(art by the thoroughly brilliant @citrusro!)
Hal And Jack Do Writers' Month, aka likethenight's Writers' Month 2025 masterlist!
I have had a whale of a time with this year's prompts, all of them fitting my disastrous boys Hal and Jack from Two of a Kind, and many of them forming a good part of what is going to become the fourth main part of the series! (once I've had a break and figured out what needs to happen in between them...)
Thank you to the mods of @writersmonth, as usual, for organising the event and giving me an excuse to write like a maniac since the beginning of July, and a particularly special thank you to @malkaleh and @seagull-energy for all your encouragement! <333333 (and also to @malkaleh for letting me borrow some of your characters and helping me brainstorm and develop ideas!)
It's worth mentioning, if you feel moved to check all this out, that there is a lot of dark stuff going on, and you should absolutely heed the tags and warnings on individual chapters, although no actual archive warnings apply.
I posted everything as chapters of one single work, rather than increasing the number of one-shots in the series, so without further ado, here they are:
Today This, Tomorrow The World, in which Jack watches Hal's band play a show, just as they're beginning to hit the really big time. (prompt 'chemistry')
A Good Judge of Character, in which Hal's brother Simon makes Jack an offer. (prompt 'sibling')
Turning Point, in which everything comes back to Hal's accident, but it takes Tillie to point it out. (prompt 'tattoo')
Part Of The Armour, in which Jack's hat is very much more than just a piece of stage gear. (prompt 'hat')
The Build-a-Bear Incident, in which it's Natalie's birthday, and she wants nothing in the world more than a trip to Build-a-Bear with her dad and - much to his horror - her papa. (prompt 'heart')
A Lifetime's Love of Reading, in which Jack bonds with Hal's grandmother over books. (prompt 'book')
Shaped Us More Than We Realised, in which losing touch with each other after Hal's accident shaped both Hal and Jack more than they realised - or have ever been willing to admit. (prompt 'loss')
We Have To Help Ourselves, in which Jack sees someone he never expected, or wanted, to see at a record company event for Hal's band's third album, makes a friend who's in the same boat, and formulates a plan. (prompt 'trial')
Solid Gold French Idiots, in which Hal and Jack run into a bunch of gold-painted French rock star kids at a festival, and much to his amusement, Jack realises Hal has history with one of them. (prompt 'gold')
Give Him Enough Rope, in which fter the record company party, Jack fills Hal in on what happened - and what he's planning to do about it. And begins to get his head round the possible repercussions for both of them. (prompts 'rope' and 'bonfire')
A Babysitting Issue, in which Jack has a very unexpected encounter backstage at a gig, makes a friend, and acquires a mission of sorts. Hal makes a friend too. (prompt 'sword')
They Can't Touch Me Any More, in which Hal watches Jack make a statement outside the court, after the successful conclusion of his abuser's trial. (prompts 'trouble' and 'court house')
Make Their Year, in which Hal and Jack encounter a couple of fans on their way to the pub. (prompt 'fame')
Teenage Angst, in which Natalie is upset and Jack, somewhat out of his depth, steps up. (prompt 'tears')
It Won't Always Be This Bleak, in which Jack is beginning to see certain aspects of his time on the streets a little differently. (prompt 'tree')
Light-Headed, in which Jack finds Violet's garden in early summer a little bit overwhelming. (prompts 'flower' and 'river')
Never Scared of Dying, in which Jack has never been unfamiliar with death. (prompt 'death')
Broken, in which the rain makes Jack think of things he'd much rather forget. (prompts 'rain' and 'emergency room')
All Over The Map, in which Hal and co spend an entertaining evening with the French kids, after a festival, Hal gets to show off about Natalie, and Jack makes a discovery about Andy. (prompt 'map')
Always There, in which Hal has an important conversation with his brother. (prompt 'abandoned')
Safe Haven, in which Hal's grandmother's garden has been a haven for both Hal and Jack, over the years. (prompts 'soft' and 'garden')
Smoothed The Edges Off, in which, quietly freaking out backstage at Hal's band's last festival of the summer, Jack gets a very well-timed pep-talk and a dose of weapons-grade empathy from the solid-gold French idiot-in-chief. (prompts 'burned' and 'parking lot')
Release Valve, in which Jack thinks about Hal's scars - and his own. (prompt 'scar')
You're Not Alone, in which everything is beginning to be a little too much for Hal, and Seb and his weapons-grade empathy step in. (prompts 'knight' and 'labyrinth')
How To Boil A Frog, in which Jack has a gig, at least half of the audience is there for him, personally, and it is doing his head in. (prompt 'warmth')
Reset, Inside, in which, on the beach in Marseille, Jack is struggling not to think of what's waiting for him at home. Luc has some wise words for him, and L'Étoile du Nord's paparazzi get an eyeful and an entirely inaccurate scoop. (prompt 'echo')
Borrowing Trouble, in which Hal has been having nightmares (prompts 'nightmare' and 'on the road')
Every Step of the Way, in which Hal admits his fears to his grandmother - who, as always, knows exactly what to suggest. (prompt 'free')
Explosion, Echoing, in which Jack receives some completely unexpected and very unsettling news. (prompt 'panic')
Head Down, Hang On, Forge On Through, in which Jack is still reeling from his unexpected news, and trying to work out what it all means for him. Natalie points out that ice cream always helps, and much to his surprise, it does. (prompts 'phone' and 'ice cream parlour')
Loyal Friends, in which Jack and Hal surprise Ivana with a few unexpected guests at Drag Karaoke. (prompt 'loyal')
And there we go! Total word count is 71,378 which is INSANE. I have had so much fun with this!
And if anyone else fancies giving my disastrous boys a go, I would be eternally delighted and grateful! <3333333
