The Peninsula

The Fiction and Poetry Archive of Liana Mir and scribblemyname

Draw You Close

Feb
20
This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Draw Me Closer

Some would call it the moment hovering between life and death. Dazai Osamu was under no such mistaken impression.

It was over, done, and here he was being asked who his soulmates should be.

Not soulmate, the knowing corrected.

A mark to draw him toward and a mark to push him away, to replace the emptiness on his skin he’d lived with from the beginning.

Choose.

He thought of Oda, wanted Oda, but what would he have done with even more reasons to be attached? He chose someone that might change things. Chuuya. For the other, Mori.

Then suddenly, Live!

Bungou Stray Dogs, Chapter, Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Fanfic , , , , 0 Comment

The Ships

Feb
19

The first time he sees the ships, he’s just a tiny thing at the edge of the wide open bay dropping out like an abyss before them. Cor is four years old and unafraid. Only his older sister’s hand keeps him from stepping too close to the edge.

He has eyes only for the ships, their graceful forms reflected in his bright blue eyes.

“Zana,” he breathes.

He’s pointing, eyes aglow, and something inside her forms into a heavy knot of dread. So young, and already he knows the riftspace singing in their family’s blood.

“Come.” She draws him away.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Do It Again

Feb
19

Nanere isn’t interested in most men. They’re too high maintenance, interested in keeping her around, being there for her, and insinuating themselves into her life.

She doesn’t want that. She takes what she wants, builds the ships her queen asks of her, then moves on to the next port to bury herself anew in metal flesh.

Then there’s Kasuru.

She traces his scars at night, and he kisses her fingers without answering unspoken questions. They drink coffee, argue over designs and engineering, then separate to their work without a word or call.

It’s nice enough to do again. And again.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Empty Sheets

Feb
19

Rhezere complains every single time Bhazaf takes major damage that he doesn’t act like a normal integrate and sleep in the cradle, where he can heal properly and the ship can finally shut down his extensive sensors.

It minimizes pain. It’s smart. Bhazaf never does it.

For once he has.

Rhezere remembers all the usual complaints—at having to share his bed, having to throw an arm across Bhazaf’s chest to remind him he has a human body and it’s not in critical condition.

Right now, the bed is achingly empty.

He sighs and goes to sleep by the cradle.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Mutual

Feb
19

“Big sister.”

Cor hesitated, enough to make Zana stop pouring tea to narrow her eyes at him.

He squirmed despite being a teenager. “You don’t—” He huffed, then forced the words out. “You don’t have to stay here for me. Anymore.”

She stopped breathing, topped off his cup, sat. A slow inhale of steam. “I’m head of this entire training program,” she said quietly, sipped. “I’m not suffering on your account.”

She’d promised not to leave him.

“Little brother.” Zana waited for him to look up. “I’m fine.”

Cor finally nodded. His shoulders relaxed as he reached for tea.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , , 0 Comment

Safety Net

Feb
18

Catch me.

A breath, poised on the edge of the precipice. To fall and to dream and to lose the ability to wake of himself.

Catch me, partner.

Corruption was a long, long fall into an abyss where he could not see the bottom. He saw the light in Dazai’s eyes, the hopeless look of a man who was not desperate to find hope, and thought even his partner saw the death at the bottom of the fall.

He fell, not flinging himself but simply letting go, hands outstretched and waiting in the darkness.

Dazai, who couldn’t be trusted, caught.

Bungou Stray Dogs, Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Fanfic , , , , , 0 Comment

Sync

Feb
16

Sume curled up beside Konot on the sofa in the ship’s lounge. He didn’t do more than breathe in response, still staring at something in his own mind, his body remaining at rest.

She was a lot smaller (younger) than a normal pilot, and she wasn’t fitted like a normal pilot. She wasn’t a pilot at all.

For all that, she felt his welcome thrumming inside her bones, felt the way he settled into her presence, the way he felt her and it calmed the hyperactive thought processes spinning through his brain, feedback from the ship body around them.

Sync.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , 0 Comment

Like Raising a Kitten

Feb
16

Raising a little boy as rambunctious and eager as Cor was an exercise in the fine art of not screaming.

Zana took another deep breath. The four-year-old clung to the top of a teetering bookcase. Ijeve was a space station, occasionally subject to turbulence, and furniture was lashed to walls. Only that had saved Cor from crashing to the floor with the books.

“Little brother—”

“I’m sorry!” He whined as he scrabbled to maintain his grip.

She reached up and snatched him down, making him yelp, then held him tightly to her chest. “You are in so much trouble.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Don’t Go Away

Feb
16

The tiny boy hit Zana like a missile, waking her out of a sound sleep.

“Cor?” she demanded. “Little brother, what’s wrong?”

He was trembling, clinging to her, arms around her waist tight enough to hurt. He shook his head but said nothing.

Zana thought about turning on the light but didn’t. Instead she settled one hand on his back, the other his hair and stroked through the soft strands. “I’m here,” she whispered softly.

Her shirt was damp from his face, and he shuddered at the words. “Promise you won’t go away?”

Their mother had.

“Yes, Cor. I promise.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Looking Good

Feb
15

“Are you even listening?” Chuuya demanded.

Dazai blinked. “I can’t hear you from all the way down there, you’re so short!”

He said it by rote, spewing the first common refrain between them he could say on autopilot, and it had the desired effect of distracting Chuuya from where Dazai’s attention had really been.

Chuuya fumed and sputtered. Dazai went back to staring at the new choker that had shown up on his partner’s neck.

“Your necklace makes you look like a girl.” Dazai poked it.

Chuuya growled and swore.

Dazai smiled, knowing Chuuya would wear it forever from spite.

On AO3

Bungou Stray Dogs, Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Fanfic , , , , 0 Comment

How to Save a Life (or 3 Times They Took Care of Each Other and 1 Time They Didn’t)

Feb
14

“Why are you helping me?”

It took several breaths, rough and panting. The hand on Dazai’s shoulder was limper than it should have been. Chuuya was physically strong, for all he was tiny compared to Dazai. Dazai didn’t care about being touched and didn’t shove his partner off, but he suspected if he did, Chuuya would actually collapse back onto the bed Dazai held him at the edge of.

Corruption wasn’t actually new. It felt new. It was only the second time they’d deployed it in the field, but even so, it was the entire reason they were partnered together in the first place.

There was no love lost between them.

(more…)

Bungou Stray Dogs, Chocolate Box 2018, Fanfic, One-Shot , , , , , , , 0 Comment

One Hundred Points

Feb
14

Saruhiko had almost completely forgotten what it felt like to be taken care of, so it came as a bit of surprise, both unfamiliar and familiar at once, the way Misaki hung around on his return from the hospital.

“How many stitches?” Misaki asked as he frowned at Saruhiko’s limp.

How many stab wounds was more like it, Saruhiko thought with a scowl. And how many pints of blood did he have to get, how many hours passed out unconscious, how many days stuck in the hospital, surprised at how many people came to visit and how long they stayed. Misaki stayed the longest, stubbornly sleeping on the ugly couch in the corner of the room until they’d released Saruhiko to finish recovering at home.

(more…)

Chocolate Box 2018, Fanfic, K, One-Shot , , , , , 0 Comment

A Series of Firsts

Feb
14

Zuko was the first boy to dump her in a lake. He was trying to be helpful, and she knew that. He was trying to put out the flaming apple on her head, and she knew that too. But for a firebender, he sure picked the most embarrassing, awkward, inefficient way to do it.

(more…)

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Chocolate Box 2018, Fanfic, One-Shot , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment

Armed and Dangerous

Feb
14

“Um…” Atsushi was already feeling awkward and wondered if he should really bring this up on top of everything else when something like sex was finally happening at all.

But he’d broached it now, and Akutagawa had pulled away with a scowl as he panted harshly. “What?”

(more…)

Bungou Stray Dogs, Chocolate Box 2018, Fanfic, One-Shot , , , , , , , 0 Comment

Blood, Bone, Ash

Feb
14

A/N: I took a little poetic license with the way Nagare’s power works, and I definitely didn’t get these two quite as far along the curve as I hoped, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Every person is strong or weak themselves. We can give them each their own opportunity to save themselves.

Green power leaks out of the hole where Nagare’s heart ought to be. It doesn’t even bother Mikoto anymore, not that he ever paid it much mind. He slams into Nagare, so he gasps, panting as his dark hair curls with sweat and his limbs tremble under Mikoto’s hands. He has the Green King in front of him, bent over, face down, and there’s nothing gentle about it.

(more…)

Chocolate Box 2018, Fanfic, K, One-Shot , , , , , , , 0 Comment

Knives

Feb
04

Sometimes Misaki counts his knives.

He doesn’t touch them, Saruhiko notices, just drops his head down to note them under a piece of furniture or gently shakes the harness out of the laundry, numbers mouthed noiselessly. If a knife is missing, he shakes the uniform again.

It’s not that Misaki wasn’t there, didn’t know Saruhiko always had knives, or even that he didn’t benefit when they faced down an enemy together.

Sometimes, his fingers rub over a scar just below his right shoulder, something noiseless on his lips.

Saruhiko leans over, glad that Misaki allows him to kiss it away.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Fanfic, K , , , , , , 0 Comment

Tenderly

Jan
01

No one would ever look at Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, who had ruthlessly killed any target of any age for years and think ‘tender.’ But there wasn’t any other word that quite felt right to Clint as he watched her cuddling his sleeping newborn, a small smile on her face, one finger delicately tracing over the soft fuzz of Lila’s hair.

(more…)

Fanfic, Ficlet, Marvel Cinematic Universe , , , , , , , , 0 Comment

Crush

Dec
26

She told herself she absolutely, one hundred percent did not have a crush on her father’s best friend. Absolutely not at all.

He was only the most good-looking man she’d ever seen and had ignored her existence for her entire life and was the best fighter in the Guard, possibly even better than her father and he was legendary, and watching the two of them laugh and train together with spears and total mastery totally did not make her mouth go dry and make her wonder why boys her age didn’t look like that.

It wasn’t right.

She watched anyway.

Daily Drabble 2017, Drabble, Kingdoms and Thorn, Original Fiction , , , 0 Comment

A Way With Them

Dec
11

There’s nothing wrong with babies. Skylight likes them. When they aren’t hers and no one’s asking her when she’s going to produce one.

Her brother’s small daughter is sleeping in her arms, and Skylight’s busily going over reports for things her mother really doesn’t want to know the details of, whether or not she realizes it, when her brother walks in and pushes his glasses up to get a better look.

“You have a way with her.” He smiles. “You ever—?”

“No.” She doesn’t let him finish. She loves her husband, but they agree. They are not having kids.

Daily Drabble 2017, Drabble, Kingdoms and Thorn, Original Fiction , , 0 Comment

Volunteer

Nov
27

Joenna Janine Browning stood in front of a viewscreen staring at her five-year-old son. He was bound at the wrists humanely—small consolations—his whole body hunched over as he cried and railed in words that meant less than the intensity of the pain behind them.

“He’ll be a legend, Janenna.” The father’s voice practically glowed.

He had done this to their son. He had delivered him to the Projects without warning or consultation.

Janenna had heard of the Projects, decided not to volunteer herself as a potential supersoldier, never dreamed they were taking children.

She turned to her husband, soon to be ex. “One day, I will kill you for this.”

Daily Drabble 2017, Drabble, Kingdoms and Thorn, Original Fiction , , , , 0 Comment