CoffeeCooler
Fandoms
Recent works
-
Tags
Summary
It is wise not to seek a secret, and honest not to reveal one.
~William Penn -
Tags
Summary
None knows the weight of another's burden.
~George Herbert (1593-1633)
Recent bookmarks
-
Tags
Summary
Matt Dillon has fled Dodge City, leaving behind his best friend in his final hours. Kitty and Doc, anticipating Chester's imminent death, prepare to pick up the pieces.
Series
- Part 2 of dead hands
Bookmarked by CoffeeCooler
15 Jan 2026
-
Tags
Summary
The first three bites are enthusiastic, a famished soldier eating his mother's pie for the first time after the war. But after that, he's full. He puts his spoon on his plate and rests his hands in his lap.
Doc has explained this: their stomachs shrunk from disuse. He can't eat more because he has nowhere to put it. But Matt can't give up so easily.
"C'mon, have a little more."
Six weeks after their return, Chester is home safe in Dodge. But when the beasts of memory, permanent debility, and fate itself threaten to snuff out his recovery, Matt and friends may be powerless to help him.
Series
- Part 2 of Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Bookmarked by CoffeeCooler
09 Sep 2025
-
Tags
Summary
"Let me see." Chester balks. "I'm not going to take it from you." With a nod of reluctant assent, he surrenders the prosthesis to Matt.
His fear and silence sting. Somewhere, sometime, someone did take Chester's leg away from him in an act of cruel ridicule—the only reason he would pause before letting Matt examine it. Matt rolls the piece in his hands. The burnt leather strap dangles, torn. The biggest buckle is warped. His thumb trails along the jagged splinters of the thigh piece. It's missing a chunk nearly as broad as Matt's palm. "This is supposed to be smooth, ain't it? That's where it sits."
"Yessir." Chester wipes his mouth. Mud streaks down his face. "'S busted."
An altercation on the job damages Chester's prosthesis—shocking to his friends, who didn't know he's an amputee. While struggling with their relationship founded in dishonesty, Matt finds himself caught between the government and his loyalty to his friend in his quest to replace the mobility aid. The scaffolding is crumbling around them. Can they stand strong without it? Or will they walk away, once Chester can walk again?
Bookmarked by CoffeeCooler
12 Apr 2025
-
Tags
Summary
"Kansas," Matt repeats. It doesn't sound familiar. Slowly, he shakes his head. He doesn't know where he is or how he got here.
"Do you…" The stranger falters. Persevering, he brings himself to ask the question Matt fears: "Do you know who I am?"
How does he answer? His heart thrums steadily in his chest. This is someone he knows, someone he cares about, someone he doesn't want to hurt. He doesn't remember why. But why doesn't matter. His tongue trails over the front of his teeth. "I… I know you're my friend." His mouth feels tacky and dry. "I don't remember your name."
Hurt reflects in his eyes, caught somewhere between fear and concern. Wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand, he clears the drool from his cheek. "Well, I—" He breaks off, reconsidering. His hand bunches up in the blankets. "I'm Chester. 'Nd you's right. I'm your friend. You got plenty of friends here in Dodge."
A head injury robs Matt of his memory, making him an easy target for every gunslinger in the west. Chester takes him away to recover. But as their relationship blossoms in this new world, Matt finds himself with fewer tethers to the man he was before.
Bookmarked by CoffeeCooler
12 Apr 2025
-
Tags
Summary
"My name is Panacea. But people mostly call me Pan."
"Panacea," Kitty repeats aloud.
"Yes. Do you know what it means?" She shakes her head. "A panacea is a something that can cure a lot of things."
"You wear awful shiny clothes for a nurse, ma'am."
The woman chuckles. "Not that kind of cure, cher."
"What kind of cure?"
"You'll understand when you're older."
She's an angel. The grace to her movement, the drift to her step, the unyielding aura of justice tempered by mercy—more holy than any parson who has ever turned up his nose to a ragged orphan girl.
Panacea. A cure for all ills, or at least, for all of Kitty's.
...
A starving girl wanders into a gambling house from the streets of New Orleans in a country ravaged by civil unrest. Her new-found family fights to protect her, but ultimately, the only escape is a ticket west, to Dodge City, Kansas, a border state. She's a teenage whore clawing herself to the top of a dusty Kansas town. Her story answers the eternal question: What happens upstairs?Bookmarked by CoffeeCooler
12 Feb 2025