cabinpres_fic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cabinpres_fic) wrote2012-05-29 05:28 am
cabinpres_fic) wrote2012-05-29 05:28 am
Entry tags:
Prompting Post V
Please see the most recent MOD NOTE and ADDENDUM
(updated 5 July)
Welcome everybody. How you got here I have no idea but thank you for coming and welcome again, nonetheless . As you may have gathered this is a Fic Prompting Meme dedicated solely to the hilarious and oh-so-addictive BBC Radio 4 sitcom - Cabin Pressure. I'm aiming for this to be pretty anything goes - but in order for everything to run smoothly, there are a few guidelines. Don't worry - they're not too restrictive.
FILLING GUIDELINES
As you probably all know - our meme now has it's very own database created and maintained by the great Enigel. It both catalogues each and every prompt that we post and provides links to fills. You can find it here: Google Spreadsheet
We also have a Pinboard archive which has been put in place by the lovely
oxfordtweed in the place of our late Delicious Archive. This Archive contains a list of all the prompts this meme has to offer - you can find it here: Pinboard ArchiveThis is a great step forward in making our meme just a little more organised (but not too organised of course. This is Cabin Pressure) which is always a good thing.
So in order to make things easier to archive - Please nest your fills.
This can be done by either posting each part as a reply to that part's immediate predecessor, OR by replying each time to Part I OR - well you get the idea :D
It makes it simpler for Enigel and myself to link fills in a clean and clear manner. Following these guildelines will be very much appreciated guys :D
REPROMPTING
Reprompting is allowed but please include the URL of the original prompt when you do so. It will make it infinitely more easy to Archive which would make both Enigel and I very happy :)
As for everything else
- Be respectful to one another. Disagreements are fine, but not everything disagreeable is trolling. If you suspect someone of trolling, just ignore it. If you cannot respond to a comment without attacking or trolling someone else, keep it to yourself.
- No bashing prompts. It might not be your cup of tea - but obviously someone wants it enough to go to the effort of requesting it. So just scroll past it.
- Prompt away as much as you like guys - seriously, go wild - but please try to fill as well.
- Please no RPF. I'm not trying to oppress you RPF writers and enthusiasts, I would just really like to avoid any legal problems.
- When you post a fill (or post a new part of a WIP) please go over to the Filled Prompts Post (if it is complete) or the WIP Post (if there are still more parts to come) and, following each post's guideline's, post a link to this fill or new part.
NEW - If your fill includes a major element that veers from the original prompt (crossovers, established universes, kinks, et cetera), please take a few moments to check with the OP that such additions are welcome. This has caused problems in the past and it only takes a few moments of your time.
REALLY IMPORTANT ADDENDUM
According to numerous Child Safety laws it is illegal to provide pornographic material to minors. Seeing that the majority of the stuff we have here is rather adult in nature, this Meme is consequently an 18+ zone. Failing to comply to this rule could result in the Meme getting shut down. So if you're here and you're under 18 please back button now.
+ Please do not post anything regarding minors in a sexual situation. It really doesn't matter how tasteful or crass it is, there are laws that classify that sort of thing as child pornography and as such, I'm afraid we're going to have to go with the attitude that safe is better than sorry.
It really is VERY important that these rules are upheld as the consequences are severe.
Other than that - go crazy guys. Any problems please just message me and I'll try my best to work it out.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Prompt Index
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Fill: Unexpected - part 3/?
(Anonymous) 2012-08-11 10:01 am (UTC)(link)‘I was,’ Martin said softly. ‘I really thought you were going to…’
‘Mmmm.’ Douglas was silent for along moment. ‘You don’t have a very high opinion of alphas in general, do you?’
Martin just couldn’t let this pass, and he raised himself up on one elbow to stare at Douglas in disbelief.
‘Are you going to tell me that you’re all tragically misunderstood?’
‘Well, no,’ Douglas admitted. ‘There are an awful lot of young idiots out there. But some of us aren’t such a bad lot.’
Martin made a doubtful noise and Douglas resumed sliding his fingers through his hair.
‘Martin,’ Douglas began, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant, ‘would you… and obviously you don’t have to say yes just because circumstances and timing have thrown us together at this particular juncture… but at some point, would you let me take you out for dinner?’
‘Yes,’ Martin said instantly, grinning like a fool. ‘Yes. That would be great.’
‘Good,’ said Douglas, looking pleased.
‘I’ve liked you for ages,’ Martin confessed, in a rush. ‘I just never said anything, because I didn’t think you liked other alphas.’
Same-gender partnerships were legal but still comparatively rare, and Douglas said ‘I don’t. Which is why for the past several months I’ve been having something of a minor sexual identity crisis, wondering why I found you so irresistible.’
Martin closed his eyes. ‘Oh.’ His heart felt as though it were swelling and expanding inside his ribcage, and Douglas’ thumb traced the smile line at the corner of his mouth.
‘Yes, “oh”. I think you underestimate your own appeal.’
Martin burrowed further against Douglas’ chest and Douglas’ arm came around him, hugging him close.
‘We should get up, and get some breakfast,’ Douglas said, making no move. ‘You must be starving.’
‘Five more minutes,’ Martin said. He glanced up, plucked up his courage, and leaned up to give Douglas a quick kiss.
‘Mmm,’ Douglas said agreeably, tightening his arms. ‘Five more minutes, then.’
In reality it was closer to half an hour before they made a move, Douglas nudging Martin towards the shower and saying he had to go back to his own room to get washed and dressed. When Martin came out of the bathroom he found his clothes for the day neatly laid out on the bed and later, over breakfast, Arthur asked Douglas where he’d been last night as he hadn’t made it back to their room.
‘I spent the night,’ Douglas said, calmly buttering a piece of toast, ‘in the room of one of the most gorgeous creatures I’ve ever seen.’
And although Douglas didn’t betray so much as a flicker of a glance in his direction, Martin felt himself flush bright red and was grateful that Arthur was too busy looking at Douglas to spare him any attention.
***
Over the following weeks Douglas took Martin out for dinner several times, and to an exhibition (that was better than Martin had anticipated) and was generally so courteous and chivalrous that Martin finally snapped ‘I’m not helpless, you know. Just because you know I’m an omega it doesn’t make me any less capable or competent than I was last month when you still thought I was an alpha.’
Douglas had the good grace to look guilty.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I just thought that, now that I do know, I ought to do better by you.’
‘You don’t have to do better by me,’ Martin said. ‘I liked the old Douglas just fine.’
Douglas relaxed a little after that, although he didn’t act entirely as he had before and, if pressed, would only huff and fling his hands up and say that he was old-fashioned that way, and had been brought up with the very firm ideas that omegas were due a certain amount of deference and care. And although Martin might protest, it was wonderful to feel so looked after.
Martin stopped using his alpha-scented cologne and shower gel. He was in the supermarket doing his weekly shop and his hand hovered over the bottle for a long moment before he thought Fuck it, and picked up a bottle of the normal, cheaper stuff. Maybe it was time to stop hiding what he was, and show everyone that omegas could be pilots too. God knew he’d never had a role model to look up to when he was younger, and he couldn’t help but wonder how different his life might have been if he had. His clients for moving jobs looked at him a little oddly, doubtless wondering why he was out working instead of at home, but on the next trip he walked into the office and Douglas’ nostrils flared appreciatively.
‘Nice,’ was all he said, and Martin didn’t have a chance to even begin to think how to respond before Arthur started with a barrage of ‘Skip! That’s brilliant! How long have you been an omega?’ and Martin had to roll his eyes and remind Arthur that gender wasn’t something one could switch when you grew tired of it, hence it was since birth.
Carolyn didn’t say anything but Martin could have sworn he saw an approving gleam in her eyes, and the next week she causally let slip that Arthur was her birth son. Martin had always assumed that she and Gordon had both been alphas and that they’d used a surrogate, but apparently not, and he looked at her with a renewed respect.
In all the time Martin had never stayed over at Douglas’ flat. He’d barely even been in his bedroom – on their first date Martin had clumsily blurted out that he wanted to take things slowly and Douglas had agreed easily. They’d indulged in several sessions of slow, lazy snogging on the couch that had left Martin hard and gasping but he always pulled away and calmed himself before things could go any further.
Waiting until an omega’s heat to consummate a relationship was slightly old-fashioned by modern standards, but theirs was something of a proper old-fashioned courtship and Martin was relieved by the readiness with which Douglas acquiesced.
Shortly after they had returned from the trip Martin had made sure to go to the doctor to get a repeat prescription of his old pills, and now the packet sat in his sock drawer untouched as he carried on with the new ones. It was a comfort to know that he had the option, even though he didn’t want to return to the old pills; it had been such a relief when the side-effects disappeared and he was in no hurry to have them back. And often, when he was lying in bed touching himself and fantasising about Douglas’ hands, and his mouth, he thought that it might not be so bad to spend his heat with Douglas. Remembering the way that Douglas’ kisses made him feel as though his bones were melting, and the large, heavy weight of Douglas’ hands on his skin, Martin shivered. No, it might not be a bad thing at all to spend it with Douglas.
One evening, a fortnight before the date on which Martin had calculated his next heat was due, they were both sitting on the sofa watching television when Martin broached the subject during an advert break.
‘I thought I might spend a couple of days here,’ he said, trying and failing to sound casual. ‘In about a fortnight’s time. Would that be okay?’
For a moment Douglas looked puzzled. ‘Of course that’s okay. Why would you – oh.’ Understanding dawned, and something gleamed predatorily in the depths of his eyes. ‘You’ve decided to give it a try, have you?’
‘Yes.’ Martin looked down, picked at a piece of loose skin by his thumbnail. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Douglas – what if this was a mistake? What if–
‘Stop.’ Douglas’s hand covered is, stilling them. ‘Martin, you’re allowed to change your mind about this. But if you’re sure then there are a few things about alphas that I think you still don’t understand.’
‘What’s that?’
Martin looked up at Douglas, who laced their fingers together as he spoke.
‘Evolution has ensured that we’re highly attuned to the needs and desires of our omegas, and to want to provide for them. So if you look exhausted then I’m going to want to make you lie down and sleep. If you say you’re hungry then I’m going to want to find something for you to eat – for God’s sake, why do you think I keep inviting you round for dinner so much? So I wouldn’t worry about the possibility of my pushing you into something you don’t want to do; strictly speaking that’s not really how we’re wired.’
‘But you argue with Carolyn all the time,’ Martin said, even as he pressed closer to Douglas.
‘Well…’ Douglas seemed to consider for a long moment. ‘That’s true. But I did say that alphas are attuned to their omegas and, while Carolyn most certainly isn’t my omega, I was rather hoping that I could call you mine.’
‘You can,’ Martin said, tipping his face up for a kiss and smiling widely. ‘You absolutely can.’
‘Good,’ Douglas said, dipping his head and kissing Martin until they were both dizzy and breathless.
The next time he was in work Martin took a pen and self-consciously blocked out three days in the wall chart. He debated what to write for a long time but eventually just left it at Martin unavailable. No sense in broadcasting it if he didn’t have to.
‘Damn right you’ll be unavailable,’ Douglas muttered into his ear as he came up behind him, taking the pen off him and blocking out a fourth day, and Martin shivered a little.
***
Douglas had been increasingly tactile as the date grew nearer; Martin had asked him if his scent had changed and Douglas had buried his face in Martin’s neck to inhale before saying ‘Not that I can tell, no. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were subtle changes, but to me you smell just as good as you always do.’
Now that he knew what was coming, Martin noticed that he felt a bit all over the place in the run-up to it. One minute he’d want nothing more than to be tucked against Douglas’ side on the sofa, wanting it so much he almost ached for it, and then as soon as he was there he’d be overcome with a feeling of claustrophobia and have to get up under the pretence of making tea.
‘It’s normal,’ Douglas told him as Martin clattered about with tea things in the kitchen, watching Martin with eyes that didn’t miss a trick. ‘Just do whatever feels right and stop fretting about it, it’s all perfectly normal.’
Finally Martin decided that the solution was to keep himself busy in the run-up to it and scheduled enough extra jobs, trying to make up for the three days of enforced break, that he didn’t have any time free to dwell on it.
The morning of the first day he had an upset stomach, although now he knew what it was he had a better idea of what to blame rather than the chicken curry he’d had no appetite for the previous night. As soon as it passed and he felt better, he grabbed his bag (that had been sitting already packed under his bed for days now) and drove straight to Douglas’ flat, so worried that the next stage would start immediately that he didn’t even take ten minutes for a much longed-for shower.
Douglas frowned a little when he answered the door to Martin’s knocking, taking in Martin’s pale and slightly sweaty face.
‘Alright?’ he asked, shutting the door behind him and turning the lock automatically in a casual display of protective instinct that made Martin shiver. ‘You look a bit rumpled.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ve just been feeling a bit off-colour all morning.’
‘Ah yes.’ Douglas grimaced sympathetically, doubtless remembering the early stages of heat from some of his old partners. ‘Do you want a cup of tea? To settle your stomach?’
‘Yes please,’ Martin said gratefully. ‘But can I shower first? I didn’t have time this morning, I just wanted to get here before… you know.’
‘Of course.’ Douglas gestured to the bathroom. ‘Make yourself at home, you know where everything is.’
Martin took his time in the shower, scrubbing himself thoroughly and then standing under the hot water and letting it loosen the muscle aches from the last few days. This was Douglas, he told himself firmly. There was no earthly reason to be nervous, it was Douglas – who’d already demonstrated that he paid more attention to Martin than he ever imagined anyone would – and everything was going to be okay.
He dried himself off, put on his softest, most favourite pair of pyjama bottoms and a clean T-shirt, and wandered out to the kitchen to find that Douglas, with unerring timing, was just setting a cup of tea on the table for him.
After tea they decamped to the living room and the sofa. Martin had asked if they weren’t going to go straight to the bedroom and Douglas had looked at him, surprised.
‘We can if you want to,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t think you were quite at that stage yet.’
‘No,’ Martin admitted.
‘Well then.’ Douglas waved him towards the sofa. ‘All in good time. No sense in hurrying things.’
Martin picked up the book he kept at Douglas’ and tried to start reading it, but he couldn’t settle. He was up every couple of minutes, checking that the doors and windows were locked, that Douglas had remembered to get enough food to last them a few days, that Douglas hadn’t turned the oven on and then walked off and forgotten about it (even though there was no earthly reason why he should have done so).
On his fifth circuit of the flat Douglas said ‘Martin,’ and held out a hand from where he was sitting on the sofa.
‘Oh God, I’m sorry,’ Martin said, going to him and letting Douglas pull him down into his lap. ‘I must be driving you mad. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I–’
‘It’s normal,’ Douglas said, running his hands down Martin’s back to hold his hips. ‘Your body wants to be sure you’re going to be in a safe environment for the next few days, with no immediate threats. But it’s fine, I promise you. I’ve thought of everything.’
Martin tucked his face against Douglas’ neck and inhaled, taking in the scent that said warmth and safety.
‘It’s okay,’ Douglas said. ‘How old were you the last time you had a heat, anyway? When did you have your first one?’
‘I was nineteen,’ Martin said and, at Douglas’ noise of surprise, continued defensively, ‘I started late, alright? And then the first form of suppressants were released a year later and I went on them as soon as I could. I’ve not been off them since.’
‘Over ten years is an awfully long time to be taking suppressants,’ Douglas said quietly.
Martin lifted his head and stared at him as though he were mad. ‘It would have stopped me flying – no-one’s going to hire an omega for a pilot. Not taking them was never really an option.’
‘I see,’ Douglas said. He splayed one hand across the small of Martin’s back, rubbing absently, and Martin closed his eyes. The same feeling was starting to gather low in his hips, that heavy, almost molten feeling that he’d had before, save that this time it was tinged not with dread and panic but a half-nervous, half-excited anticipation.
‘I think we need a distraction,’ Douglas said, kissing Martin’s hairline. ‘What about a DVD?’
Martin nodded, his eyes still closed.
‘Let me up, then,’ Douglas said. ‘There’s the new series of Poirot that I’ve been meaning to watch.’
Agatha Christie had caused a media sensation last year when she stated in an interview that she had always though of the character as an omega, rather than the beta or low-level alpha he was generally assumed to be. Omega rights groups had saluted her progressive views, and the character was often held up as an example of what omegas could achieve.
Douglas started the episode and came back to the sofa, stretching out on it and pulling Martin so that he was lying on top of him, tangled together with Martin’s head pillowed on Douglas’ chest. Despite himself, Martin soon grew absorbed in the plot and didn’t stir for the whole hour it was on, and when the credits rolled he looked up to see Douglas grinning at him.
‘Successful distraction, then,’ he said, and Martin laughed a little and swatted his arm.
‘Yes, alright, point taken.’
‘How about another episode?’ Douglas suggested.
‘Alright. Here, let me change the disc, there’s one a bit further on in the series that I’ve been dying to see.’
Re: Fill: Unexpected - part 3/?
Also it's the first time I've ben reading such a long build-up to a heat and it's utterly wonderful. Can't wait for more.
Thank you so much!!
Re: Fill: Unexpected - part 3/?
(Anonymous) 2012-08-11 11:40 am (UTC)(link)Also I really liked the way you explained the intense fear response cancelling Martin's heat. It's such a minor survival point but makes so much sense that in a dangerous situation the body would have a defence mechanism to prevent it being incapacitated. Like periods of high stress can mess with a menstrual cycle. Very clever plot device. I like it.
Re: Fill: Unexpected - part 3/?
(Anonymous) 2012-08-11 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Fill: Unexpected - part 3/?
(Anonymous) 2012-08-12 09:15 am (UTC)(link)