Omega's offer had his approval, and he nodded. "We're having a big dinner with everyone."

"That would be lovely," you said. "What time?"

Omega shrugged. "Dinnertime."

"I'll be there at six."

"Hey, 'Mega," said Wrecker. "Go ahead and grab our tackle. I'll be there in a minute."

Omega gave you a high-five and turned up a side street. Wrecker walked with you to your house, and made no motion to leave, so you unlocked the gate and held it open for him, too. You both made your way to stand in the shade of your tree.

"I…" Wrecker shifted a little. "Ah, nevermind,"

"What?" you said.

"I didn't give you a hug, earlier."

You smiled and held your arms out. Wrecker's hugs were something of a point of fame for him. They were the crushing, joyous sort, where children could fling themselves at him and know for certain that he'd catch them, where even grown men might find themselves being lifted off the ground. This wasn't that, though. This was gentle, betraying him as the sort of man who knew his own strength better than he'd have you all believe when he was trying to bruise everyone's ribs with his affection. You pressed your face into his chest and felt a weight on the crown of your head that you were pretty sure was his face resting against it. The embrace lasted just a few seconds too long, a moment beyond the point of casualness.

Then he spun you around, and you let out an involuntary shriek of delight. There was the Wrecker you knew and—

Oh. Maybe you shouldn't finish that thought.

"See you at dinner?" he said, when he had set you down.

"See you at dinner."

The flutter in your chest didn't settle until he was long out of sight.

You heard the Batch's house before you saw it. Omega's definition of "big dinner" was what you would call a proper party, with people spilling out of the house and onto the large porch, crowded around tables meant for half as many, sitting in chairs that they had clearly brought from their own homes. Aromas mingled in the air, most of them recognizable to you, and all of them mouth-watering. Hunter and Wrecker stood at the edge of the porch, greeting people as they walked in. Wrecker waved when he saw you, and Hunter gave you a friendly nod.

"Am I late?"

"Nah," said Wrecker. "We're still on the appetizers."

"Glad you could make it," said Hunter, and he sounded like he meant it. "Has Wrecker here told you what they were doing for the past four months?"

You raised an eyebrow at them. "Not yet."

Hunter elbowed Wrecker in the side.

"Alright!" said Wrecker. "So, we kind of got arrested…"

As he began his tale, Hunter moved around him, making room for you to stand on Wrecker's right side. It was habit for you, at this point. It wasn't something he talked about often, but Wrecker's unilateral hearing loss frustrated him, especially when people spoke softly. You had seen the confusion and exasperation that crossed his face when he missed entire sentences because of it. Shep had tried in vain to convince him to learn sign language.

"Why should I have to learn a whole new language?" he had said. "Why can't people just be louder?"

You couldn't fault him, there.

The party grew, and you found yourself leaning closer to him so that you didn't have to shout, close enough that you could feel the heat radiating from his skin and smell the saltwater from the docks that still clung to his shirt. When Omega announced that dinner was ready, Wrecker slipped his hand into yours and gently tugged you through the crowd to find seats. You found yourselves at the largest table on the porch, sitting next to Wrecker at the edge of the inner circle, as you thought of them: the Batch, the Hazards, and Phee.

Wrecker's story came to a close, the finale involving a great many explosions of which he sounded quite proud, and you could see Hunter grinning even though it was clearly the second time that he'd heard the tale. Conversation died down as you dug into your meal, but as you started on your second plate, a lively argument had sprung up between Wrecker and Crosshair.

"I don't understand why anyone would put a sweet sauce on meat," said Crosshair, disgusted.

"It's delicious!" Wrecker protested. "You're just picky."

You found yourself giggling along with Omega as the men squabbled. Wrecker "won" the argument by getting Crosshair in a headlock, and then it was Phee's turn to tell stories, heavily embellished by commentary from the rest of the group. You lost yourself in the scene. The sun set, and someone struck up a tune on a violin, and dessert was served, but you hardly processed it, drawn like a moth to a flame into teasing laughter and melodramatic reenactments. Underneath it all was the warmth seeping into your bones every time Wrecker looked your way.

The stars were coming out by the time you were all finished eating, and more instruments materialized to form a proper band. Half of the group got up to dance, and the other half watched with amusement as Omega and Lyana tried to make up their own steps and teach them to Shep.

"You aren't going to go dance?" Wrecker asked you.

"No," you said. "I'm rather enjoying your company."

He nudged your knee with his own. "You haven't told me what you've been doing since I left."

"Nothing much has happened."

"Tell me about it anyway."

So you did. The crowd thinned out a little bit, and the temperature began to drop, so the party moved itself inside. Wrecker had to pull himself away every ten or fifteen minutes to give someone a hug and say goodbye, but every time, he returned, asking you to continue your vignettes of everyday life on Pabu. It was a life he knew well, but still, he listened with rapt attention as if it were you who had gone on an adventure.

Evening turned to night, and someone dragged out the board games, which caused what you could only describe as a ruckus. You played a round of some game you hardly understood, you and Wrecker against Lyana and Omega. The girls trounced you, which only made Wrecker laugh and laugh as they swiped his pieces off the board.

"May I try?" asked Tech, as Omega congratulated you on a game well-played.

"You can sub in for me," you said.

"Oh, no. I was going to play one against two. It's only fair."

"Have fun," said Wrecker. "The girls are going to kick your butt."

"I doubt that," said Tech.

Omega grinned maniacally.

"What should we play next?" Wrecker asked you, as the two of you wandered away from the table.

Between the noise and the crampedness, you found yourself wilting at the suggestion. Games were fun and all—when they weren't being played after five hours of revelry.

"You okay?" Wrecker asked.

"You go on," you said. "I'm going to take a break. I'll be outside."

"Alright."

Wrecker pulled you into a half-hug, the casual sort of thing that he did with everyone. He called out to Crosshair, asking if his brother wanted to play that game with the starships, which made Crosshair roll his eyes, because half of the board games in existence involved starships. You slipped away through the side door, ignoring the pounding in your chest.

Twenty minutes passed before your solitude was broken.

"You like it?" came Wrecker's voice.

You dragged your gaze away from the flower-covered trellis on the porch to see him standing in the doorway, holding something small in his hand that you couldn't make out from where you were sitting on the wide railing.

"I do. Did you make it?"

"Sort of," he said. "It was Omega's design. I just helped the plants along."

He gave an affectionate pat to one of the leaves as he passed through the trellis and leaned against the railing next to you. Sitting up here brought you nearly face-to-face with him, and it struck you how close you were. You looked down at his hands; now you could see that he had brought two tiny cakes, both lumpy and lopsided.

"Leftovers," he explained. "They were ugly."

"I think they're cute," you said.

Wrecker held one out to you, and you plucked it from his palm, taking a small bite. Chocolate. You tried to eat it slowly and savor the taste, and Wrecker mirrored you.

"Hey, Wrecker?" you said, when you were finished. "When did I tell you about the colored pencils?"

Wrecker chuckled. "We were at the Reef."

Oh, no.

Well, that would explain why you didn't remember. The Reef was the island's only bar, and the last time you'd encountered Wrecker there, you'd talked his ear off for an hour. You hadn't drunk too much, so your memories of the night were mostly intact, but the details had slipped your mind.

"Ah," you said, huffing a nervous laugh. "I'm impressed that you remember that. Thank you."

"Any time."

A comfortable silence fell around you both as you admired the foliage above you. The vines were clearly woven into the trellis with care, and the lamplight cast a warm hue on the green leaves and violet blossoms, set against the dark and twinkling sky with a beauty you couldn't quite describe. You turned to ask Wrecker what sort of vines produced flowers as purple as that, and you found him gazing at you intently. Goosebumps prickled on your arms.

"What?"

"I missed you, sunshine."

You knew that look. Warm, open; light-hearted at the corner of his mouth; sincere to a point of aching around his eyes. It was something you'd seen in glimpses before, in the moments after you'd made joke, or the times you offered Omega help with her homework. You felt almost silly. All that time you spent fretting about his feelings, they were already sketched out on his face.

Wrecker cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go…ask Hunter if he wants help with the dishes."

Oh, dammit, you had been quiet too long. Wrecker was already moving away from you, and you panicked and did the only thing you could think of: grab his sleeve and keep him there.

"Can you just…" Tell me this isn't in my mind. "Stay? Please."

Wrecker's brow was pinched. He looked down at your hand where it gripped his sleeve, and you let go, face going hot with embarrassment. But he smiled, good-natured as always, and leaned back against the railing, resting his warm hand at the small of your back.

"How much of all that was Omega's idea?" you asked.

"I asked her what else she thought they'd need. Did the rest myself."

Such an innocuous statement, and yet, it sounded almost confessory. His good eye roamed over you, the deep brown taking on a golden tinge as it reflected the light.

From up here, perched on the railing at eye level with Wrecker, it was easy to lean in and kiss him.

Everything about Wrecker seemed explosive, at first: his voice, his job, his penchant for theatrics. You knew him better than that. This was the man you'd missed for many long weeks, gentle and patient and an endless ocean of joy. With one arm he braced himself against the railing, and the other he wrapped around you. The five foot drop behind you hardly registered in your mind as he held you fast against him, your arms around his neck, kissing you like you were the only two souls in the world.

When you broke apart, you could see a flush in his cheeks that matched yours. Movement behind him caught your eye, and you startled as you realized that it was Omega, now frozen in the doorway, staring at you. Wrecker turned around, his arm still holding you safely, and sucked in a breath.

"Oh, man," Omega whined. "I can't believe I lost to Crosshair."

Lost…?

Wrecker caught on before you did. "How much?"

"I didn't start it!" Omega protested.

"Omega. How. Much."

For a moment there was dead silence, Omega's eyes flitting between the two of you. Then she turned tail and bolted, leaving you alone with Wrecker, whose murderous expression melted into laughter.

"Your brothers need to clean up their gambling problem," you said.

"They always bet on the stupid things," he grumbled.

"I don't think this one is that stupid," you said, tracing a finger along his jaw. "We were taking forever."

Wrecker kissed you again, and you thought that you could lose yourself in him forever.

"We've got time to catch up."

[secondratefiction]

Y'all know the drill by now...

I decided to put together a small (most likely terrible) prompt list of my own. Send me a number and a character or pairing and I'll write something up for you

1. "So how's that working out for you?"

2. "Well imagine my apathy..."

3. "All things considered (he/she/they) took it well."

4. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning..."

5. "And this is why we can't have nice things."

6. "Are you really gonna make me say it again?"

7. "Oh just shut up already and kiss me."

8. "You fucking suck dude."

9. "Yes, but you love me anyway."

10. "Where are you trying to go with this."

11. "Ok... now once again in english for the rest of us."

12. "Some days I ask myself why I put up with you."

13. "Oh my god... we're going to hell."

14. "Look, I have neither the time or the energy right now, so can you just... not?"

15. "Well, that was.... fun.... You wanna go get food?"

16. "I didn't think it was possible, but even my disappointment is disappointed."

17. "I'm assuming you're going to come around to a point eventually."

18. "Why are we friends?"

19. "(He's/She's/They're) not actually family... we just made the mistake of feeding them one day, and then they just never went away."

20. "If we're doing this, then let's do it. C'mon!"

21. "Bite me."/"I would, but you seem to enjoy that just a bit too much."