Okay so - really like this 'ten songs' idea - do most of my writing to specific songs anyway - and have a normal-length Watchmen fic in the planning stages so figured this'd be a good way to get my headspace around the characters. To clarify (just in case) the idea is: iTunes on shuffle, and only work on a given ficlet until the song you're writing it to is over, then move on. So, these are time-crunched, unrevised, a little rough around the edges. Will post one per day. Props to Supaslim for the idea.

Note 1: Most of these ended up being about Daniel or Rory or their friendship, since that's what I'm trying to practice for my other fic. No slash atm though.

Note 2: I cheated in one small way - after I'd written all of these I reordered them into something resembling chronological order. OCD SORRY. And I also cheated on the very last song in a way I'll explain when it's posted.

Note 3: Primarily movie-verse for consistency with the other fic, which has specific reasons for being movie-verse. I LOVE YOU, GN. BUT YOU ARE NOT WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW.

iTunes, it's now in your hands. Onward!

1. No Rain - Blind Melon

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There's a boy somewhere, being groomed to be a banker, a respectable member of society, but all he can do is dream of adventure and excitement and the limitless, unconstrained sky.

There is a girl being trained to follow in her mother's footsteps, to be lived through and to be an instrument of immortality. She always nods, eyes down, when asked if it's what she wants.

There's a boy, rage and guilt and fear all mixed up with fire, and all he wants is a normal life, somehow, with normal parents, not a whore and a ghost - without bullies and adults who don't understand, never understand.

There's a boy hunched over a sheet of watch parts while all the children who could be his friends play outside, and he sets his mouth and works, his future as stratified as the design in front of him.

They all wish, as children do, to not be so different, to not be so strange. There are other wishes: Freedom. Choice. Stability. A vision of the future that is something other than what is already known. As adults they will shed the desire for sameness - difference is what allows them to be better, to do what they are called on to do - but the other wishes will remain, and will be pined for, and will never be attained, just so much childhood baggage spilled into the snow.

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