#natefic

thanks for the tag @lifemodeldecoy!! ignore the fact that i forgot to do this until sunday <3

here's a snippet from part 3 of your voice is the splinter inside me, which i've been working on a lot lately with the lovely help of @maplesdonut and our body-double writing sessions (thank you friend)

At first, Emma is angry. They were supposed to be happy. Her and Henry. The life she always wanted. What a load of shit. Instead, she got a dead wife and a house that burned to the ground, and she and Henry have been walking around like ghosts ever since. It’s not fair. And Hook is right there, and he’s so fucking annoying that it’s easy to take it out on him. She snaps at him and tells him to go screw himself for no good reason at all, but when he gives her that stupid smirk that makes her feel violent things and tells her she could always screw him instead, she nearly decks him right there on her doorstep and thinks he would probably even deserve it. I’m married, asshole, she almost says. The words sour in her mouth and she swallows them; her anger hisses and dies like water on a flame. None of this is fair. “Pack a bag,” she tells Henry, instead of collapsing face-first onto her bed and screaming into a pillow until she passes out. “We’re going to Maine.”

--Inspired by “Foolish Games” by Jewel--

What is it about Ray Palmer that he couldn’t resist?

Nate watches Ray move around the Waverider’s bridge while talking to Dr. Stein and Jax.

The careless way he runs a hand through his hair, the smiles given to anyone and everyone freely.

Sometimes, he felt foolish for having romantic feelings for the genius because he is way out of Nate’s league.

Ray is so good and wouldn’t mean to break anyone’s heart.

Yet, as he watches him, Nate can’t help feeling like his heart is breaking because Ray will never see him the way Nate dreams he would.

Nate tears his eyes away.

It’s a struggle to be Ray’s friend but he can’t imagine giving up any closeness with the other man or the hurt he could cause him by pulling away after all of this time.

However, it’s not Ray’s problem to deal with his unrequited feelings.

Nate walks out of the room, unaware of Ray’s gaze following him as he left and the sad smile that blossomed on his face.

Ray knows it’s better to have Nate as friend than nothing at all.

Besides, everyone he’s loved romantically has left him, one way or another, so if he keeps Nate as his friend, then maybe…just maybe, he won’t leave Ray.

He doesn’t know if he can take anyone else leaving him.

thank you for the tag @sideguitars! :D (....like 2 weeks ago oops)

i will admit i haven't done much fic writing lately since i've been working on revisions for my chapbook, but i have been slowly poking away at a SQ fic that goes along with your voice is the splinter inside me (sort of). other excerpts here!

(this is definitely not one line but whatever this is my post :))

“‘Morning, Mama,” he says, dropping his cheek to her shoulder. He really doesn’t call her that very often anymore, just when he’s tired or sick or feeling soft and needy, because sometimes he thinks twelve years old is too old for it, but he likes how she smiles when he does. “What’re you reading?” “Nothing that would interest you, cariño,” she says, but she tilts the cover so he can see anyway. “Are you hungry?”

no-presure tags! @benwvatt @sssammich @crime-wives @prentiits @sideguitars (i know you tagged me but whatever i want more of your writing WHAT ABOUT IT)

thank youu for the tag @sideguitars!! (.....several weeks ago)

When Regina wakes for the first time in Portland, Maine, there is a long and terrible moment in which she cannot remember who she is. The early-morning sun is shining through the leaves on a tree outside the window, dappling spots of light on the carpet that move as the branches sway in the breeze that is fluttering the sheer curtains as it drifts in through the cracked window. There is an arm curled around her waist and another beneath her neck—a hand clutched in her own just above her heart. Someone is breathing quiet and warm against the bare skin between her shoulder and neck, and although it feels familiar and natural and safe, she cannot remember having ever been held like this before, and cannot imagine why anyone would—or who possibly would. Still soft and slow with sleep, she shifts against the body pressed entirely to hers and turns over in their embrace. Emma. Still asleep but just barely, breathing quiet and steady, fluttering lashes dark against the silky skin under her eyes. Of course it’s Emma. It’s always been Emma. How could she have forgotten?

thanks for the tag @sideguitars! :)

i'm pretty sure i have way more wips than this that have 'promise' somewhere in them, but i got bored searching lol. i don't use google docs much anymore since i switched to libreoffice so i can't just search the word in drive, i have to open each doc and that requires more attention span than i possess

(link to event thing!)

lillian is a Good Mom au

“That’s a cicada shell, sweetheart,” she says as Lena lifts the bug toward to her face, and Lillian leans back to avoid getting bumped in the nose.  “Where’d the cicada go, mommy?” Lena asks, all childlike wonder and curiosity. “I don’t know. Off on an adventure somewhere, I’m sure.” Suddenly, worry covers Lena’s face like a raincloud.  “Oh no,” she whispers, her eyes going wide and sad. “What if it comes back and can’t find its shell because I took it?” Lillian’s entire heart swells in her chest until her ribs ache with the effort of containing it. “I don’t think you need to worry about that, my love.” “Are you sure?”  “Completely. Cicadas shed their skin, but they grow new ones. This belonged to a cicada that doesn’t need it anymore.” “Promise?” Lena’s hair tickles Lillian’s cheek as she whispers the word close to her mother’s ear. “I promise.” It’s just the shell of a bug, but she’d promise this child the stars if she could bring them to Earth. (Not that she needs to. Lena will find the stars all on her own, in time.)

your voice is the splinter inside me sequel

“I will not lie to you, Henry,” she says finally, her voice careful and quiet and shaking just a little too much to hide, and god, he has no idea. She has never promised anything more important than honesty to her son. “I can’t always promise you the truth—not all secrets are mine to tell, but I will never lie to you.” Henry doesn’t reply, but he meets her gaze, and his eyes are heavy with understanding. He taps his fingers on his thigh and she can tell he’s biting at the inside of his cheek. When he was young, she would tap his cheek with the tip of a finger and he would giggle and laugh. Now, her hand twitches in her lap, and she cannot reach out to him like that. His expression changes to one she cannot so easily read. He seems to pause for a moment, and Regina sets the photograph carefully back into the envelope.

from the next chapter of my supercorptober 2023 fic that i never finished because i'm the worst

“Ms. Luthor is out of office at the moment; you’ll have to make an appointment.” “Oh, no, that’s alright,” Kara says cheerfully, holding up the plant as she continues, “I’m just dropping this off, I don’t need to actually see Lena. It’s better if it’s a surprise.” Jess’s eyes narrow, flickering between Kara’s face and the pot she’s holding in both hands. She shifts her weight in discomfort. “There’s nothing dangerous, I promise. It’s just a flower.” But Jess’s expression remains unchanged. Kara falters. “I’m not some crazy person. I’m Kara. Danvers? Lena’s my fiancée.” At this, Jess’s eyebrows shoot up, but she doesn’t break. “Lena hasn’t mentioned a fiancée.” Drat. She’d been hoping that would work. “It’s a recent development.” “She doesn’t wear a ring.” That’s . . . actually a good point. How had she forgotten about that? She was always planning to give Lena a ring as well—it was important in a relationship to respect both parties’ cultures—but she’d forgotten about that aspect of an engagement ring. With a bracelet, people would only know what it means if she tells them. Everyone would understand the significance of a ring. “Where I come from, we use bracelets. I’m planning to get her a ring as well, though.” Jess does not look impressed. “You’re not wearing a bracelet, either,” she says, which is another good point. Kara opens and closes her mouth rather like a fish out of water. “Lena wears one,” she mumbles, rather weakly. But Jess doesn’t so much as waver. Instead, she folds her arms on her desk and straightens her shoulders. Kara bites at the inside of her cheek, feeling very intimidated. “Just because you’re a superhero doesn’t mean you don’t need an appointment, Ms. Danvers,” Jess says, her voice stern like Kara’s a small child in need of a lecture, and Kara’s life nearly flashes before her eyes.

thanks for the tag @lesbiansayaishii!!

For several minutes, the only noise in the room is the whistle of the kettle on the stove and the clink of spoons against ceramic mugs. Quiet breathing. The knowledge of who is missing feels so tangible that Regina can almost hear it like a ringing in her ears.  “The memories you gave them,” Snow starts, her voice slow like she’s thinking through each word to make sure they end up in the right order. “Do you know what they were like? Where they would’ve gone?” Disappointment rises in Regina’s chest. Her hands hover in the air above the counter, halfway to reaching for something—someone—that isn’t there.  “No,” she says, soft and helpless. “I didn’t have time for a complex spell. Their subconsciouses created new memories for them based on whatever would make them happiest. I transferred my savings and Henry’s college fund to their names, but I have no idea where they went. Even if I did, they might not still be there. We have no idea how much time has passed—though clearly enough for you to procreate again. You look like you’re seconds from giving birth on my kitchen floor.” Snow purses her lips like she can tell Regina’s being purposefully antagonistic to prevent herself from sliding down the side of the counter and hugging her knees until everything either works itself out or she just fucking dies.  It’s been a lifetime of fighting, clawing for any scrap of happiness, always braced for the moment it slips between her fingers. She’s tired. She’s so, so tired. It would be so easy to just wrap her arms around her head and scream until someone starts listening. Instead, she pours from the kettle into a mug Henry made her in art class many years ago, when he was still a little boy who needed her, and watches the steam rise off the water.

(link)

thanks for tagging me @sideguitars :D GLOMPCLING

i just searched a handful of the most recent wips, and i don't write kisses very often so i expected very few hits and got exactly as much as i expected. anyway, here's the singular instance of the word kiss in all my wips lol. i wrote it yesterday so it's the most first-drafty thing ever, but i hope you enjoy nonetheless :)

from the in-progress your voice is the splinter inside me part 2!

(link)

Callie greets her like they’ve spent decades apart even though she calls every other week, and Miranda greets her with a warm welcome and side-eyes the interns on her service, telling her: “Good luck with those ones,” like they’re trouble, but she says that about all the intern classes, so Addison just smiles in amusement and pulls her into a hug, and laughs at her faux-irritated mumbling: “You’re too tall for me to hug, lose a few inches and then we can talk.”

(am i also supposed to poke people now? hmmmmm @prentiits @benwvatt @peridotglimmer @mulderscully)