tarosek
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Summary
One would assume that Gabe, with his five inches of extra height and experience playing a contact sport, would always have the upper hand in these encounters. He would, if Natalie wasn't well-versed in sibling psychological warfare.
For two weeks now, she's had an ace up her sleeve—a twitter post that popped up on her feed and sent her into a coughing fit when she initially found it.
It was a simple one, really: an edit of the thus-dubbed Timouxi Cha Le Mei, adorned with a smoothing filter and the hands of some sort of pink creature wrapped around him.
It's bizarre enough that she might've done a double take at it regardless, but what got to her is the fact that it bears an uncanny resemblance to one Gabe Goodman.
or: basically what it says on the tin. take a shot every time you see "timouxi cha le mei" if you want to get smashed.
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“Don’t you dare.” Her ears are ringing but the voice that rings out in her head is frighteningly clear as it breaks on the last word. The brokenness keeps him from sounding any semblance of intimidating.
Natalie freezes all the same. “Who are you?” she bites out, whipping around to find the source of the voice despite something in her gut telling her she’ll find nothing. She doesn’t see him. She can’t.
But she knows him on some level. She knows how he must look now—dark eyes creased in worry, hair windswept and plastered to his brow by sweat. Mom's eyes, Dad's hair, and an attentiveness that belongs to neither.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says after a long moment. “You can’t go back there. You’ll get yourself killed.”
or: natalie gets talked into going home.
Series
- Part 2 of spider-natalie oneshots!
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"Oh, sorry," the stranger says, bending down to grab Henry's wallet as Henry realizes in real time that the contents of his wallet—namely, not one, not two, but three different photos of Natalie have fallen out. He freezes, hand hovering over one of them as Henry makes an apologetic noise.
"No, that was my bad," he laughs. "I'm just in a hurry to get Natalie—my girlfriend, she's performing, actually—water before it starts."
He moves to pick up his wallet himself but the stranger looks at him with wide brown eyes and whispers, "You're... Henry. You're Natalie's Henry." His gaze drops to the photos of Natalie on the floor. In the one closes to him, Natalie's caught mid-laugh, face half-covered by a hand raised to her mouth. The boy stares at it with furrowed brows, looking almost devastated.
Henry blinks at him. "You know Natalie?" he asks, trying to remember if he's ever seen this guy before. Something about him does seem vaguely familiar, though Henry might just be imagining it.
"Yeah," the boy says, a little hoarse. "I'm her brother."
Or: Henry drops his wallet and gets his girlfriend's not-dead brother's approval.
Series
- Part 8 of Sides of A Coin AU + Extras
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Summary
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” he says with a shrug. “Cross my heart and hope to die, and all that.”
“I don’t think that means as much from the guy who’s already dead,” she says.
He laughs, eternally unfazed by the barbed edge of her voice. “All the more reason you should believe I’d die for something, then,” he replies.
“Sure, G—Ghost Boy,” she says, catching herself.
or: alone in her dorm room, natalie talks to her ghost.
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Author Commentary: Two Sides Of The Same Coin AU by tarosek
Fandoms: Next to Normal - Kitt/Yorkey
07 Sep 2026
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Summary
An author's commentary version of Two Sides Of The Same Coin (+ potentially future installments of the series). The fic text is included here for convenience but for a first time read, I'd suggest reading the originals (which can be found as part of the same series).
Original Two Sides Summary:
“Oh, what the fuck?” both she and the strange boy breathe out at the same time.
Natalie groans, rubbing her eyes. “I’m too high for this,” she grumbles.
He points at her, almost accusingly. “I’m not,” he says.
“Gold star to the hallucination, then,” she deadpans, pinching the bridge of her nose. The shock of knocking over the pot sobered her enough that she feels less like she’s floating through time, but clearly she’s still tripping on something if she’s seeing him now.
That, or it’s not the fault of the drugs. But she’d rather not consider that possibility.
“I’m not the hallucination,” he says. “You are.”
Or: Five times Natalie meets the Gabe that could've lived, if she hadn't.
(now updated with point of departure annotations!)
Series
- Part 9 of Sides of A Coin AU + Extras
Recent series
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fantasyland (everyone lives sides of a coin au) by tarosek
Fandom Next to Normal - Kitt/Yorkey
21 Sep 2026
Summary
an "everyone lives" spin-off of my sides of a coin au—basically just an alive!gabe au, but you'll know a bit more about my characterizations if you've read my sides of a coin fics :)
- Words:
- 3,526
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 3
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- Words:
- 2,136
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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- Words:
- 15,604
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 5
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Summary
AU where canon!Natalie meets roleswap!Gabe where he's the kid who lived instead :))
(If you're looking for some little scenes from an au where they're all alive in the same world, check out the series on my page labeled fantasyland)
- Words:
- 56,724
- Works:
- 9
- Bookmarks:
- 26