"Inside" + "First Day Back"

[turlough]

My prompt table/list.

Claim: Backstreet Boys: general
Title: Inside
Author: Genee Li, at sparkle and shine and geneli4
Characters: Nick
Prompt: 14 Loss
Rating: -
Length: short
Brief summary: In his heart Nick knows that one is never enough. A poignant little tale about Nick's first loss, with an ending that is the beginning of something new.

At first there are two of everything, two cradles and two high chairs and two strollers and Nick doesn't know what happened, he doesn't remember, but one day he woke up and it was bright and cold and there was only one of everything, only one of him, and in his heart he knew, he knows. One is never enough.

He doesn't know the word for it, but he's lonely, and he thinks his mom and dad are lonely, too. He wishes they would hold him close, especially at night, in the dark of his room. He only wants to touch them, to be close, to feel someone else's heartbeat like he feels his own, but his parents look at him like he's breaking their hearts and he knows he is, somehow, even though he isn't trying to.

Link to the story: Inside


Claim: Backstreet Boys: general
Title: First Day Back
Author: Allecto, at The Wall and allecto
Characters: BSB
Prompt: 18 Light
Rating: -
Length: very short (under 500 words)
Brief summary: This is a wonderfully warm and happy little snapshot from the Boys' first day back together again.

There were times Nick had almost wished to be short again, times he wanted to curl up with his head in someone's lap or be squeezed so hard his feet left the ground or tickled and wrestled until he ended up at the bottom of a sweaty, laughing pile of five. Other times, he was glad to be big - not just tall, but big, whatever Howie said - because it meant he could stroke someone's back, lift someone up, or trap someone beneath him until they were smiling and feeling safe. It meant he could be home for his boys, just as they were home for him.

Link to the story: First Day Back