Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding the Chuckverse, I'm just playing with the other kids toys and I promise to return them in pristine condition...though perhaps a little bit smutty:-)
Author's Note: This was a little challenge that I did a while back for another fandom and I wanted to try out with the Chuckverse. Especially since Chuck had a Jill Angst Playlist on his iPod…just a little too perfect. Rules are as follows and I encourage others to give this exercise a try…it's very fun and challenging.
Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over.
Do ten of these, then post them.
Hope you enjoy Chuck's Angst Playlist January 2009!
1. Stupid Girls – Pink
Sarah's POV
Over her years with the agency she's perfected the role of a dumb blonde-bombshell, and yet it feels strange to ever pull out that persona around Chuck. He responds to it, as all men do, but it rings false, like he's giving a bad performance. It's probably because most marks don't know that she's a CIA agent skilled in the arts of seduction. She'd rather assume that's the reason, than entertain the more likely possibility that Chuck really knows her and that he hates to see her diminish her intelligence by playing up a stereotype.
2. Set the Fire to the 3rd Bar – Snow Patrol
Chuck's POV
Every year on the anniversary of her disappearance he pulls out a map and runs his fingers over the most remote places in the world. He imagines her fighting and bleeding, a violent angel of death…his angel. He throws back another shot, but it doesn't burn away the memory of her soft skin beneath his. Tomorrow, he'll wake up on the floor, cold and shivering, then he'll brush himself off and pretend that the life he has now is happy. He'll convince himself of the lie…until next year.
3. Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives
Casey's POV
John Casey hates Christmas. This year is infinitely worse because he can actually remember why people go gaga over this sentimental crap. He's watching the surveillance on the Bartowski living room where the two couples are gathered on the couch watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He remembers being 8 years old, wearing footie pajamas, and desperately trying to keep his eyes open to watch his favorite Christmas show, Rudolph. He can hear Holly Jolly Christmas softly crooning from the TV as his father gathers him in his arms to take him upstairs and tuck him in bed. It's one of the few warm memories of absolute security left in the hardened NSA agent's mind.
4. Fight for All the Wrong Reasons – Nickelback
Chuck's POV
I'm still the Intersect and Sarah is my handler…though the things she handles now are more diverse. We crossed that line nearly a year ago and whoever said that sex ruins friendships may have had a point. But still, when I see her standing across from me, angry and screaming at me for not staying in the car, my first instinct is to crush her lips to mine. We fight for all the wrong reasons, but as I press her body up against the wall, I hear her whisper 'I love you' and I take some comfort in the fact that we always make up for the right one.
5. Complicated – Bon Jovi
Sarah POV
I'm so tired of telling Ellie that my relationship with Chuck is complicated, but it's probably the most honest thing I've ever told the elder Bartowski. I know that I should ask for reassignment, not just because I've fallen for Chuck, but because I'm in love with his family and even his friends. For a while, I used the later as evidence that I wasn't in love with Chuck, but rather what he represents…the normal life I can never have. I just wish I could talk to someone about this whole mess openly and honestly, but that's not possible, so I revert to the party line and repeat the most inadequate truth, "It's complicated".
6. Crash Into Me – Dave Matthews Band
Chuck's POV
I always imagined that our first time together would be amazing but it's descending into organized chaos. All my mental preparations to take things slow, to show this woman tenderness and warmth because she's lived too long in a world of hard edges, evaporates as our lips crash together. Fevered and frantic, my hands are slipping up her skirt, flicking aside the scant fabric of her panties. Her mouth opens against my neck as I slip two fingers inside of her and all too soon she's panting my name in a way that's depraved and so hot that my knees buckle. I could care less that gravity has pulled me to the ground, because here on my knees in front of her is where I desperately want to be. And as I press my mouth against her, I can feel her need dissolve into surrender. The taste of her is victory itself.
7. Secret – Madonna
Sarah's POV
Sometimes I look at Chuck and the CIA agent within me cringes that the most open and honest person I've ever known is responsible for keeping the government's most dangerous secrets. But when he smiles at me, I know that his most deadly secret is his quiet understanding. I used to be a mystery to myself, but Chuck knows me. Or maybe it's that he simply forces me to learn about myself, to remember my humanity. It's on those days, that I almost believe in the lie of normalcy and bright shiny futures.
8. Single Ladies – Beyonce
Chuck's POV
If one more person at Ellie's wedding asks him when he's going to take the plunge, Chuck thinks that he may just borrow one of Casey's guns and end operation Bartowski himself. The cruelty of the question isn't something that he can confide in to anyone, so he plasters a smile and makes the most non-committal socially acceptable responses. When he takes Sarah in his arms for the last dance of the evening, they sway close to the newlyweds and the hopeful smile that Ellie sends in their direction is nearly enough to make him cry. Sarah touches his cheek, drawing his gaze down to hers and he can see moisture gathered in the corners of her eyes. He kisses her softly and wonders.
9. Believe – Yellowcard
Chuck's POV
I choke on a breath of fresh air and it burns worse than the smoke I've been inhaling for the past five minutes. A strong slap against my back reminds me of what just happened and how much I'm indebted to the silent man beside me. The paramedics are putting an oxygen mask across my mouth, but I struggle to push them off, grabbing desperately at Casey's hand. He gives me a slight sneer at the intimate contact and hack's out a "What?" I pull the plastic away from face, hold his gaze and squeeze his hand sharply, "Thank you." He nods, shaking off my hand as he stalks away. I smile a little and resolve to buy him a box of Cuban cigars. I know he'll appreciate the irony.
10. El Tango de Roxanne – Moulin Rouge! Soundtrack
Casey's POV
Watching them dance around each other is annoying and on rare occasion amusing. Today is the former. The kid let his jealousy get the better of him, jeopardizing their infiltration of the Van Hayes party, but to be fair Larkin was laying the PDA's on rather thick. He'll never admit it, but there's a tinsy part within John Casey that sympathizes with the dork. He remembers how supportive Chuck was of his situation with Ilsa and he considers teaching Chuck how to throw a proper punch just so he could watch the geek take a swing at Bryce for being such a condescending bastard. But it's too late now, Larkin is gone and his team is in emotional shambles. Tomorrow Walker and Bartowski will start a new dance and again, he'll be on the sidelines watching.
Author's Note: Review are appreciated…I'm curious as to which numbers people like best. I tried to move around the POV's so that it wasn't overwhelmingly Chuck, Sarah, or Casey. I hope other's try their hand at this and note that it's an excellent way to break a writer's block funk.