Is the world ending? Who's gonna throw the party?

[harborshore]

*peers out from under her thesis-shaped rock* So I hear there's a volcano? In Iceland? Doing things? This is nuts, you guys. It doesn't seem like anyone has died, and I hope I haven't gotten that wrong. All planes are canceled in Stockholm and the air space is closed, because apparently it's incredibly dangerous to fly through volcanic ash. Here's hoping it stops soon, because danger and chaos and the ashes being potentially lethal for people who are seriously ill and they're coming right at us, guys, they're already over Sweden. CRAZY. Also, I'm supposed to leave for the US in a month and I want to see my little sister graduate. It's an extremely minor concern in the grand scheme of things, but I love my sister a lot and I want to be there. And compared to the Haiti earthquake and the Chile one, this is decidedly minor. Obviously. Still, a little nuts.

So. I would like to offer ficlets, because I want to think about other things. I'm going to do the first five prompts I like, which may or may not be the first five that appear, because what I can write right now is a little limited.

Theme: post- or pre-apocalyptic scenarios WITH HOPE. Interpret that as you will. Pairings or gen are fine. Bands/fandoms I can write: Mikey, FOB, Bob and Brian (they're a subset of fandom, right?), The Like, Panic/The Young Veins (even if my Jon voice is nonexistent), MSI, others possibly. I can also do Veronica Mars, DCU or BTVS, though the last two feel like cheating since it's not like they've never done the apocalypse thing before.

Prompt away!

ETA: I am done! Five, er, seven ficlets.

Comments

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

Bob/Brian; When the birds come back.

*rustles the thesis morale support pom poms*

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

It's the first day of the rest of their life.

Brian would laugh at the cliche, but it's so undeniably true, walking across scorched earth and listening to Bob's steady pace next to him. Steady but with a whole new rhythm, after the fire.

(Brian stitched the wound himself, gave up the last of their alcohol to keep it clean for days and days until the threat of infection had passed. He didn't miss it, the drink, as much as he thought he might, but he's glad for the reality of Bob here, upright and walking.)

And then he sees it. "Look," he says.

"Not much to look at," Bob says in response, and the barrenness of the earth is in his voice, too.

Brian shakes his head impatiently. "No, look, up there," and now he hears Bob laugh, delighted at the small, small bird throwing himself into the sky. And singing. The bird is singing.

[iamsupernova.livejournal.com]

Bob/Brian UST (and the RST)? :D :D

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

That, my child, is my big bang. Assuming I get it done for the deadline, otherwise it's my middle-of-summer-story. And strictly speaking it's a dystopia, not post-apocalypse, but whatever whatever, hope in the middle of despair. Etc.

[dancinbutterfly.livejournal.com]

Pete/Patrick. Pete and Patrick stumble across a group of fortified, thriving humans after the holocaust of the zombie pandemic. It's run by the Way brothers and its almost as weird as the wasteland outside the walls. Naturally they fit right in.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

This one would have been fascinating, but I'm pretty sure it's a longfic setup that someone should write so I don't have to! It's a fascinating idea. ♥

[languisity.livejournal.com]

patrick & mikey (gen), the day before the world ends.

considering i kinda feel like i'm boiling in my part of the world, i'm connecting with apocalypse fic on a whole new level.

here's hoping things are less crazy where you are soon. *crosses fingers*

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Patrick's tuning his guitar. Again. Mikey pokes at his phone (it no longer works) and glances over at Patrick.

"You think it'll still work, after?"

Patrick's fingers halt on the strings, then starts back up again. "I don't know anything," he says. "Pete did, but--"

Mikey closes his eyes at that. Yeah, Pete knew things and Pete knew how to kiss Mikey so he wouldn't be scared anymore, and Mikey knew about Ashlee but Ashlee knew about him; everyone knew things and now they're both gone and Mikey's not sure who he misses more.

Patrick strums at his guitar, an angry sharp chord, and Mikey opens his eyes back up.

"We don't know they're dead," he says, voice level but full of edges, and Mikey nods. Mikey sucks at hope, but Patrick's not bad.

"Sing me something," he says, and Patrick half-smiles, sighs a little.

"Okay," he says, and hums for a second before starting. "It's a little cliche," he says, but Mikey shakes his head, because it doesn't matter.

And then Patrick sings about the west wind and remembering, and Mikey leans back against the wall and stops listening to the outside, finally, stops counting down the minutes.

Maybe, maybe.

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

Bob/Patrick, post-apocalyptic roommates?

Also, all flights are cancelled in the UK at the moment! It's craziness!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

"Bob."

Bob's ignoring him. Again.

"Bob."

"What?"

"You've been smoking. And we can't go outside. Or open windows. My room smells like fucking cigarettes."

Bob looks momentarily guilty, but then he sets his jaw. "This shit is stressful, okay?"

And yeah, Patrick knows. They can't go outside, the city's burning out there, Pete left with the hovercraft days ago and promised to come back within a week (he's got six hours before he breaks his promise, but who's counting?). Of course Bob is smoking. But.

"It seriously fucking smells, Bob, I can't stand it."

Bob raises an eyebrow and then he smirks, like he's thought of something that'll piss Patrick off even more. He stretches out on the couch, arching a little, and suddenly that smirk is an invitation.

"So give me another way to relieve stress, then."

Patrick swallows. And then he squares his shoulders, because he's been best friends with Pete Wentz since he was fifteen, and if Bob fucking Bryar thinks he can out-innuendo Patrick, then he's got another thing coming.

"Fine," he says, casual as you please, and walks over to the couch, putting one hand on Bob's knee and trailing a finger up, up. He looks down at Bob like he never wanted to be anywhere else but right here, he knows how to do that (and maybe he means it, sort of, for a given value of world-ending scenarios, anyway).

Bob's the one swallowing now, and his mouth falls open, fuck, that's hot, that's really hot. Bob must see the shift in Patrick's face because he grins and reaches up and he has longer arms than Patrick, right, so he pulls him down into a kiss and Patrick decides, after some careful consideration, that he's going to go along with that.

Also, he totally knows how to distract Bob from smoking now. Sweet.

[emilyenrose.livejournal.com]

I read that sentence as 'post- or pre-apocalyptic scenarios WITH ROPE' and this is the prompt I choose to pay attention to. Whereabouts in the DCU are you happy to write? Can you give me some Robins and rope in an ice age? :D?

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

"If you'd think before you--"

"Shut up," Jason says, or that's what Tim thinks he says anyway, it's not like it's easy to enunciate when you're hanging upside down in a harness and trying not to get your brains bashed in by a giant block of ice.

This really wasn't part of the plan.

Also, he's pretty sure the laughter in his comm is one part Dick and three parts Steph, because somehow it was decided that Batman team up with Batgirl for this one, while Jason and Tim as former Robins (current Red Robin and insane person, really) formed the other Dynamic Duo. Tim has some mental notes on efficient team management that he's going to present to Dick and Barbara when they get back.

And by present he totally means rig every single electronic appliance they own to do something nasty. Pretty easy when it comes to Dick, but enormously difficult when it comes to Barbara. That's okay, Tim likes a challenge. Just not this one. The only light in the utter, utter darkness of the situation is that no one suggested they bring Damien.

He sighs. "Jason, if you--"

"Shut up," Jason says again, and Tim grits his teeth.

"Did you want to get loose, because I can just leave--"

"No, seriously, shut up." Jason sounds calm, which is a new one. "I know how we can get in."

Tim draws a startled breath, and then he starts grinning. "Okay," he says. "Okay, tell me."

[softlyforgotten.livejournal.com]

HI YOU. ♥ If it pleases you, I would like a post-split Ryan/Spencer apocalyptic story where Spencer doesn't know where Ryan is. :D?

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Okay, so, like, the first time I read your prompt I missed the post-split part, and this happened:


Spencer never thought he'd miss going to school, but he does. He misses math and he misses gym and he misses recess and being outside for more than five minutes every day. He liked fifth grade, okay?

Right now he doesn't care about school though. Ryan was supposed to come to them after the third storm ebbed out, but he didn't. Spencer doesn't know where Ryan is.

He kicks at the table a little bit, and he thinks about where Ryan could be. There aren't that many places, Ryan's only twelve and he can't have gotten very far, not if he is by himself (Mr Ross got taken to the hospital this morning, he was on the list they read on the radio, but Ryan wasn't). Spencer thinks some more about where Ryan could be, and then he decides.

Five minutes later, his backpack holds a knife and three extra masks and four cans of Sprite, and he is on his way out the back door as quietly as he can because his mom will stop him if she sees him. He's wearing a mask, though.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, this:


"Aren't you glad you wore headbands before so you had one lying around?" Brendon says weakly, and Spencer half-smiles.

Brendon's unnaturally pale, leaning against the wall in the shelter, and Spencer basically carried him most of the last bit here after the shards coming down hit the path they were on and Brendon walked into one.

"Sure," he says. "Headbands are practical." He wouldn't have wanted hair in his eyes when he grabbed Brendon and ran.

The shelter is really full of people, but Spencer's been waiting, and when he sees a familiar face, he breathes out in relief. But then.

He walks over to Jon. "Hey," he says, and Jon hugs him, holds on hard. Spencer is surprised at first but then thinks that when it starts raining glass, some things don't matter so much anymore. So he holds on right back, breathing into Jon's hair and trying not to ask, trying not to ask.

"I don't know where he is," Jon murmurs. "We weren't--I don't know where he is."

Spencer nods and backs away from Jon. Fuck. He's so sick of waiting, and he doesn't know where Ryan is. Z's there now too, she must have come in behind Jon. Her face is twisted and she's leaning hard on a dark-haired girl while another one readies a makeshift bed out of coats and scarves.

He turns to her. "Do you know where he is?"

Z shakes her head. "Him and Tenn went to--fuck, that hurts--him and Tenn went to go somewhere, I don't remember, I couldn't walk and I made them leave me."

"Okay," Spencer says. "Okay." He needs to--they have another hour in here, and then the storms will quiet for half a day or so, if the pattern holds true. He knows what he needs to do.

[morebliss.livejournal.com]

Bob/Brian - Brian organising and packing for the upcoming apocalypse.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Aww, Brian and his organizing self! I got all done with ficlets, but save this one for next time, I love it.

[nthngtoseehere.livejournal.com]

Bob/Veronica Mars, Post-apocalyptic detective-y shenanigans?

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Dude, save me that one for next time, that's awesome.

[blindmouse.livejournal.com]

Like girls, finding each other after separation in a broken world!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Z's been here for a week now, living off of what she can find in pantries in the abandoned building (her can opener is her dearest possession, and she's put it on a necklace, all Martha Stewart chique). Her favorite apartment is the one on the third floor with enormous windows. It doesn't have any furniture, which either means the people who lived there took it with them or there were some very thorough looters. Z thinks it was probably a bit of both.

Anyway, she's been steadily populating the rooms with a chair there, a cushion here, and she dragged a mattress three stories down (it's not like the elevator is working) so she could have somewhere to sleep.

It's really quiet, most days. Sometimes there's a rumble like another crash is coming, but it never goes anywhere.

One day though, one day she wakes up and is absolutely sure someone's staring at her. And wow, okay, there's a girl on the floor.

"Hi," Z says, and the girl waggles her fingers like she's saying hello back. She doesn't open her mouth, as if--

"You can't talk, can you?" Z blurts out, and the girl shakes her head. A bunch of people got their vocal chords burned out in the third crash, if they were outside when it hit.

"Sorry," Z says. The girl shrugs. "Oh! I'm Z."

The girl squirms a little and takes out a folded piece of paper, which is--a map of the US? Z shifts closer so she can see where she's pointing, and after a few false starts, she realizes--"Your name is Tennessee? Is that it?"

The girl, no, Tennessee smiles, wide and breath-taking, and nods.

[saekokato.livejournal.com]

This icon has never felt more appropriate. *snicker*

Bob/Brian and the first signs of spring after the world ends.

PS. Gabe's throwing the party! I'm not so sure that basement is safe, though. :T

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I wrote five! But the first one I wrote sort of fills this prompt as well. ♥

[x_dark_siren_x]

How do I always miss these? *despairs*

Oh well. *settles down to read*

[x_dark_siren_x]

Oh, oh honey. *______* My breath is sort of constantly catching in my throat right now. And, and normally I don't like apocolyptically-minded stuff, because it scares me (this is why I have never seen "The Day After Tomorrow", will not see "2012" - God, that scares me most of all, I think - and the thing with the ash cloud - which is totally non-existant in Scotland - is freaking me out just more than a little), but. But but but.

But if it's you? I could be okay with it. ♥