An Experiment in AUs
Looking to stretch my writing fingers, and have a side project while I'm stuck on all my other WIPs, I've started this little thing. Each chapter will be a one-shot AU (mostly non-ZA) of various lengths featuring a different ship (although they pretty much will either be Carol or Michonne related). They are not connected to each other (unless stated otherwise) and I'll have each pairing posted at the beginning of each chapter so if it's a NOTP you can just skip! All the prompts I have gotten off of tumblr in the au prompts tag, so if you see something of yours and would like credit just let me know!
AU 1: Caronne (Carol/Michonne)
Stangers ending up in the same side in a bar-fight
Carol always forgot just how much she hated this bar until she was dragged inside. For the second weekend in a row Andrea and Lori had begged her to engage in "Girls Night" with them, which meant standing around the always too crowded Billie's, while some ogre tried his hand at charming one of them. She never understood why Girls Night couldn't be sitting in their sweatpants on her nice comfy couch, sipping on their own individual bottles of wine and laughing at horribly cheesy Nicholas Sparks' movies.
Jostled by the staggering drunks that tried to get past her, Carol clenched her hands into a ball.
"C'mon Carol, relax!" Andrea urged her, seeing the tension rising in her friend's shoulder.
"If one more of them runs their sweaty bodies against mine while they try to pound down their fifth PBR I'm going to explode," she said between gritted teeth.
Lori gave her a sympathetic smile, and trying to placate both ladies at once conceded, "It is a bit packed tonight. I've got at least another hour before Rick starts calling to nag me back home. We can try to hit up O'Reilly's."
Andrea rolled her eyes, "Just give it a few minutes, it'll die down." At that moment a man, with hair cropped so short he may have been bald, knocked backwards into Andrea. Her half drank martini went sloshing in its unstable glass, drenching Carol's shirt in the sticky liquid.
"Oh," the man turned, giving Andrea a long once over, "I am sorry, blondie. Didn't see you there." His lips curled into a crude smile as his scratchy drawl grated down Carol's spine. "Mind if I get you another?" he scrunched his lips up and blew a trifling kiss at her. Andrea groaned, rolling her eyes. She turned her back to him, grimacing at the wet spot soaking into Carol's shirt.
"Hey!" the man yelled, "Ain't nobody ignores ol' Merle!" He grabbed her around the shoulder, trying to force Andrea to turn back around. Fiercely, Carol crossed in front of her friend, urging the younger woman behind her.
"You take your hands off her!" Carol stood defiantly.
He had the audacity to laugh at her, sucking his teeth as he took in her small frame, "What you gonna do about it? What are you her girlfriend? Couple of lesbians?" A sickening grin spread across his thin lips as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
Carol shook her head in disgust, turning back to Andrea, "C'mon, let's go." She started to push Andrea towards the door, but Merle's hand gripped her upper arm, hauling her back.
"Ain't done with you yet, blondie," he sneered at her, enjoying the way she squirmed in his reach.
"Causing more trouble than you're worth, Dixon?" the voice came from Carol's right, and she leaned to get a glimpse of the woman standing behind Merle. Tall, with long dreads whirling around her face, the woman was beautiful and menacing. She cocked an eyebrow at the rough man.
"This ain't your business Michonne, get on out." Andrea hissed as the man's grip around her arm grew tighter.
"Pretty girls that don't need your grubby hands on them are always my business," Michonne's voice was cool and collected like she didn't have a worry in the world. She looked over at Carol, smiling and winking before turning her eyes back to Merle.
Merle answered with a growl, apparently intent on hauling Andrea to some unknown dark corner of the bar. Seeing him start to walk off with her Carol panicked. "Hey!" she yelled and when he looked at her, vigorously rolling his eyes, Carol reeled back and punched him in the nose as hard as she could. The contact sprang into Carol's fist and it started to throb. She held her hand, trying to shake out the discomfort. Merle looked as shocked as Carol felt, but she had succeeded in getting him to lose his grip on Andrea. The blonde scrambled back to Lori, who was gaping at Carol.
"Shit," Carol muttered but her pain scattered off when she saw the murderous look in Merle's eyes.
"You little bitch," he bit, touching his nose gingerly. He started for her, but Michonne stepped in, shoving the man sideways. Carol, who didn't want this stranger getting hurt for her, quickly jumped to her side and the two of them glared back at the man as his friends started to gather around.
"Five against two," Michonne laughed, her voice low enough for just Carol to hear, "I like these odds. You any good in a fight?"
Carol stared back at her, "Guess we'll find out."
The men staggered forward, drunk and unsure if they should be fighting the two women, but Merle continued to bark orders at them. Their punches were thrown haphazardly and Carol found she could simply evade them with quick side steps and they'd fall down of their own accord. Michonne had clocked one of them between the eyes, but the next man had gripped her in a tight arm lock. She grunted in pain and Carol whipped towards him, kicking at his shin and making sure to drive the high heel of her boot into him. He screeched and let go of Michonne, limping back towards Merle and the others.
"That's enough," the bartender yelled, pointing for the men to get out. Heads hung low and grumbling excuses for their losing the fight they hurried out in an undignified huddle.
"That was…" Lori approached her friend and her fighting partner, struggling to find the words.
"Amazing!" Andrea finished for her, throwing her arms gratefully around Carol.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed, turning to Michonne and hugging her as well.
The woman chuckled, disentangling herself from Andrea's arms. Andrea and Lori turned away, chatting excitedly to themselves as they recounted the fight to each other as if they hadn't both witnessed it.
"I can't thank you enough," Carol said, after finally catching her breath.
"It's no problem. Merle and his cronies think every woman who isn't interested in them must be a lesbian, and then they become ten times more interested," Michonne sighed.
"Well, maybe he wasn't entirely wrong," Carol smiled at her, her eyebrows raised as she held a hand out, "I'm Carol, by the way."
Michonne matched the woman's grin, taking in how soft Carol's skin felt as she slid her hand into hers, "Michonne. Mind if I buy you a drink, since you've seemed to have lost yours on that shirt?"
She looked down at herself, running her hand over the spot that was now clinging to her body. "Oh this was actually Andr—" Carol stopped herself, catching Lori and Andrea's vigorous head shakes in the corner of her eye. Looking back up at Michonne and finding something catch in her chest at the woman's amused smirk, Carol straightened herself out a bit before replying coolly, "Sure. If you're offering."
"I am," Michonne let the smirk grow into a genuine smile, her hand brushing against Carol's forearm as she left her to get closer to the bar. Carol felt a sizzle linger at the trail Michonne's fingers had made. She glanced over to her friends, who were smiling smugly.
Michonne wiggled her way back through the crowd, holding up two cups of bright blue liquid, "Bartender said it was on the house for getting rid of Dixon." Her voice lilted over the increasing chatter of the crowded bar and Carol could barely hold down the giggle that rose from her belly. She wasn't one to click with strangers, certainly not in bars, but there was something enticing about Michonne that Carol wanted to drink up until she was full with the warm feeling that was slowly spreading throughout her.
They joined Lori and Andrea, glancing surreptitiously at each other over the rims of their drinks as they sipped slowly.
"Do you live close by Michonne?" Andrea asked while Lori rolled her eyes at her cellphone that was blinking from notifications faster than a strobe light.
Michonne nodded, "I'm over by Winn Street, not too far from Goose Pond."
"Wow, that's crazy!" Andrea said a little more dramatically than she needed to, "Carol lives right by Goose Pond!"
"Oh? You do?"
Carol rolled her eyes, holding in a groan as her face flushed from Andrea's painful obviousness, "Yeah, on the East side. It's maybe twenty minutes from here."
"The houses over there are beautiful," Michonne smiled, her gaze flowing over Carol in a way that made her buzz from more than just the alcohol.
"Well that was Rick's third text message. If I don't get out of here now, the voicemails will start and I just do not have the patience for that," Lori said, muttering as she crammed her phone back into her pocketbook. Andrea took her queue, slugging the last drop of her drink back in a hurried slurp. Eyes were on Carol as she looked down into her drink, her mouth quirking into a pursed line.
Michonne cleared her throat with a small cough, "I could drive you home…I mean if you wanted to stay out longer I wouldn't mind."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Andrea jumped in, already gathering her things together and looping her arm through Lori's. She leaned in for a hug, whispering into Carol's ear to have fun and let her know when she got home. Lori gave her a kiss on the cheek, waving goodbye to Michonne.
"Give Rick and the kids a kiss for me!" Carol called after her friends, but they disappeared into the crowd. The two women gazed at each other, both knowing where the night was likely heading and taking long, calculated sips of their blue cocktail.
After a good half hour of story-telling, Michonne having plenty of ridiculous tales about the art community since she was a curator at a local gallery, the two decided that it was about time to call it in. Michonne took Carol's empty glass to the bar, her own still half full, and then met her at the door. They stepped out and Michonne guided Carol over to her car, a colorful Volkswagen Beetle. Carol hopped in excitedly.
"I've always loved these cars!" she said louder than she meant to, the chatter of the bar still making her ears buzz.
Michonne laughed, starting the car and pulling out towards Goose Pond. When she got to the house under Carol's careful instruction, Michonne got out to walk her to the door. It was a modest two story situation, a delicate porch with a wicker swing and too many overflowing flower pots. It was homey and quaint and Michonne felt oddly comfortable standing in front of the blue door.
Fumbling with her keys Carol tried to understand why they were both stalling. There was no reason for Michonne to be lingering on her stoop and certainly no reason that Carol hadn't opened her door yet. She looked up at Michonne, her warm eyes low and searching beneath the dim porch light. Without so much as a real thought, Carol pushed forward, smashing her lips against Michonne's. She felt Michonne's hands—slender and strong—push against her waist and back her into the door. Squashed against the cool frame, Carol couldn't get enough of her. Her hands roamed generously beneath the tight tank top and leather vest that Michonne wore, warming her fingers against Michonne's tight stomach. Carol stopped herself before she progressed further, nipping at Michonne's bottom lip before she pulled back with a breathy sigh.
"Tomorrow?" Carol asked, out of breathe and not even caring at the hint of yearning her voice held.
Michonne smiled, leaning in to give Carol a long, lingering kiss. "Absolutely." She turned quickly, hopping off the steps and scuffing the toe of her boots against the paved walkway. Michonne turned back to the grey haired pixie that stayed leaning against the doorway, her keys clutched tight against her pounding heart.
"Six o'clock good? There's an Italian place not too far from here," Michonne suggested, biting her lip to keep the overzealous smile that poked at the corners of her mouth from spilling forward.
"Perfect," Carol smiled back, making no moves to hide the glee and heaving breathes from her. They stalled again, both shifting with uncertainty until Michonne waved and forced herself back to her car, thinking that maybe tomorrow night she'd make it passed the door.