Our Endless Numbered Days Project
So you all might remember I posted last year about writing a fic for every song off of two Iron & Wine albums:
The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002)
I am here to announce I am finished a third! I've written a fic for every song off Iron & Wine's second studio album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004). All of them but one is posted on AO3, for reasons I'll explain when I get to that song. But here's what I did.
I had so much fun with this project, as always. I am so inspired by Sam Beam's writing. I can't wait to expand these projects to Hollanov in the future, too.
(also, it only allows me to attach 10 songs, the album has 12, so I am eliminating the song for the fic I didn't finish, and the song that is my personal least fav)
Track One: "On Your Wings"
fic: crawling careless from the sea
full lyric: How we rise when we're born
Like the ravens in the corn
On their wings, on our knees
Crawling careless from the sea
In 2019, after getting injured in a fight, Eddie shows up at Buck's in the middle of the night.
In 2025, after breaking his own heart, Buck stumbles home to find someone waiting for him.
Track Two: "Naked as We Came"
So this is the one I wasn't actually able to post or quite finish the way I had hoped. I started it when we didn't know if Bobby was really dead or not, and when he was, I just got too heartbroken. It was too personal. But here's a snippet of it:
Track Three: "Cinder and Smoke"
fic: you'll ask me to pray for rain with ash in your mouth
full lyric: Cinder and smoke
You'll ask me to pray for rain
With ash in your mouth
You'll ask it to burn again
Whenever Eddie sleeps, he experiences the dreams of those who are dreaming about him. He doesn't tell anyone. But when Buck's dreams start to change, addressing his strange ability may become unavoidable.
Track Four: "Sunset Soon Forgotten"
fic: what's worth keeping, sun still sinking
full lyric: Be this sunset soon forgotten
Your brothers left here shaved and crazy
We've learned to hide our bottles in the well
And what's worth keeping, sun still sinking
With Eddie as her new permanent on the job partner, Hen finds herself struggling to adjust to changes at the 118. But as her friendship with Eddie grows, they both find a new and vital source of support.
Track Five: "Teeth in the Grass"
fic: when you give me your house, when we're all brothers at last
full lyric: And when you give me your house
When we're all brothers at last
There will be food in our mouths
There will be teeth in the grass
In the wake of Bobby's death, Harry decides to pursue firefighting. He ends up at the 118, much to Buck's resentment. In trying to figure out his issues with Buck, Harry ends up processing his grief in an unexpected way.
Track Six: "Love and Some Verses"
fic: i'll love you that way
full lyric: Love and some verses you hear
Say what you can't say
Love to say this in your ear
"I'll love you that way"
Hen gets sick after returning from space. Karen is a serious scientist, so she absolutely knows it's not a mysterious space illness. Definitely.
fic: the beast never seen
full lyric: And the beast never seen
Licks its red talons clean
Sara curses the cold
"No more snow, no more snow, no more snow"
Six years after Buck accepted the lawsuit settlement money and disappeared from Eddie's life, they run into each other in a very unlikely place. El Paso, Texas. Buck is determined to apologize and Eddie is struggling with a lot of residual hurt. But healing from an old wound leads them down a path neither of them would have ever expected.
Track Eight: "Each Coming Night"
fic: your face has faded but lingers on
full lyric: Will you say to me when I'm gone
"Your face has faded but lingers on
'Cause light strikes a deal with each coming night"
After a minor injury, Eddie learns that for years Buck - who was lost in an accident years before - is his guardian angel. Now able to see and interact with Buck, the two develop an unusual and deep bond. One Eddie doesn't want to let go of.
Track Nine: "Free Until They Cut Me Down"
fic: when the wind wraps me like the reaper's hand
full lyric: When the wind wraps me like the reaper's hand
I will swing free until they cut me down
When Buck accidentally summons a demon, one that seems far more affectionate than menacing, he's thrown into a mystery that seems intentionally impossible to solve.
fic: i want your flowers like babies want god's love
full lyric: I want your flowers like babies want God's love
Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come
In Texas, after a setback with Chris and his parents, Eddie is forced to confront his inner child. Literally.
Track Eleven: "Sodom, South Georgia"
fic: slept on an acre of bones
full lyric: And Sodom, South Georgia
Slept on an acre of bones
Slept through Christmas
Slept like a bucket of snow
Right before his wedding to Buck, Eddie begins experiencing horrible, realistic dreams of a future he never wants to experience. Meanwhile, Buck is wrapped up in the mystery of a young woman who claims to know him, whose intentions are unclear.
Track Twelve: "Passing Afternoon"
fic: endless numbered days
full lyric: There are things that drift away
Like our endless numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe
In the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves
When a big event in the lives of the members of the 118 falls on the same weekend as Bobby's late son's birthday, Bobby finds himself reflecting on grief, fatherhood, and life after loss.
