November is also the month of Qvember – a fan challenge where fans can post Dept. Q fanworks for a different prompt every day. I’ve decided to write drabbles for Qvember 2025 (= a very short, 100 word piece of fiction). I will post them here daily throughout November. Enjoy!
Day 5: Family Recipe
Content Warning: None
Characters: Carl Morck, Akram Salim
Rating: Teen and Up
Word Count: 100
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Carl puts the round tin on Akram’s desk, giving him a sort of smile. The kind that hides behind the beard but you can see when you look closely.
Carl proclaims, “Family recipe. Well, kind of.” There’s an undertone of bashfulness.
“Kind of?” Akram asks, unsure whether he should open the thing.
There are cookies in the tin, unshapely and burnt on the edges. “Might have left them in too long.”
Akram raises an eyebrow. “Since when do you bake?”
“Call it an experiment. Or blame Jasper. You choose.”
Akram tries one. It’s hard and dry. He eats it anyway.
Day 4: Found Family
Content Warning: None
Characters: Carl Morck, Jasper Stewart (mentioned)
Rating: Teen and Up
Word Count: 100
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There’s a small, flat thing lying on the table in colourful gift wrap when Carl makes his way into the kitchen that morning.
Oh yeah. It’s his fucking birthday. His name is scrawled on the paper in Jasper’s barely legible handwriting. Carl curiously picks it up, opens it.
Two tickets, Hampden Park, UEFA playoffs – Scotland vs. England. Decent seats. Can’t have been cheap.
Something makes his brow constrict. He rubs his beard around his mouth. What he wants is to go into Jasper’s room and draw him into a hug.
For once, Carl wishes Jasper was actually skipping fucking school.
Day 3: Saviour Complex
Characters: Carl Morck, Akram Salim
Rating: Teen and Up
Word Count: 100
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“Ow!”
Carl flinches as Akram dabs disinfectant onto the cut on his eyebrow.
“Hold still,” Akram says, impatience swinging in his voice.
“How can I when you’re trying to corrode away my fucking eyebrow.”
Akram shoots him a look. “You are very squeamish.”
“And you have a fucking saviour complex.”
“If I had a saviour complex, the guy who hit you would be the one needing medical attention.”
“Then why am I the one who is sitting here, bleeding all over the fucking place?”
“Because you told me not to interfere.”
Carl has to admit, yes, that’s a fair point.
Day 2: I Am Akram
Characters: Carl Morck, Akram Salim
Rating: Teen and Up
Word Count: 100
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“I am Akram.”
That’s what people are whispering behind Akram’s back.
Carl has heard it one too many times –colleagues making fun of how Akram used to introduce himself. These days he goes by DI Salim.
Just now another detective said it and Carl has heard it in the hallway in passing. “Oh yeah, ‘I am Akram’. He’s kinda creepy.” Carl wanted to grab the young detective by the lapels and shake it out of her.
“Does it not bother you?” he’d asked Akram.
Akram had given him a sage and infuriatingly calm look. The answer had been simple.
“No.”
Day 1: Hospital Stay
Content Warning: Medical stuff...?
Characters: Carl Morck
Rating: Teen and Up
Word Count: 100
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Carl doesn’t remember.
He doesn’t remember how he got to the hospital, that Jasper had been there to stay with him until he woke up from the surgery, that he’d almost died.
What he does remember is searing agony in his neck, an endotracheal tube down his throat, people touching him where it caused pain. He remembers not being able to speak or to swallow. He remembers lonely nights and nurses changing shifts.
He wishes he didn’t have to remember but also knows this will always stay with him – like a stain permanently burned into the tapestry of his life.
Love these! The quick snips. When you just have it so strong in your head you need to get it out there but don’t have the time for several pages. 🙂
Well written.
Can wait to see your huge work.
Thank you! I’ll share the Carl sickfic soon, it’s currently still being beta-read.
I’ve posted it today! You can find it here.
As always,💜💜. Patiently waiting for the sickfic
I posted it today! You can find it here.