Ficlet Exercise

I was in the mood for something random tonight, so here we go.  I did this once before for Charmed, and I thought I'd try it again tonight because it's kind of a fun challenge.  The rules are:

1. Pick a character, pairing, fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the timeframe of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over.
4. Do ten of these and then post them.

Originally I snagged this from a NCIS fanfiction site.  I chose to do it for Desperate Housewives because that's obviously my fandom of choice at the moment.  So here are ten random ficlets inspired by my iPod.

I'm going to set up a poll on the journal.  Whichever ficlet gets the most votes, I'll turn into an actual fic.  I'll keep voting open for a week.

Thanks to anyone who participates!

I Was Made for You – She and Him

They run into each other accidentally at the grocery store.  It’s been a couple of days since their first kiss, and they have another date planned for Saturday night, but the moment Bree sees Orson carefully shaking a cantaloupe, her heart flutters right up into her throat.

It feels like it’s been so long since she’s felt this way that it’s like she’s feeling that excitement for the first time all over again.  Potential for love.  She can’t remember the last time she felt that.

 ~*~

When Your Mind’s Made Up – Once Soundtrack

Tom shook her shoulder like they were both pretending that she wasn’t already awake.  “Are you sure you don’t want to come today?” he asked quietly.  She wasn’t able to tell if the hope in his voice was because he wanted her to change or mind or because he hoped she wouldn’t.

“No,” she mumbled.  “I don’t feel well.”

That was true.  It felt like a cold creeping up on her.  Or maybe her period was about to start.  Or allergies.  Whatever it was, it made her not even want to move from this bed for the entire day.

She couldn’t remember the last time she spent an entire day in bed.  She never did this.

“Well,” said Tom slowly, “okay.  We’ll be back tonight.”

“Okay.”

He bent down and kissed her cheek.  He'd just shaved; his chin was smooth where it rubbed against her skin, and for a second she shut her eyes.

 ~*~

I’ll Stand By You – Glee Cast

Until she moved to Wisteria Lane, Gaby never had any friends she cared enough about to cry over.  Now, for the first time in her life, she has friends that can hurt her badly enough that she wants to fall to pieces sometimes.  Friends who love her enough that their compassion moves her to tears.  Friends whose own heartbreaks break her heart as well.

That’s how she feels right now—like her heart is breaking—and she has no idea how to make it better. 

She and Lynette sit in silence, clasping hands so tightly that it feels unbreakable.  At this moment, Gaby very desperately wants to believe that their bond is unbreakable, but she’s not sure that’s the truth.

 ~*~

Rhythm of Love – Plain White T’s

At the beginning, there’s something tentative about being together.  The looks they give each other and the way her hand sometimes brushes against his and the soft smile that lights up her face—it all seems very ephemeral.  Like at any moment it’s all going to dissolve and it will be like he dreamed her up.

Tom finds himself wondering that maybe if he’d just actually touch her with some kind of purpose, she might become more real.  She might become something that could last.

He’s both eager and scared to death to test this theory.

 ~*~

Summer Skin – Death Cab for Cutie

One day when Andrew was ten, he wandered away from home. 

Ran away, he knew his mother believed, but it wasn’t running.  He just got lost in a moment.

Of course, then he didn’t want the moment to end. 

Eventually he ended up in this little public park that he knew he mother would have hated.  She would never take him there; her eyebrows would raise sky high just at the sight of the slightly rusted swings.  But Andrew just walked over, sat down, and began to swing so high that he thought he might get lost in the sky.

 ~*~

Catch the Wind – Donovan

Carlos doesn’t just watch Gaby very often.  It seems like such a contradiction—a former model, someone so beautiful; most people would assume that just staring at her could be enough—but the truth is that Gaby is almost impossible to just gaze at.  She’s constant movement.  A leaf caught in the wind.  And that’s not the kind of thing a person thinks to sit and watch incessantly.

~*~

Spring Street – Vanessa Carlton

Lynette remembers that her mother wasn’t there to watch her move out.  When she packed up every last possession she owned, ready to leave and never, ever come back, her mother left the house.  And mostly she didn’t care, but there was this little part of her that hesitated, lingering a minute longer than necessary just in case…

But eventually she just had to hug her sisters goodbye, climb into her car, and drive away.

It felt like forever, but of course it wasn’t.  Nothing is.

Now she is sitting here, watching her own daughter pack up her room as she gets ready to leave for college, and she can almost understand why her mother had to leave.  Anticipating a goodbye is almost as painful as saying goodbye.

 ~*~

Stardust – Nat King Cole

Bree lies in her bed and wonders—maybe wishes—that it had been her instead of Rex.

She feels wicked thinking it.  Such morbidity should be punished, and it feels evil to think that death might be preferable to life.

Or at least to this life.

But she moves past the feeling of guilt and actually considers it because it’s an obsessive thought.  A world with Rex, but not with her.  Such a place never existed.  It never will exist. 

But what if it did?

~*~

These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding

They all ache in different ways.  Ache for love.  Ache for acceptance.  Ache to belong.

Tom looks at Lynette and thinks a chasm divides them right now, and he wants so much to cross it and take her in his arms.

Orson thinks that Bree is fading farther and farther away from him—or maybe he is fading farther away from her.  Either way, it scares him.

 ~*~

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa – Vampire Weekend

When Carlos whispered in her ear that they should have sex on the beach, Gaby really thought that it was a good idea.  The sneaked out of the hotel room late at night when it the world was lit only by a full moon and stars and went down to the cool sand.  For a few minutes, it was utterly romantic.  The sound of the waves crashing against the shore echoed the feeling in her mind like she was stumbling toward some inexpressible joy. 

Reality set in all too fast, as it was apt to do.



Poll closes on 4/17/2011 at midnight.  Please vote!