@kingdonmicrofic day 7: karaoke | 420/420 | rating: g (scrabble shenanigans because it’s my birthday and i can :) thank you emma @peachypitt for letting me use our many many scrabble games for point references ily <3)
turns out if you say the phrase "mel king licks a nine-volt" it can make you giggle enough to microfic about it i hope i've convinced you. ao3 here with my other fics for the month!! :)
“I think we’re ready for our next decade of battery use,” Frank hummed, looking down at their only-needed-one-battery-turned-proper-hardware-store-and-also-boba haul.
“I hope they work.”
Frank sensed an opportunity for mischief, taking a fresh nine-volt out of its packaging and bringing it to the tip of his tongue. “Should we double check?”
“What are you doing?!” Mel squawked.
“Taste test!” He grinned.
“For a battery?” She asked, concerningly dumbfounded.
“I licked several, in my day,” he said, “probably more than I should’ve. You’ve never licked a nine-volt?”
Frank walked over her, setting the battery down between them. “It was just dumb middle school stuff, honestly. We’d dare each other to do it. And if someone didn’t, you just sort of bullied him until he did.”
“I guess I didn’t really have friends who wanted to bully me into licking batteries,” Mel said, ever-so-slightly forlorn. She worried her bottom lip until Frank noticed the shift to her I-want-something-but-don’t-want-to-ask-for-it face.
“Mel.”
“Mhm?”
“Do you want to lick this battery?”
Her lips pursed, but there was an unmistakable light in her eyes as she spun the battery between them on the table like she was playing spin-the-bottle.
“Is that stupid?”
“Only because licking batteries is notoriously stupid,” Frank said.
“Okay. You go first,” Mel offered.
“Nope,” Frank shook his head. “You’re bringing me out of retirement, sweetheart, you first.”
Mel pouted, but steeled herself, taking the battery in hand. “I just… lick it?”
“Not for long,” Frank clarified.
She still hesitated, noncommittal as Frank teased her until finally, she closed the gap. Immediately the battery clattered on the table, followed by a wide-eyed shock that devolved into giddy adrenaline giggles, so cute that he could bite her.
“Your turn!” She said, handing him the battery.
“No way,” Frank said, readying the second part of Mel’s battery licking experience and letting her poke and prod at him until he licked it himself, feeling the long forgotten shock like a hug from an old friend.
When he’s awarded a kiss for his bravery, Frank swears he feels residual sparks.
@kingdonmicrofic day 1: confetti | 382/382 | rating: g
Mel stands, worrying her lip, staring out at the endless sea of pink and teal sticky notes dotting up and down the living room wall.
Neat rows of pros and cons only remind her that she has four days to decide which fellowship she wants to accept. (She has her pick of the litter: PTMC and three partner hospital programs in Pittsburgh. Something she has to pinch herself about sometimes. But now she has to actually choose.)
A pair of familiar arms settle around her shoulders, pulling her gently back against a warm chest, and Frank’s chin comes to rest on top of her head.
“Redecorating already?” he asks. “It took forever to pick out that wall color in the first place.”
She lets out a watery laugh, twisting her head to kiss his arm before burrowing her head into it.
“It was so hard the first time, Frank. What if… what if no one likes me again?”
The words feel childish the minute they leave her mouth, but they’re real. It was so lonely for so long. What if she ends up alone again? Abandoned in conversation or eating by herself? What if she’s already found the handful of people who like her in the world and she’s just leaving them?
“I know, baby,” he presses his lips to her temple. “I know it’s scary. But this time you’ve got me and you’ve got people in your corner.”
The pressure in her chest eases slightly. “Starting over is so much work and I just don’t know if I can,” she sighs.
“The whole world deserves to know how cool and smart and badass Dr. Melissa King is. It would be selfish to keep you cooped up forever,” Frank sways them, breath tickling her ear which coaxes a small giggle. “Even if I want to be selfish.”
“Frank,” she whispers.
“Regardless of where you go, you’re going to be doing incredible things. You’ll be teaching. Helping people. You’ll be doing fucking cool stuff and at the end of every day, we’re going to crawl into bed together and you’ll tell me all about it. All the rest,” he waves his hand at the rainbow-covered wall, “is confetti.”
Mel hums, thoughtful and amused, squeezing his forearm. That’s all she really needs to hear.
director's cut (i wrote too much at first) of a microfic posted on ao3 here
It’s funny how standing outside of the Langdon family’s front door feels identical to standing on the edge of a cliff. To let her finger hover over their doorbell before ringing it is to look down and see just how far she can fall, but she holds her breath and goes for it anyways, setting off an enthusiastic round of goldendoodle barks.
When the door swings open, Frank keeps the beast at bay with his one foot and ushers her in quickly. “I know it’s maybe a jump to say that you’re going to be the expert just because you and Becs do jigsaw puzzles, but you’re kinda–”
“No, it’s okay!” Mel jumps in. “We’ll get everything back together. Even if the puzzle skills don’t translate,” (she’s certain they will), “I’m nothing if not patient.”
My favourite detail specialist, back on the case, he’d said over the phone, and as she enters his home office, she can see why her services are needed.
According to Frank, Penny desperately needed confetti for a disco-tea-birthday party she was throwing and Tanner felt like being a helpful big brother. Helpful big brothers know that Dad has a paper shredder. Helpful big brothers see piles of documents laid out on Dad’s desk as the universe’s blessing to shred. The kids are noticeably absent, now, but the evidence of their mischief is impossible to ignore.
Mel surveys the scene, strips of paper in shades of cream and ivory all over the floor, and immediately drops to her knees at the edge of the mess.
“Oh, like right now?” He chokes out.
“It’s what I’m here for,” Mel hums, already picking out two strips of paper and grouping them based on visible texture. When she turns her head, he’s just staring down at her. She blinks. “Well? Are you ready, Dr. Langdon?”
Frank swallows before snapping into action, wheeling over his office chair, and they get to work. Mel colour matches the paper on the ground, which she assigns letter groups before handing to Frank to assemble more cohesively on the desk. They’re on the hunt for one document in particular, Frank reminds her. Everything else can stay shredded, but he’ll know what to focus on once they start putting it together. Mel starts to build a few separate things. A glossy 8x10 photo that features a lot of white tulle, a couple of greeting cards with illustrations of cake toppers and suits, but eventually she starts to match up pieces of something that makes Langdon pause.
“Okay, more of group H. As many H’s as we can find. That’s the one I need for the appointment.”
Group H is a currently untitled document, but Mel knows it has a lot of heavy navy filigree along the border and a very subtle pattern beneath no-nonsense serif text. She starts to weed out any non-group H papers, and pieces things together until Frank breathes a sigh of relief. “We actually got it back,” he smiles. “Holy shit.”
Mel sneaks a peek at the desk. An Allegheny County Marriage license, for a Mr. Frank Langdon and a Ms. Abigail Winston, dated 2019.
“Thanks for the…,” Frank gestures to the document on the desk. “This will be super helpful.”
“Is it… Are you…?”
“It’s exactly what you think it is, I’m just not telling anyone at work. And I won’t be for a while.” He says, tracking her eyes. It’s a request.
“No, of course!” Mel squeaks, working through so many emotions in so little time. “Your secret's safe with me.”
I've been honored to commission a piece of art from the one, the only @cynicscene for my Project Hail Mary fic, Here Comes The Sun! I'm so happy everyone else finally gets to see their cutiepie glory, truly my favorite lovelies ahhhh <3
“It’s kinda stupid, but Abby always liked the clean shaved look,” he explains, “and we’ve been separated for months now and I just wanted to try No Shave November for the first time.”
“Well it looks good on you,” she says before she can stop herself.
“Does it?” he says, brightening considerably. “Abby always hated it—made me shave it off immediately.”
“I think it’s nice,” she remarks, eyes roving over his face. She’s not sure what about it is so enticing, but there’s just something about Frank’s square jaw, his chin dimple, his dark brows, even his bright blue eyes, that stand out more with the addition of the coarse hair along his jawline, around his mouth.
She wonders what it feels like.
Or, Mel shows up to work with a ponytail, and Frank shows up to work with stubble and both of them lose their damn minds over it :)
Read on ao3
so @kmsk8r said this this morning riffing on this post by @miracle-and-wonder and absolutely derailed my day 🥰
thank you @peachypitt for looking over it and making sure the grammar made sense in this horny nonsense i adore you 😘
“I love used books,” she proffers, eager to be a normal person. “I love when books have a story.”
“Well, I’d say if a book doesn’t have a story, it’s a pretty sad excuse for a book.”
Mel can’t help herself—she snorts. “I didn’t realize you owned the shop,” Mel says quickly, embarrassed. “That must be nice—”
“Yeah, it is,” Frank answers distractedly. “I’m sorry, I’m pretty sure I just saw two time Emmy award winning actress Mel King snort at a joke I made.”
So he really did know her, then, wow.
“Well I’m not sure anyone will believe you,” she jokes lightly.
“Yeah,” Frank breathes, his eyes roving over her face in a stunned sort of awe. “I don’t think anyone will.”
Or, the Kingdon Notting Hill AU :)
Read on ao3
collage by my beloved @kmsk8r who held my hand the entire time and read every typo and threatened me with all sorts of violence <3 i couldn't do this without you my love <3
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
gummygunk
tangentwithtanner
annaxmalina
