#finchwrites

[finch-whumps]

Captive Whumpee tentivly edging their way into a garden of full spring blooms. It had been *so long* since they had seen anything but dripping concrete. Their eyes turning misty looking up at Caretaker.

The technicolour burned against their eyes but the overwhelming attack on their senses was something they had strangely longed for. It was *perfect*.

[darwinsfinchesx]

took a breath, let it go

Frank Langdon & Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, The Pitt

For @eveningspirit, here's your @thepittsecretsanta cum New Year Gift. I'm so sorry, this is like a billion years too late. My ADHD brain sometimes does not let me finish important stuff on time lmao. Hopefully this was worth the wait!

Frank resisted the urge to scratch the itch near his hairline, but he really didn’t need Robby glaring at him while holding a needle so close to his eyes. His head throbbed, and he blinked rapidly to keep his surroundings from blurring together. At least his ears had stopped ringing.

He felt no pain as the needle pierced the skin just above his eyebrows, just a slight pressure, the tug of skin being pulled together.

“Just a head lac,” Robby said, clinical and calm. “Clean edges. You’re lucky.”

“Well,” Frank muttered, “I did go almost three months without getting clocked by a patient. Guess I was due, huh?”

Robby hummed in response as he snipped the suture and pressed a bandage over the stitches. Three neat sutures. No CT needed, Frank hadn’t lost consciousness, pupils were equal and reactive, GCS a solid fifteen. Frank had run through the checklist himself out of habit.

The patient had been relatively calm when Frank sat him down in the chair. He was weary and a little jittery, but nothing to suggest that the second Frank pulled up the syringe, he’d lash out. Working in the ER was anything but boring.

Frank was just glad it happened at the tail end of the shift. He was already exhausted, bone tired in the way that made him want to collapse into bed and not move for at least twelve hours.

“You want to grab a bite to eat?” Robby asked, busy putting away the suture kit and disposing of sharps.

Frank tried not to let the surprise show on his face.  The last year had changed things between him and Robby. Therapy had given him perspective. Recovery had given him something clarity, maybe. It felt too harsh to say he had worked hard to break the hold Robby had over him, but it didn’t sound too far from the truth either.

Was it because of the date? Frank doubted Robby remembered the  anniversary of his sobriety. It had been a whole year since he got sober. One full year. He knew he should be proud, his sponsor certainly was, and so was his NA group. But mostly, Frank just felt tired. Being sober took work. Every day. Especially today. Truthfully, he wasn’t hungry at all. But no matter how much he tried to keep his distance, Frank had never really learned how to say no to Robby.

Frank followed him out of the exam room. The ER was busy but not chaotic, the sweet spot. The triage board was full, but no one was coding. He spotted Mel crouched in front of a crying girl in a wheelchair, her voice soft and steady. Cassie was already in for her night shift, coffee in hand, scanning the board, chatting with the new night shift med student. 

Dana squeezed Frank’s arm lightly as he finished his charts for the day, putting a bottle of water by his arm. 

He shrugged into his jacket and headed out the door. Robby was already waiting near the ambulance bay, bag slung over his shoulder. Frank pushed down the strong sense of déjà vu and fell into step beside him.

The diner across the street served the blandest food Frank had ever tasted, but their milkshakes were unbeatable. Conversation between them was stilted, long pauses where laughter used to live. Frank felt like he’d fallen out of rhythm with Robby, both of them completely out of sync.  The tuna melt sat heavy in his stomach.

Outside, they lingered in awkward silence. Frank flashed helplessly back to his first date at sixteen, sweaty palms, restless feet, scrambling for anything to say that might make his date like him. He shook his head to dispel that ridiculous thought.

“See you tomorrow,” Frank said finally, already turning away.

“Frank.”

Robby sounded hesitant, which was new. Frank turned back.

“You did good,” Robby said, offering a small, genuine smile.

Frank could count on one hand the number of times Robby had smiled at him in the past year. He nodded at him, feeling his own lips curl up in response and for the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel brittle.

[toasty-owl-arts]

Language of Love

idk more stuff in my vague college au that I have now apparently hahah

anyway jane stress cooks especially at o'dark thirty because insomnia✨

i was in the mood for something fluffy and coincidentally i wrote this at an ungodly hour of the morning

just under 1k words :3

MommaBear: guys?

__________

[sent 3:22 am to “Oops! All Sleep Deprived!”]

MommaBear: uhh

MommaBear: does anyone want bao i kinda made food

[seen 3:27 am by QueenShit, MonsterEnergyIsLife, and 3 more]

QueenShit: what the genuine fuck

________________

Anna arrives first, the door clicking open and letting in the harsh fluorescent light from the hallway. She has her phone in her hand, replying to some text or another, and sidles up behind Jane in the kitchen, leaning over her. Jane laughs softly and shoves a bao into Anna’s open mouth. Anna mumbles something that sounds like a thank you, but with a mouth full of food, it’s muffled, so who can really tell.

After taking a moment to chew and swallow, Anna asks, “What’s got you up this late?”

Jane sighs, pinching the dough shut on yet another bao and placing it with the others that still have yet to be steamed. “I don’t know, I think it’s just a bad night tonight for no reason.”

Anna nods, taking another finished bao off the plate. “That’s fair. Guess I’ll keep you company then.” Jane smiles and leans back ever so slightly, letting Anna’s weight behind her ground her.

Anne stumbles in next, Catalina close in tow. Plopping down at Jane’s kitchen table, she pulls piles of notebooks out along with the new novel her class assigned her. Jane sets down a plate next to her, and Anne absently murmurs a thank you before starting to take notes, one hand holding a bao. Catalina sits next to her, munching on her own, just watching Anne work.

At some point, Anne swears under her breath and shows the book to Catalina, who says something in return, pointing out some passage, and Anne brightens immediately. She kisses Catalina chastely on the lips and goes back to her studying while Catalina turns bright red.

After a few minutes, Cathy shuffles in from her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She walks in, almost smacks full force into Anna, grabs what looks like an armful of bao, and leaves for her room once again.

“Please don’t fall asleep eating again!” Jane calls, getting only a grunt in reply. Looking back at Anna, Jane asks, “Can you drag her back out here to make sure she doesn’t choke in her sleep?” Anna laughs and nods, walking towards Cathy’s room. A moment later, she returns with Cathy slung over her shoulder and deposits her at the kitchen table where Anne and Catalina barely acknowledge her. Catalina’s pulled out work of her own and scoots over some to let Cathy sit a little more comfortably next to her. When Cathy slumps over, cheek pressed against the pock-marked wood, a bao still in her mouth, Catalina chuckles and gently shakes her awake. Cathy grumbles, but sits up a little straighter and begins reading Anne’s book over her shoulder.

Kat’s the last to walk into the small flat, a blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. Anne looks up as she walks in, concerned, “Did you walk here on your own?”

Kat flushes a little embarrassed, and admits, “I maybe stole your car and drove.”

“Anne, did you leave the car at Kat’s dorm again?” Catalina asks, a little teasingly.

Anne stammers for a moment, saying “Hey I mean, I only forgot it one other time, we’re over there so much anyway, I didn’t think-”

Gently taking Anne’s chin in a hand, Catalina pulls her gaze over to hers. “I don’t mind too much babes, as long as we get it back eventually.” She kisses Anne lightly on the cheek, then looks over at Kat. “Also how did you have our car keys?”

Kat stares for a moment, mouth open and eyes wide, and says “I may have copied your keys at WalMart.” before dashing into the safety of the kitchen.

Jane stands there, hands on her hips, and raises an eyebrow at Kat as she runs into the kitchen, blanket still tucked around her shoulders. “Katherine Howard, did you actually copy their keys?”

Pursing her lips, Kat sighs “Just the car keys, I get tired of Anne taking four detours to four different fast food restaurants before getting me from class, and I mean I can drive.” Kat pouts at Jane before adding on, “I just can’t afford a car. Or insurance.”

Chuckling softly, Jane asks, “Since when did you care about that after you went sledding off the music hall roof with Anna last winter, screaming that you had no health insurance?”

Kat crossed her arms. “I was just informing the people below us. Plus it was fun, and neither of us broke any important bones.”

Jane wants to ask what bones are considered unimportant enough to be sacrificed to sledding off buildings, but instead she just puts the last batch of bao in the steamer and shoos Kat out of the kitchen.

When the timer dings, Jane pulls the bamboo steamer off the pot of water and places it on the kitchen table, smiling fondly as her family opens it up and tears into the food inside. Jane wouldn’t trade this for the world, the feeling of quiet domesticity that she’s brought together here. No she doesn’t even care it's almost four in the morning, it feels right to have them all here. Sitting down next to Anna on the couch, Jane leans her head against Anna’s shoulder and lets herself relax, a bao held gently in her hands.

_________

Jane’s alarm rings at 7:00 on the dot as always and she groans as she hits the dismiss button on her phone. As she always does after a late night of cooking, she swears to herself she’ll never do it again.

She knows it's a promise she can’t keep. But even through the sleep deprived haze, and as she winds her way around the sleeping forms of her family, she somehow doesn’t mind.

[storsie]

We'll Be Here

If the world falls silent in contempt of us, we'll be here, our heartbeats filling the void, history in hand, and voices loud, and that's who we are.

This community of ours is built out of our voices, engraved in speech, carved into memory, and shaped, using whatever tools we have, out of love.

We are those who dare to love freely. We love our partners, our friends, our family. And we spend our lives fighting, yearning, learning to love ourselves.

So when the world forgets it's love for us, we will raise our voices and proclaim our love. We will remember those who came before us, and love them for the hope they have brought.

And we will be remembered by those who come after, for the hope, the understanding, and the acceptance that we choose each and every day to bring to this world. We're here, we're queer, get used to it. It's here we choose to stay.

---

Our history runs deep and our future will grow even further. I choose to let it be tinged with acceptance and support. I choose to show people that they’ve got a whole community of people willing to help, that they'll always be able to count on us. This year I want to help put more representation and education in media, to show everyone it’s okay to love themselves for who they are.

[finch-whumps]

Sidekick who had been captured for *weeks* now. The thought of the Team coming to rescue them was looking less plausible by the day. Not that they would ever let Villain know.

Villain setting down paper infront of Sidekick's crumpled form.

"Guess they finally gave up."

Sidekick saw the bold letters on the form "Collateral Damage", underneath their name ticked in a neat box. Their breath hitched. Hero's signature signed messily underneath.

Villain comforting Sidekick as the last of their hope is sobbed away...

[finch-whumps]

Caretaker who's desperately trying to find an alternative for whumpee that's a major flight risk.

I'm talking like has wriggled out of windows and shimmied down drain pipes type flight risk. They will take *any* opportunity they see.

Introducing wrist leashes: in the hopes that it's far away enough from anything that could trigger flashbacks for poor whumpee but still means that they can have outside time (very important for recovery ykyk).

Is it an angsty or fluffy scene? Dealers choice lol could go either way-

[toasty-owl-arts]

I Can’t Hide From The Wreck We’ve Made Of Our House (From The Mess Inside)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

This was my part of a secret santa exchange over on the six the trainwreck discord and I thought I’d cross post it here hahah

[toasty-owl-arts]

STAR CROSSED: CHAPTER 32

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

AYYYYYY I'M NOT DEAD AHAHAHAH

Taglist: @yellowtwigs @coffee-and-calendars @waterloobasin

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