Author's Note: This is written for the community ot3100 on LiveJournal. Basically the premise is that you take 100 prompts and write 100 drabbles (that are exactly 100 words each) in response. I've decided to write this threesome as a loose series; the prompts will be written sequentially, though there may be time period jumps from one to another, or they may directly follow. I'm not sure how much of a plot there will be, but as it progresses we'll see; I'm letting my muse steer this one. Enjoy?
001. Kiss
"Beer? In the lab?" Claire had the decency to look scandalized.
"Where better?" Bobby wiggled the bottles under her nose
Darien tried to look serious but the eau d'alcohol on his breath didn't help. "Monotony is the kiss of death, you know. And we don't want you dying—"
"—we're unanimous that you dying would not be good—"
"—so we're here to save the day."
"I see you started without me," she said, snapping the latex off her hands and into the garbage.
She grabbed two bottles for herself, popped the tops and they clinked.
"Bottoms up."
002. Hug
Darien slung his arm around the skeleton, poking his fingers through the eye sockets. "He's cute, when'd you get him?"
"About the same time you stole my rat."
"Once a thief," Bobby mumbled moodily into his beer, shuddering when he saw Darien opening and closing the plastic jaw. "Leave that thing alone, partner, it's giving me the heebie jeebies."
"What, you don't like old Skeletor over here?" Darien wheeled him over and Bobby jumped behind the chair, lightning quick if wobbly. Narrowing his eyes, he put his hand on his gun.
"Any closer, I swear I'll blow its head off."
003. Touch
"Awwww, Skeletor was just trying to say hi, Hobbes, no need to get all riled up." He rubbed the skeleton's index finger against his chin thoughtfully. "Besides, doesn't She-Ra kick his butt?"
"You have a point, my friend. That means Keeps here gets the honors of offing him."
"No one will be blowing up or 'offing' my model," Claire said primly. "We have no budget for another."
When she punctuated her sentence with a hiccup, the boys shared a look and promptly executed a high-five that involved three hands, one plastic, and not one of which connected with its target.
004. Love
The "thank God it's Friday even if we never really get a day off" impromptu lab parties were starting to become the highlight of Darien's week. He would never admit it aloud, even under a forty's very persuasive influence, but Bobby and Claire were two of the best friends he'd ever had. It was like when a job was going really well, so well he could practically hear the click as all the pieces fell into places. A flash, so brief, split-second synchronicity: what made the challenge worth it.
But there was no challenge here—just the click—perfect synch.
005. Share
"To think they fell for it," she said, licking the salt off and tossing back another shot.
"What," Darien said, foisting himself around in the chair to look at her, an incongruous sight in a blue labcoat accessorized with Jose Cuervo. "You wouldn't?"
"Most certainly not. It's the oldest trick in the book." She pointed the slice of lime at him. "And the most idiotic, I might add."
"What can I say?" Darien grinned. "The ladies cannot resist the sure-fire Fawkesian charm."
Claire and Bobby snorted simultaneously and Darien tried to look hurt, but his grin wouldn't fade fast enough.
006. Fight
"Will not."
"Will to."
"Will not."
"Will to."
"Boys."
"But Keepie—"
"No buts."
She rolled her eyes when they snickered. "Weren't we all adults the last time I checked?"
Darien and Bobby looked at each other, then down at themselves, and then back at her.
"That was a good one."
"Very good."
"She's got a smokescreen thing going, calling us 'boys' one second and then trying to guilt-trip us into being responsible with the 'we're all adults' line. Smooth operator."
"We better watch this one, partner."
"I call first watch."
"No, I call first watch—"
"No—"
"Boys!"
007. Hide
"C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon," Bobby said, leaning in with a certified "I won't shut up until you give me what I want" smile.
"No," Claire said, withdrawing the needle. "You know as well as I do that it's only for missions."
"Yeah, Hobbes, you heard the lady. Besides, what's with the sudden need to be invisible?" He smiled, "You know you lose more hair every time I do it to you."
Bobby began to sputter but then narrowed his eyes, poking a finger squarely onto Darien's chest. "Ah ah ah. Trying to distract me from my original point, my friend."
008. Left out
"'Silver me. C'mon, I'm sure we can figure out something useful Keepie here can observe from it."
"Oh, yeah, you're right—what about we count every single hair on your head now, and then I quicksilver you everyday for a month, and then we can make it official and declare you 100 smooth as a baby's butt bald, huh?"
Claire put a hand on Bobby's shoulder before he could dignify that with a response. "Why do you want to, Bobby?"
He shot Darien a look and then leaned against the lab chair, shrugging, voice small. "I dunno. You got to."
009. Moments
"Yes," she said, nodding, "I did. To measure how long it lasts on a human subject and to observe and record the process first hand. Not for fun."
"So why can't I do a test? I can stay real still."
She looked at Bobby; his expression was like that of the boy who always got picked last for teams and then, Darien, who was giving her his "oh, come on and live a little" speech with his eyes.
She threw her hands up in a pleased sort of defeat. "Oh, alright. Come back tomorrow, I'll see what I can do."
010. Dreams
—her hair looks beautiful even black and white—
—he's running his fingers through it, down his neck, thinking that he likes it, even if it is kind of puffy—
—she can't hear what he's saying but she's just happy to listen to his voice, because for once he doesn't need anything—
—and he can feel how warm her lips are even through the cold layer—
—massaging those tense shoulders, kid needs to learn how to take care of himself better, burn out real young he keeps up like this—
—talking somehow becomes kissing and she smiles into it—
…they dream.