RATING: R (Adult thematic material, content, violence, dark themes)
FANDOMS: Multi
PAIRINGS: Multi
SLASH/GEN/HET: All
DISTRIBUTION: To Twig only ;-)
CATEGORY: Challenge response.
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
TOTAL NUMBER OF DRABBLES: 24
TOTAL NUMBER OF FANDOMS: 21
CONNECTING THEME: Kisses/Kissing
FANDOM 1- WWE
She tastes like someone else.
It penetrates her foggy brain like a needle - her lover, best friend, a betrayer.
There is nothing hidden in the set of her shoulders, the press of her lips, the smile on her face. She thinks herself so clever, so concealed, unapproachable. The smallest mistakes do in the best of betrayers - unbrushed teeth, hidden phone numbers, a new pair of panties. She seems shocked at the dissconnection of their affection.
"Who have you been fucking, Trish?"
FANDOM 2 - LAS
He's the most awkward man invented - and he kisses this way:
With boldness, without compromise, with desperation - flavored of hysteria and fear. He's lost a thousand women - maybe more. Like a rabbit caught in a hunter's trap, he waits for her hand to strike out, for her to yell at him. The edges inside of her are being worn down by the press of his body, the heat of his belly against hers.
Her hands lay inert at her side. "How did you learn to kiss like that?"
He grins. "From you."
FANDOM 3 - THE SIMPSONS
"Homey, come back to bed."
The massive form by the window grunts and flinches as the hall light flicks on. "Marge, you're gonna blow my cover!"
"Are you still waiting up for Maggie?"
"Maybe."
"Oh, for gosh sakes, she's sixteen and it's prom night!"
Homer pressed his eyes closer to the picture window. "Why did you agree to a one am curfew?"
"WE agreed to a one AM cerfew."
"I didn't agree to anything!"
"You said 'okay' when she asked."
"I was eating! You confused me with food!" he pouted.
"Oh, geez Louise!" Marge crossed the room, wrapped her arms around Homer's neck and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"What was that for?"
Marge wrapped her arms around his neck, then rested her head against his shoulder. "It's hard for me to let go, too - but every parent has to."
"You can let go all you want. But I'm not gonna. Not ever."
FANDOM 4- FUTURAMA
It couldn't be Fry in that coffin.
It couldn't be, for the corpse lay there, expressionless - and every memory Leela conjured as she walked up the dark-boardered aisle showed Fry laughing, Fry frowning, Fry mugging for her attention.
The crowd around the casket parted to make way for her. If Leela was at all aware of anything but the casket, the gesture would have struck her as odd - it was as if the mourners were endowing her with the sort of respect one gave to a widow.
In her intergalactic travels, Leela had seen a few corpses in her time - she was normally not at all shy in the presence of death. But the overwhelming facts of the situation - that Fry had died saving her, and that it was her fault - made her stride falter.
She paused to compose herself, then gingerly looked down into the open box. At the thorn that protruded from his stomach, the pale, waxen cast of his skin, the stony line of his jaw. He had only wanted her to notice him...
She bent, pressing her lips to his glacieral forehead.
"Goodbye."
FANDOM 5 - FAMILY GUY
It was a game she played by herself, with the curtains drawn and a steamy shower, with the door locked and her glasses off.
She played when the house was dead quiet and the dog had gone to bed - when her baby brother finally stopped mumbling about world domination, and when her older brother forgot about the monkey plotting revenge in his closet.
In the dead of night, she exited the shower and squinted at the reflection. In the right light, with the right amount of steam, the face staring back at her almost looked like a boy's...
She turned the heat up, until her face dissolved into a blurry shadow. She curved her lips into a seductive smile, bending over the sink...
In her mind, warm lips parted for her inviting tongue - a mustache tickled her lips as she tilted back her head, persuing the slipery greeting of a tongue, her mouth opening wider and wider...
"Megan! Why in God's name are you licking the mirror?"
FANDOM 6- GREASE
"Never suck too deep - try not to suck at all, really. Until you get his belt off."
"Riz!"
"Hey, someone's got to teach you the facts of life, Sand."
"Well, you certainly don't have to be so crude about it!"
"Boys ARE crude. And to keep one happy, you've gotta think like 'em."
"Well, then, what do I do next?"
"You put your arm around his neck...and you smile...tilt your head a little...open your mouth..."
"...That was highly outrageous."
"You really think so?"
"....No."
"Sand, My mom has a saying - you learn by doing. So what do you want to do?"
FANDOM 7- SCOOBY DOO
Jasmine grew thick around his sleeping bag. Shaggy's curious fingers plucked them by the roots, turning over the rubbery blossoms between his toughened fingers.
Velma smelled like jasmine.
He hadn't spoken that name out loud in a year. Not since that lonely Saturday night after Daphne and Fred's engagement party. They had both been dateless and miserable...
Shaggy tucked his chin down against a sudden chill wind. Thinking about Velma was pointless - she was with Ethan. And he...
"Rats rong, Raggy?"
"Nothin' Scoob. Just had a bad dream."
"Raw gee." Scooby rose and ambled over to his owner, resting his muzzle against Shaggy's knee. The dog wore his concearn.
"Don't worry about me, ol' buddy. I just need a change of scenery - we'll get to Tuscon and I'll be okay."
"Romise?"
"Promise."
The dog lapped his hand, offering the comfort his master had not asked for but needed deeply.
FANDOM 8 - CHICAGO
"Take the gum out of your mouth."
Roxie rolled her eyes, then spit the gum onto the sidewalk. She heard Billy groan his exasperation and shuffled her shoulders. "There weren't no trash can around, Billy..."
"Ladies...scratch that...the kind of ladies that win their cases don't just spit gum onto the ground."
"I ain't no lady."
"You got that right."
Roxie pouted - she had come to like Billy over the years, and hated making him mad. Even though he wasn't her type - or she'd be paying for his services in another way - he knew how to hide a flask of gin and how to keep her amused. To impress him, she held her head higher as they walked together, trying not to draw attention to her scuffed and out-of-fashion high heels.
Billy Flynn - despite all of his shady double-talk bullshit, he was basically a nice guy. That's why she wasn't going to tell him what really happened at the Fount Rock, why she was going on trial one more time. Why she just might swing if she couldn't sparkle...
"ROXANNE. HELLO!"
Her features froze into a parody of a grin at Mary Sunshine's trilling. "MARY. HELLO."
Clearly, the bitch wasn't starving - her feathered hat framed chipmunk cheeks and a double chin. Roxie's own bones felt miniature against Mary's.
"What do you need, darling?" Mary whispered.
"An alibi," Roxie muttered. Mary's eyes glittered like a rhinestone, but Roxie didn't notice. Then Mary's lips whispered over Roxie's cheek - the essence of a Hollywood kiss.
"That's just what I needed to hear."
FANDOM 9 - KING OF THE HILL
I still remember how that first kiss felt.
We were in the back of his old Ford.
"Your skin is so soft."
I was trying out a new moisturizer.
"You smell good. Does Dale tell you how good you smell?"
Put on my favorite perfume for no good reason.
"How pretty my sweet Nan-Nan is..."
God, I hated that nickname. John never was possessed of the most interesting personality - one of those things you put up with for good sex. He doesn't like to brush his teeth in the morning, for instance.
But that first kiss - he tasted like wine and rare steak. It made me hungry.
"Tell me to go away, Nancy."
"No."
FANDOM 10- SHREK
"Wouldya put that creature outside?"
Fiona stands protectively in front of her bichon frise. From the day they had taken her home, Puppy has been frightened of the huge green ogre. "Shrek, please be nice to Puppy."
Her husband's shoulders sag. "All right..." He bent at the waist and smiled at the dog. 'C'Mere, Puppy."
The dog looked up at him with warry eyes. The tentativeness made Shrek lose his paitence.
"Aww, c'mon, for the love of pete!"
Shrek's outburst frightened the dog - she ran underneath Shrek's armchair and crouched down, the only part of her body visible being a pink nose.
"What's she afraid of?"
"I guess you squashing her again."
"I didn't know dogs hold grudges."
"I'm sure she won't," the orgess bent down and patted her lap. "Here, puppy."
Puppy emerged tentatively from her hiding place.
"Sit."
She did.
"Now pet her."
Shrek eyed the dog. "You sure?"
Fiona kissed his cheek. "She won't bite, I promise."
"YOU promise..."
"Shrek..."
He knew that tone of voice too well. "Okay, easy!" He reached out and petted the dog on her head.
Puppy's ears went back, her head tilting towward Shrek's palm.
"She likes you!"
"She finally decided not to bite the hand that feeds her."
Fiona chuckled. "I'll start dinner."
Once his wife was out of earshot, Shrek started stroking the dog's head. "Aren't you a pretty girl? Who's a pretty girl?"
The dog snarled - leaping forward and sinking her tiny teeth into the ogere's calloused thumb.
"FIONA!"
FANDOM 11-HAPPY DAYS
"Isn't Missues Cunningham going to miss you?"
"She and Dad are at the lodge."
"You swear you won't tell Fonzie?"
"Good grief! You think I want everyone to know about this?"
"That ain't the way to get me to..."
"Chachi, just shut up and - ow! My nose!"
"You moved your head!"
"You were breathing down my neck!"
"Calm down - okay, don't move your head...don't move your head..."
"...that's it? That's all there is to kissing?"
"Whattya mean that's it?!"
"And who comes to a make-out session with a pencil box in their pocket?"
"That's not a pencil box."
FANDOM 12-BEWITCHED
The first time was magical.
This was before he knew he'd fallen in love with a woman who could conjure an entire Thanksgiving dinner with the snap of a finger, plus some genuine Pilgrims.
It was beside the fountain in Rockafeller Center, sometime after midnight and all of the other wanders had gone home. He told her everything he could about himself, trying to reveal something interesting enough to make her want to stay a little longer. She treated his words like gospel. He told her all about the mind-numbing world of advertising. He doesn't think she ever told him what she was doing at the time - if anything.
It was under the moon, in the startlight, and everything was an almost holy shade of white.
He remembers. He'll always remember.
FANDOM 13-GANGS OF NEW YORK
It was given for five schillings.
She remembers the amount because it screams at her whenever she lifts a watch fob, or in the midst of a trick, at the worst possible time.
five schillings.
He had been pockmarked and mean-faced, his brows knit together like her nan's thick socks.
She was only twelve.
Ten years later, she saw him on the street and became wild with fright. She had been with Bill - her reaction had been enough to warrent his death. Bill never asked what he had done to her. She never asked Bill what he did to the unfortunate man.
Twenty years have passed, and she still can feel the nausea.
A lifetime of disgust. For five schillings.
FANDOM 14-BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
It was strange, kissing him now.
Not bad, or distasteful. Just different. No claws to be careful of, no teeth to worry about. He had always been gentle with her.
Sometimes, she misses the fuzzy brush of his fur against her cheek. The whisper of his whiskers against the back of her neck makes up the difference, though.
FANDOM 15-WEST SIDE STORY
They don't tell you what happens after she walks away.
How she scrimped and saved until she could afford the bus to Hollywood. How she finally saw the ocean.
How she met a boy that looked like him in the right amount of sunlight. How they kissed too - and the kisesses were not as sweet.
When he found out about the baby, he ran. That's why she's in this mess.
FANDOM 16-THAT 70's SHOW
The letters arrive from Africa every month.
She ties them up in a shoebox, with her Happy Days shoelaces (she swears she swiped them from Jackie). There are so many now that the hide of the laces are starting to fray.
He asks her how his Star Wars figures are doing (they live on her dresser drawer - to avoid hurting him, she won't disclose what happened to poor Han Solo). He asks her about the trends. He worries.
She finds herself kissing the letters - burrying her face in the sweaters he left behind.
She keeps her letters breezy, she keeps the talk affectionate. And the days stretch on between them.
FANDOM 17-RENO911!
None of them knew how to use their mouths.
Jones claimed he did - but he was all big talk. Junior didn't know a girl from a hole in the ground.
Garcia was the most painful recollection
(Garcia knew it all)
FANDOM 18-KILL BILL
Mommy.
She wasn't used to the sound of the word yet. Didn't help that it was often uttered with painful urgency - in fear or in need so great that it made her shudder.
MOMMY.
She was BB's mommy - it was hard to believe. Almost too much to fathom. But the child was hers to keep.
MOMMY!
BB held up her skinned elbow, tears dripping down her round cheeks. Silently, she begged her mother to make it better.
Funny how she had ruthlessly cut down enemy after enemy, and the skinned knee of her child made her knees go weak.
Bea pressed her lips to the wound anyway.
FANDOM 19-DR.QUINN
"I had consumed far too much alchol," said the doctor.
"Sure," smirked the whoremonger.
"You won't tell Sully, will you?"
"I'm not crazy."
"Very well then - I'll see you at the social next week."
Jake smiled blandly, fingering the flask of whisky he kept hidden from view.
FANDOM 20-VENTURE BROS.
He looks so happy. It's such a shame, to end it like this.
And yet, I gave him what he wanted - what he always needed. Does he think I have forgotten my father?
Does he think I've forgotten that I love him?
His blood is a vibrant red - his mouth moves - I can hear a whispered "why?"
Damn him for the weakness inside of me. I give him my breath, sealing it with our lips. "No one hurts my Samson."
I pulled the trigger again.
"But me."
FANDOM 21-ER
She wondered if Elizabeth had felt this way, watching Mark die slowly. Every day was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The apartment was deserted, too quiet - she expected to find Ray passed out under a table.
Agitated, she cleaned up the fragmented, stale pizza crusts glued to ancient paper plates on top of their coffee table.
A butterfly touch brushed the back of her neck. She brushed it aside.
It persisted. Frowning, she turned to shoo it away.
And there he was.
She threw herself into his arms. When she had time to part her lips from his, she panted, "Hello, Michael."
22- WRESTLING AGAIN
His mouth tastes like a sweatsock filled with cigarettes.
And that's confusing. When did he start smoking? She had been the tobacco lover in this relationship, puffing like a fish throughout their affair. He hadn't complained but never asked her for a light.
She rests her manicured nails against his shoulders - they feel thicker now. He had never injected in front of her - but she hadn't ever injected in front of him.
He distracts her by pressing his tongue aggressively against the roof of her mouth. She gasps, grunts, and refoccuses on the task again.
Blandly, she moves her tongue around in his mouth - like swirling an oversized mouthful of Scope. In the back of her mind, a tiny bell goes off - he didn't like her brand, that's why they never shared a cigarette. No surprise to her - he hadn't liked much about her in the first place. In the end it was her boldness that sent him running back to Lisa every week.
His tongue explicitly ventures about her mouth, taking a little tour. If he had been that adventurous during the affair, she never would have dumped him.
The camera's little red light clicks off.
He releases her - the sudden shock crumpling her body against a wall. Bricks press hard against her shoulders, a physical rejection propelling her back onto her toes. His arrogant smile is loaded with self-flattery.
He wipes his mouth along his left wrist, leaving a trail of blood-colored Revlon along his tanned skin.
"Thanks. That was fun."
23: LAS Again
Joe Ricardo learned many a thing in his line of work. Missus Cavendish hates Miss Farmer for her beauty - Mister Davis is having an affair with Miss Georgia. As the neighborhood was poor, no one could afford the deliveries, so Joe's news stand saw a lot of action - more, he supposed, than Miss Georgia on a Friday night. As a result, everyone seemed to believe him a trusted friend, and all he got in return was a steady income and a head filled with useless gossip.
He straightened up his stacks of unsold Milwaukee Senitals and squints through the sheeting rain. Out there in the flood, a red-coated figure still paced the gutter.
Out of all of his pity cases, Joe felt the most sypathy for Mister Kosnowski.
He was a good kid, a nice one - knew all of the gossip, too, but didn't spread it around like the others. Came every day to look at the autimotive magazines and sneak a peek at the smut rags - rarely bought them, though. Joe supposed that was his roomate's job, as it was his roomate's job to complain about Joe's prices being 'highway robbery'.
The Kosnowski kid wasn't coming by for the news, anyway. He bought the same thing every day - a tin of Sen-Sen and a pink carnation. Then he'd wait - for an hour - sometimes, two. But always he left at the heels of the redheaded town squeeze, Laverne DeFazio. Joe always found the carnation a few hours later, smashed flat in the gutter around the way.
Joe thought the kid was wasting his time. The girl liked him the way she liked Clark Bars - she'd go for it if there wasn't anything else around. And for the DeFazio girl, there was always somebody else around.
But then, he'd never paced over her. He'd never looked so frightened. Could something have gone down last night?
Joe knew that he had no say in what these kids did with their time. And he supposed that he didn't care, as long as the money kept coming in. Maybe he was getting soft, but he thought the kid deserved a break for once.
A form approached from Knapp Street. Joe recognized the navy raincoat and thin bonnet, the red lipstick and the pink nails. He tried not to listen, but words like 'love' and 'tonight' floated up from the street before them. The conversation became louder, the tones worrisome. Joe's hand tightened around his favorite wooden-handled revolver, ready for trouble.
When the noise died away, he foccused his eyes on the gutter, expecting a body. The scene made him return to his magazines.
Their words may be public property, but a kiss like that was no one's business.
24- THE SIMPSONS AGAIN
He wondered if her professor would take marks off for the drool stains.
Nah - this was Lisa. She could bring in an essay stained with mashed bananas and crumbled-up cookie things and applesauce and chocolate ice cream - mmm, chocolate ice cream....
Homer came back to himself. "Aww," he whispered. Lisa rested, head in her unfolded hands, as if offering it in sacrifice to the God of Philosipop - whomever he was.
She always slept that way as a child. Memories came flooding back - her first Christmas, where she liked the cardboard boxes better than any present. Watching her ride Princess, oblivious to his exhaustion. Seeing her win Little Miss Springfield, only to lose it all to his incompetance.
There were bad memories, too - her calling him a baboon. The death of Bleeding Gums Murphy, and the sickening dread in his gut when he realized that he couldn't fix everything in the world for his little girl. It had always been easier for him to relate to Maggie - they were too much alike, and it often lead to conflict - and only when Bart entered his teenage years did he begin to connect with his wayward son. But Homer's relationship with Lisa had always been different - and then it dawned on Homer that he looked up to her the way she looked up to him.
After he pressed his lips to her pale yellow forehead, she smiled back from the grip of morpheous.