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Helen is sick. Helen is sick, and they have a book signing in two hours, and Carol doesn’t know what the fuck she’s supposed to do. Helen doesn’t get sick. Ever. One of the fundamental truths of the universe is, always has been, that Helen L. Umstead does not get sick.
But, she is.
“I can survive one signing without you,” Carol whispers, pressing the cold towel to Helen’s forehead. “I won’t clam up, I won’t start a fight, just… You need to rest. Please.”
OR carol has to attend a book signing without her manager
Bookmarked by noops
01 Jul 2026
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“Trying to seduce me at the kitchen sink?” asks Helen.
Carol’s reply is warm against her shoulder. “Is it working?”
The silence is an answer.
OR
A domestic slice of life
Series
- Part 2 of let's get domestic!
Bookmarked by noops
28 Jun 2026
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the one where Carol gets strapped for the first time
Bookmarked by noops
24 Jun 2026
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Rumors swirl after someone tweets that they saw Carol looking cozy with her manager at a Shadowstorm of Wycaro book signing. Naturally, Carol takes matters into her own hands — with disastrous results.
Series
- Part 2 of pre-canon sturstead snapshots
Bookmarked by noops
21 Jun 2026
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“I’m one of the lit managers,” the woman explains.
“Yet you can’t manage to take a hint," Carol retorts. "I’m not in the mood for conversation.”
It’s meant to be rude — to get this beautiful, annoying woman to leave her alone once and for all — but instead, the corner of her mouth curves into a smirk. Carol hates how sexy she finds it. “Clever wordplay,” she commends. “You really are a writer.”
Or: After sending dozens of query letters with no success, Carol reluctantly goes to a literary speed-dating event to try to find representation. There, she meets Helen.
Series
- Part 1 of pre-canon sturstead snapshots
Bookmarked by noops
20 Jun 2026
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“I think you need a reset,” Helen murmured, her words carefully chosen. They had their desired effect. Carol’s eyes widened and her pulse quickened.
Over twenty years together and Helen knew exactly where the fault lines ran. Knew how to press, how to steady, how to take the frantic energy thrumming under Carol’s skin and redirect it in to less self-destructive pursuits.
Bookmarked by noops
20 Jun 2026
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Like a dream come true I'll take you where I roam by arcadiagaybeacon
Fandoms: Pluribus (TV 2025)
02 Mar 2026
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"And I say this to Helen all the time but you're welcome to drop by here whenever you want. You're family now."
Family. The word stuck with Carol, almost feeling foreign. Family scared her. Family betrayed her. Family was what the smiling counselors said she and all the other kids were in the eyes of God.
It wasn't the comfortable warmth that radiated in the Umstead home. It wasn't relaxed conversations or spending time in town without a creeping sense of dread or holding Helen's hand over a bonfire in front of everyone without fear. It wasn't the acceptance that seemed as natural as breathing to these people.
OR:
Carol meets Helen's parents
Bookmarked by noops
20 Jun 2026
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Zosia has been taken out of the Hives grasp, but still lives with the memories of her past.
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20 Jun 2026
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Helen was looking in the mirror when the stall door creaked open. Her eyes performed a full-body scan of Carol’s reflection. They lingered on the slight clench in her thighs, hardly noticeable under the stiff fabric.
Helen said nothing as she opened her bag, the sound of the clasp bouncing off the tiles. Her hand pulled out a thin square wrapped in noisy purple film and set it down on the sink, along with her bag.
Carol was expecting some sort of sarcastic remark. Perhaps a defeated acknowledgement that making her wear the stupid skirt had been a bad call.
She didn’t expect Helen to unbutton her slacks. “Switch with me.”
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.During the final day of the Stormshadow of Wycaro Tour, Carol gets her period. Helen helps, as always.
Bookmarked by noops
17 Jun 2026
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Carol finds it in the third week of living alone with an unhived Zosia: a New York Times article, “To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This.” An intimacy experiment involving thirty-six increasingly personal questions and, at the end of it, four uninterrupted minutes of eye contact, which sounds fake and humiliating and somehow still not bad enough to stop her.
Carol, obviously, prints it out.
Bookmarked by noops
16 Jun 2026
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Carol steadies her instantly, one arm firm around her waist, the other still sliding along her side. “Careful,” she murmurs, though there’s a smile in it.
Zosia huffs a quiet laugh, breath still uneven. “You started it.”
Carol’s mouth curves against hers. “I started it? I’m not the one dressed like that.”
Or: It's Carol's birthday and Zosia has a surprise for her.
A tie in fic to my pregnancy AU, 'Something Unexpected Between Us', but can be read on it's own.
Series
- Part 2 of Baby Stursia Series
Bookmarked by noops
02 Jun 2026
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Bookmarked by noops
02 Jun 2026
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Digging like you can bury (Something that cannot die) by arcadiagaybeacon
Fandoms: Pluribus (TV 2025)
26 May 2026
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The warmth of Helen's embrace centered Carol's spinning, panicky mind. Of course it did. This was her Helen who for some unexplainable reason has fallen more and more in love with her every day. Her Helen, who was patient and let Carol bare her body and soul little by little until she was at the point where she was now, sobbing in her arms over fears that lived inside her heart for far too long.
"I'm just terrible at being able to just be fucking happy," Carol said, tracing patterns idly in Helen's palm. "I keep trying to be present with you and feel good, and I do but then their voices creep up on me and they've been getting worse and worse."
"Their voices?" Helen asked, coming to a realization. "Do you mean the ones at-"
"Yeah," Carol said.
OR
Carol's past traumas nearly drown her, and Helen helps her to the surface
Bookmarked by noops
30 May 2026
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Carol gets a little too friendly with a fan at a book launch. Helen intervenes.
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28 May 2026
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"Look,” Helen adds with a sigh, holding Carol closer, “I want to leave work at work and just…” Another sigh, heavy and relieved, but full of something else, something blooming and warm, now that Carol’s pressed against her. “I’m gonna shower. And then I want you to take me to our bed and fuck me.”
OR
In which Carol is Helen's rock.
Series
- Part 1 of let's get domestic!
Bookmarked by noops
26 May 2026
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Carol and Helen spend a Saturday at home.
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19 May 2026
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Bookmarked by noops
19 May 2026
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Carol and Helen take a walk at sunset on the most flawless beach in Croatia.
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13 May 2026
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Carol's mom dies. Carol cleans up after her. Helen picks up the pieces.
Bookmarked by noops
11 May 2026
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“I mean, are you just not into me? ‘Cause you can just say it. I’m not that thin-skinned.”
Carol is staring back, totally blank. Her lips have fallen just slightly open — those perky pink lips that press together when she hears something funny, that tug sideways when she’s embarrassed, the lips Helen’s watched sipping glasses of wine for months now and has never been allowed to touch.
Bookmarked by noops
10 May 2026