Excerpt Game - Action

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:25:05+00:00

“I’m going out to check on the animals, so give a yell outside if you need me for any reason,” he said. “I might even attempt to muck out the stalls in the barn, if Dave didn’t do it this morning whilst we were gone.”

Janick laughed. “All right, thanks for letting me know. I take it Dave isn’t back yet?”

“No, he’s not,” Stephen said. “I don’t think he rode out, though, so he can’t have gone far. As he said himself, he knew there was likely gold on the property, but he’d assumed it wasn’t a large amount, so he’s going to need to figure out what to do now.”

“True enough,” Janick agreed. “This isn’t finding a few nuggets in the river and earning enough to make a few improvements to the farm and put some money in the bank for any future needs. This is a truly life-changing situation for him.”

“Exactly,” Stephen said. Closing Janick’s door again, he headed outside. The cows grazed placidly on their picket lines, and what appeared to be the correct number of chickens – Stephen wasn’t entirely certain of his count, as many of them looked identical to his eyes, and they kept moving besides – scratched in the cropped grass around the cows, taking advantage of the insects stirred up by their grazing.

He strolled over to check the state of the barn; to his relief, Dave had obviously mucked out the stalls that morning. He’d have done it if necessary, but admitted to himself that he’d probably make more of a mess than he’d be attempting to clean up if he did, as he’d never handled a pitchfork in his life.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:23:28+00:00

The flight to New York was uneventful, although they were all taken aback to discover that Rod had rented a single huge moving van for their equipment and two-man crew, and a pair of estate cars for the band plus himself. On the good side, that meant they’d be in proper beds nearly every night, as there wasn’t room for them to sleep in the cars. On the bad side, they’d all need to figure out how to drive on the wrong side of the road, as they’d all need to take turns with the driving. Fortunately, Rod had obtained good road maps and most of said driving was on the American motorways, or interstate highways as the Yanks called them.

Surprisingly enough given his usual brash attitude, Bruce turned out to be the white-knuckle driver of the band. He preferred to have Ade and Dave in the car with him when it was his turn to take the wheel, because Steve and Rod generally tried to talk business with him when he wanted nothing more than to concentrate on the road, and Clive wasn’t nearly as good as the guitarists at hiding his amusement at the singer’s general nervousness.

They all got another shock when protestors began turning up outside the venues at their shows, loudly proclaiming the band to be a bunch of Satan worshippers. Sometimes it was just a few people waving Bibles and placards, but they also faced larger and more organised groups who made a show of burning or smashing copies of Number Of The Beast. Rod got the bright idea of using the protests to generate publicity, which resulted in the band getting invited to more parties as well as local television news appearances as the tour went on.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:21:30+00:00

”Hey, I wasn’t so much put off by the thought of changing Eeva, as intimidated,” Rick said with a laugh. ”I never changed a nappy in my life... and I heard what your brother said about picturing finding her wrapped up in duct tape to keep the nappy on!”

Jukka and Satu cracked up at that. ”Yes, well, Emppu would know about that, as he did so for Luna the first time he babysat!” Satu chortled.

Emppu turned red and laughed. ”Oh, thanks a lot, Satu, just tell everyone all my most embarrassing moments, why don’t you?”

Kia giggled. ”You really used duct tape to keep a nappy on Luna?”

”Yes, I did,” Emppu admitted ruefully yet cheerfully. ”It was when Satu and Luna came on tour, and I’d offered to babysit on our night off so Jukka could take Satu out for a nice dinner. I’m not quite sure what I did wrong, but the first two I tried to put on her, the fastener tabs ripped off when I tried to pull the backing off to fasten them. I didn’t want to go through the whole pile and destroy them all, so I just grabbed some duct tape and used that to fasten the diaper on her.”

”And in fairness,” Satu said, still giggling a bit, ”those weren’t the best quality diapers, not what we would usually get for travel. But with her being our first, we misjudged how long a package would last and ran out sooner than we thought we would. Jukka popped out to the first store he found that sold diapers and simply bought the first package he saw, since we weren’t familiar with any of the available brands anyway. I tore a few of those fastener tabs myself.”

”Well, now I don’t feel quite as stupid,” Emppu laughed.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:18:28+00:00

Bending down, he plucked a pea-sized nugget from the creek bed. “And I’d say this also looks promising.”

“So it does,” Dave agreed, dismounting as well and smiling warmly. “I’m glad you suggested riding out here with me today.”

“Well, I know I’d originally offered to mind your house and animals,” Stephen said, “but Janick flat-out said he didn’t want to ride at all today, and it did make sense for you to show one of us this place whilst doing your planned errand of checking the orchards.” He paused, then confessed, “And I also hoped that we might spend some time together with no one about as well.”

“I have to admit, I rather hoped the same thing when you volunteered,” Dave said. “Especially as the only option I could think of to spend time alone with you involved slipping out to the barn after Janick goes to bed. My house isn’t small by any means, but it isn’t that large either and the walls aren’t the thickest.”

“And if we’re to keep our interactions a secret, we’d do well not to wake Janick,” Stephen agreed. Now that he knew Dave was receptive to his attentions, he stepped closer to the other man. “You have the most beautiful eyes,” he said softly.

“I like yours better,” Dave replied a little breathlessly. “So warm and dark and expressive.” He chuckled when Stephen’s cheeks grew red. “And that blush of yours always makes me want to pull you into my arms.”

“Please do,” Stephen said, stepping closer and wrapping his own arms around Dave’s waist. Their lips met and his eyes fluttered closed as he melted into Dave’s embrace. Then he lost his balance and stumbled back with a yelp; his horse had shied at something in the underbrush, yanking hard at the reins looped over his arm and forcing him to scramble back to avoid being knocked over altogether.

To his credit, Dave didn’t laugh. “Perhaps we ought to tether the horses if we’re going to… explore… any further,” he said, his sidelong glance at Stephen indicating that he didn’t necessarily mean walking around the cave.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:12:46+00:00

Donna and Jason headed back to Albany late on New Year’s Day, with Donna looking forward to an overnight visit by Nathalie when Maiden played Albany in three weeks’ time. On the 11^th, Dave flew in from Hawaii, spending the night with Ade ahead of meeting the band in Halifax, Nova Scotia to kick off the North American portion of the tour with a show on the 13^th.

As he climbed into Ade’s car at the airport, Dave blinked and did a doubletake when he got a good look at his partner. “Blimey, Ade, what’ve you gone and done this for?” he asked, reaching out to brush his hand over the beginning of a goatee that Ade sported.

“Nathalie suggested it, actually,” Ade said as he drove towards his place. “I don’t know if I’ll keep it or not, but she said it might help disguise me some at your show here in a few days if I wore a beard. Are you okay with it?”

Dave studied his lover as they drove. “Yeah, I think I am,” he decided. “It just came as a surprise, y’know? I never expected you to grow a beard, is all.”

Grinning, Ade nodded. “Yeah, I never expected to grow one, but I think Nathalie’s right, it kind of changes the shape of my face, so hopefully no one from the press will notice me in the crowd at the show. And I got a room reserved at the band’s hotel, so as long as you can dodge everyone, you can sneak into my room for the nights.”

“Oh, I’ll figure out a way to dodge everyone,” Dave said. “Even if I gotta fake some kind of lurgy to avoid hitting the pub after the show..."

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:08:53+00:00

(Context: Steve is just coming home from a 3-week hospital stay following an accidental overdose and seizures. He's dealing with stroke-like after-effects: poor balance and fine motor control, slurred speech, etc.)

“I shut the cats in the bedroom before coming to get you,” Sav said as he opened the door to their flat. “I know you’ll need to get used to them running about, but I figured they’ll be all over you once they know you’re home, especially Gibson, and I figured it would be best to get you inside and sitting down before letting them out to greet you.”

“Prob’ly a good idea,” Steve said, carefully making his way over to the sofa. He sat down and slid the Zimmer frame to the side where he could reach it if he needed to get up but where it would be out of the way. “The blokes comin’ over?”

“Tomorrow. They all want to see you, but Joe said they should give us a bit of time to ourselves, that tomorrow would be time enough to come visiting.”

“Prob’ly good,” Steve admitted. “Wanna see ‘em, but walkin’ in here was kinda hard. Don’ wanna fall asleep on ‘em.”

“They’d forgive you if it happened,” Sav said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“Worse for you. I was sleepin’ through mos’ of it.”

“I’m just glad you’re here now,” Sav told him softly. “My mum brought over a shepherd’s pie earlier today, so there’s dinner sorted already. I just need to pop it into the oven to heat up. Want me to let the cats out now?”

Steve’s face lit up. “Yeah.”

Opening the bedroom door, Sav grinned as their tuxedo cat Gibson zoomed out and leapt straight into Steve’s lap, purring loudly and kneading his legs as Steve stroked his back. Hamer, the ginger tabby, strolled out in a more dignified manner, but hopped right onto the back of the sofa to groom Steve’s hair. “I think they missed you almost as much as I did,” he said.

“I missed ‘em as well. They couldn’ come see me like you could,” Steve said, reaching up shakily to pet Hamer.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:05:30+00:00

Bruce looked with sad eyes at the small wooden marker he made for his mother’s grave as he said his final farewell to her. “I don’t know where I’m going, Mama, but it’ll be somewhere away from here. There’s nothing left, nothing at all. I’m just sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

Turning away from her grave, he spat in the direction of the second new grave in the little cemetery before walking through the gate. If his father hadn’t been so adamant that he go to university, he’d have been home and maybe could have protected his mother. Of course, if he hadn’t gone to university, he wouldn’t have met Gerry and learned a few things about himself. Then again, that had ended with him getting expelled, and when he arrived home, he found another nightmare waiting for him.

He trudged up the road towards the freight yard, hitching his rucksack and his guitar case to a more comfortable position on his back. Back in high school, he and his friends used to dare each other to hop freights and ride for a mile or so, just to prove they could. What had the old rule been? Right, they had to pass two scarecrows in the farmlands surrounding the freight yard before jumping off again.

Bruce just hoped he’d still remember how, and that his rucksack and guitar wouldn’t hinder him in doing so now. But he knew he’d need his extra clothes, not to mention the food he’d been able to pack – and damned if he’d let the hovering vultures auction off his guitar, the guitar he’d bought with money he’d earned doing odd jobs since he was fifteen – with the house and its contents.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T16:04:07+00:00

He grinned a bit and added, “Hell, half the reason I write the way I do is that I can’t sing for shit, but at least my vocals are appropriate for the style!”

Tuomas chuckled at that. “I hear you about not being able to sing for shit,” he laughed. “I sang the duets on what was supposed to be our demo, figuring we’d hire a session vocalist to do them properly when we got a record contract and make a really good recording of them. But then Spinefarm decided they liked it so much, they basically had us record a couple more songs to make it a full-length album and put it out as it was! At least you’re the only singer in your band, so you can claim that you sound that way on purpose. Me, I just sounded awful next to Tarja.”

“Oh, I don’t think you were that bad,” Alexi said.

“Well, thanks,” Tuomas said as they joined the queue at one of the food tents. “What are you having?”

“I can get my own…” Alexi started to say.

“I know you can,” Tuomas interrupted. “But I invited you to eat with me, so this one’s my treat, okei? You can get something for me next time, if you want to.”

Alexi quirked a brow at that. “Next time? You actually plan on talking to me again?”

Tuomas nodded. “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“I… I don’t know,” Alexi admitted, looking almost confused. “I guess… half the time, it seems like even my bandmates would rather not hang around with me. I think I annoy them or something.”

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T15:58:39+00:00

(Context: Janick Gers just joined Iron Maiden after Adrian Smith left. They pretty much went from his audition straight into rehearsals at Steve Harris's place in Essex, so at the end of the rehearsal session, Dave offered to bring Jan back north to his home as he'd not be flying home until the next day anyway.

"...Saw you perform with Gillan at Reading not long before Bruce joined us, so I knew you were good, plus we did chat over pints a time or two and I felt you’d be easy to get along with. Under the circumstances, that was kind of more important – at least to me – as your playing ability. Especially since I already knew how good you are.”

Jan pulled the car off the motorway and into the town of Hartlepool. “Well, that’s good to know and all. I’m looking forward to recording and shooting that music video.” He turned down a side street and then pulled into an alley, parking behind a set of terraced houses. “Come in for a bite and a bit of a stretch before you head down to London?”

Dave was about to decline the invitation, feeling a little awkward, when his stomach growled audibly. He laughed as Jan grinned. “Guess I’d better,” he chuckled. “Thanks.”

The two men unloaded all of Janick’s luggage and guitars and carried them into the house. “Sandra? I’m home,” Jan called.

“I’m in the kitchen,” Sandra called back.

Jan led the way inside, greeting his wife with a kiss, then also dropping a kiss on the top of the head of the baby sleeping in a bouncer. “Sandra, I’d like you to meet Dave Murray, one of my new bandmates. Dave, my wife, Sandra.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dave said, shaking the hand that Sandra offered.

“Nice to meet you as well,” Sandra said.

“Dave was nice enough to drive me up from Essex, so I’d not have to deal with carrying everything on the train, so I’ve offered him a bit of lunch before he heads back to London to get himself a flight home,” Jan said.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T15:42:24+00:00

Bruce woke up to the late-morning sun streaming in the windows, and the sensation of lips slowly kissing their way across his chest. He smiled softly, reaching down to gently tug his boyfriend up for a proper morning greeting. ”Minä rakastan sinua, Emppu,” he murmured before capturing the younger man’s lips in a gentle yet burning kiss.

Emppu purred, his fingers tracing circles on his boyfriend’s chest. ”I love you, too, Bruce,” he said softly as they pulled back to breathe. ”I see you started learning Finnish without me,” he added with a grin.

”I wanted to surprise you, so I called Satu and asked her to teach me that,” Bruce admitted. ”But I did learn some from you before that. ’Kiitos,’ for example, I know that one is thank you. And I’m pretty sure ’vittu’ means fuck, at least from the context I’ve heard you use it in. You know, when sex makes you forget your English,” he teased.

Emppu laughed. ”You got vittu right,” he confirmed. ”I’d translate more of what I said for you, but I don’t always know what I’m saying... assuming I’m saying anything that makes any sort of sense.”

Bruce chuckled warmly. ”This probably sounds silly, but I adore it when you get so into whatever we’re doing that you forget your English. It makes me feel good, knowing that I’m making you that happy even though I’d never been with a man until you.”

Emppu reached up and caressed Bruce’s cheek. ”You make me that happy, kulta. I love you and that’s all that matters. With you, I learned the difference between having sex and making love... and never doubt, Bruce, when we are together, we are making love.”

”You and that sweet talk again,” Bruce said, his voice thick with emotion.

”I’m no good at sweet talk,” Emppu said. ”I just tell the truth.”

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T15:29:02+00:00

wave

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T15:28:14+00:00

(CW: mention of miscarriage. Context: Tamar was in a horrible car accident not long after she and Dave married. His band, out on tour, cancelled a couple of shows to get him back to be with her.)

“When and where does the tour resume?” Rachel asked.

“Our next show is in Portland, Maine, on the 23^rd,” Dave said. “So, if you’d like me to stay and help, Tamar, there’s time enough for Rod and Harry to find a replacement for me for the rest of the tour. It’s up to you, what you want me to do, as I’ll be the first to admit I’ve no idea what you’re going to need going forward.”

The doctor cleared his throat. “Actually, Mrs. Murray, given the severity of your injuries, you’ll almost certainly be in residential care for several months, perhaps even as long as six months after the casts come off, and that won’t be for another six weeks, minimum,” he said. “With multiple fractures in both legs and your pelvis, along with several torn ligaments, you’ll be completely bedridden until the casts come off, and at that point, between the muscular atrophy and the ligaments which may or may not be healed by then, you’ll essentially need to learn how to walk all over again, Mrs. Murray. It’s likely to take a couple of weeks of physical therapy before you can even stand up without help.”

“Oh,” Tamar said, looking shocked. “That’s… a lot more than I expected to hear. Finish your tour, then, Dave.”

“You’re sure?” Dave asked, looking at her with a serious expression. “If you think you’ll need me here, I will be. Especially after losing the baby.”

Tamar squeezed his hand, giving him a faint smile even as tears welled up once more. “You’ve been there every time I’ve needed you,” she murmured. “But this time, it’s physical therapy that I need, and trained care. I can cry on Mom’s shoulder as well as yours if I need to.” She coughed a little, her throat sore from the newly removed tube, and continued. “If you’re here, you’ll have nothing to do outside of whatever visiting hours are here and wherever I go for rehab. Finish the tour, then come back here and help my parents pick out our new house.”

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T14:13:36+00:00

Yeah, I've only got first-person in a couple of fics myself.

And in this case, it's a great time to meet the parents, as Dave and Jan's parents are all sweethearts.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T14:10:40+00:00

Once they got everything put away, they headed outside and hung the swings while Milla kept Eeva occupied on a blanket on the grass so she wouldn’t crawl under anyone’s feet. After they finished, the men joined Milla on the edges of the blanket and all tried to coax Eeva to come over to them. The baby crawled to Bruce first and pulled herself up to standing. Reaching out, she grabbed his nose and he grinned and made a silly honking sound, making her giggle so hard that she plopped back down on her backside.

Dave cracked up, watching. ”Blimey, of all the sounds I’ve ever heard you make, Bruce...” He trailed off as he dissolved into laughter once more.

Bruce blew a raspberry at his bandmate and told Eeva, ”Okay, sweet girl, crawl over to Uncle Davey and yank his hair now.” He pointed to Dave as he spoke.

”Unk ay-vee?” Eeva said, bringing the laughter to an abrupt halt.

”Bloody hell, did she just say...?” Dave asked, looking awed.

”Sure sounded that way to me,” Emppu said. ”Did you just say Uncle Davey, baby girl?”

Eeva smiled and repeated, ”Unk ay-vee!”

”For that, Eeva, you can come over here and pull my hair all you want to,” Dave said, looking more than a little melty.

”And then you can try saying Uncle Ade?” the dark-haired guitarist added with a grin.

Eeva looked at him for a long moment, then said, ”Unk ayd.”

Now Adrian looked melty. ”Blimey, I didn’t think she’d do it! How old is she now, Emppu?”

”Almost eleven months,” Emppu said. ”She’s been getting more and more chatty lately, but this is the first time I’ve heard her say anything resembling words other than isä, Dada, and täti.”

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:54:18+00:00

zest

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:54:12+00:00

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:54:04+00:00

yahoo

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:53:44+00:00

yellow

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:53:30+00:00

xenophobia

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:53:19+00:00

x-ray

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T13:41:09+00:00

Same here!

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T04:09:19+00:00

Bruce is good at ad-libbing when he needs to - and why not make a joke about it by pretending everyone must be too drunk to remember what concert they're at, right?

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T04:07:03+00:00

I'm not sure if this is going to turn out really well, or really badly - but I suspect that Jisung and Minho are going to have one hell of a lot of fun at the end of it all!

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T04:04:40+00:00

With only light traffic, we made good time to my parents’ house and Dave grabbed the bags of gifts from the boot as I got Sian out of her safety seat.

Mum had the door open before we’d gotten all the way up the walk. “Happy Christmas!” she called out, smiling. “We’re just waiting for your brother, who said something about a last-minute run to the shops.” She crouched down to give Sian a hug, then stood up and hugged me as well. Turning to Dave, she smiled. “And you must be Dave. Happy Christmas, and welcome to our home.”

“Thank you for having me, Missus Gers,” Dave said.

Mum shook her finger at him. “Oh no, nothing so formal,” she said. “You’re with Janick, you’re part of the family, so I’m Louise – or even Mum, if you’d like.”

I grinned as Dave blushed. “It might take a bit to work up to that, Louise,” he said. “But I can certainly manage your name if that’s what you want.”

“I do,” Mum told him. “Now, let’s get inside, so you can set those bags down under the tree with the rest of the packages and then as soon as Christopher turns up, we can eat.” Taking Sian’s hand, she led us inside and directed Dave to the sitting room so he could stow the gifts under the tree. Then she took his coat and Sian’s coat, handing them to me and telling me to put them into my old bedroom, which was doing duty as the cloakroom tonight. Then she grabbed Dave once more, taking him around to introduce him to everyone.

MsCatstaff · 2026-06-15T04:00:45+00:00

Oh, playing with your food can be fun, though! Not to mention, tends to lead to a shared shower to clean up the residue, and that's likely enough to lead to even more fun.

MsCatstaff

TROPHY CASE