#222 words

[rachel-lafleur]

Bubbles found Ricky facedown in a heap. Gravel clung to his face. Discarded bottles laid strewn at his feet. For one agonizing moment, ice cold dread shot through his veins and Bubbles feared that his friend would never wake up again. He kneeled there beside him, resting the man's head in his lap. He pressed his fingers to Ricky's neck and was blessed with the steady rhythm of a pulse.

Relief washed over him. Bubbles exhaled. He brought trembling fingers to Ricky's hairline and brushed through auburn locks. Over and over, he petted the man. The motion was soft, soothing, like stroking a cat. Little by little, Bubbles relaxed.

"Bubbs?"

The chubby blonde glanced down to his lap. Watery blue eyes blinked up at him. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." When Ricky squinted at him, perplexed, Bubbles sighed. "Yes, Ricky. Go ahead. Ask me anything."

"Promise not to laugh?" He asked, small and uncertain.

Bubbles' brow creased with worry. "Laugh at you for what? Asking a question?"

"It's stupid."

"Asking questions isn't stupid. It's how people learn."

"What's 'lecture' mean?"

"It's when you tell someone what's what, maybe to teach them, or maybe just bitching them out." Bubbles continued to run his fingers through Ricky's hair. He hoped the motion brought comfort to his buddy, like it comforted him.

[skeptiquewrites]

Microfic: Tell Me Later

for @drarrymicrofic prompt 'dystopia.' with thanks to the wonderful @moonstruckwytch for the beta. cw: minor injury, implied violence

"Malfoy." Thick mud streaks Harry's cloak where Draco dragged him behind a tree, curses flying fast. A complete ambush. Someone must be passing information again. They barely made it to the safe house this time.

"Malfoy, don't ignore me. If I say run, you run."

Soon Hannah will come to take their reports, check for any major injuries. Draco sits and rolls his right shoulder, and it's a blurry ache, nothing constant. He's tweaked it again. He closes his eyes. Now that Harry's going to be fine, the sight of him is too much to bear.

"They only let me stay with you because you can't talk me into leaving you behind," Draco murmurs. The sofa settles with Harry's added weight.

"You used to tell me I was no more important than anyone else." Harry's voice is like the crack of a whip. He gets like this sometimes, when it's gone badly.

"I was wrong," Draco says simply.

"Sometimes I hate you," Harry replies.

This has the same meaning as 'I can't be your boyfriend' and 'what the fuck have you done to your shoulder' and 'tell me later. Look at me, there will be a later.'

Draco sighs. A door to the right slams before he finishes his usual reply: "You have to be alive to hate me, so mission accomplished."

[veilofvliens]

Chapter 2

As the city's sweetheart drives through a canopy of leaves, she wonders if she can build a home here *and* live in it.

She wonders how much time it will take her tile familiar feet to get used to wood and stone.

Would the sounds of nature keep her up at night or lull her to sleep?

Little Italy, quaint Sicily. A random pin on the map she doesn't remember when she placed. Perhaps she knew someone who lived there. Or a photo of the place had intrigued her once upon a time. Whatever the reason was for Sicily being pinned, it didn't matter now that she was here.

And what a time she had arrived.

Her plane landed just as the sun peeked from behind the luscious landscape's horizon. And by the time she walked out of the airport, the sun was fully uncovered by rolling hills but was still low in the sky.

She had arrived just as the city was waking up.

It rose in a lazy way, picking up speed as the minutes passed by. The gentle quiet was enough to allow one to get lost in their thoughts, and others to enjoy an un-oppressing silence before the riot of the daily life started.

School buses rumbled by, some children asleep and other's amidst a tall tale retelling.

[joreilly2-blog]

Emotions I’ve been feeling lately…

I have had mixed emotions lately. The most overpowering of these emotions is stressed. My school work hasn’t been too bad lately, however it is still difficult to balance it with other factors of my life. The main thing stressing me out is that I am taking a certification course that has ended up being a lot more work than I thought it would be. Just today alone I have spent over 5 hours completing just one of twelve modules in this course. I hope I can complete all of the work while also completing my actual school work. There are also social factors of my life that have been stressing me out. This is mostly due to conflict between my roommates. I tried to manage some of my stress by taking a day off and going downtown with my best friend(which is where I took this picture), however, this kind of added to my stress. I felt that I should have used that time to complete some of the work I have, however, we had fun so I do not regret going. I believe it is definitely good to give yourself a break sometimes, especially when stressed. I have been working hard to complete a lot of work this weekend so that this next week will hopefully be less stressful.