ot4 - 40 (sight)
Title: a loving god
’Verse/characters: ot4 (daniel and nash)
Prompt: 40 - sight
Word Count: 1024
Rating: pg for boykissage
Author's Notes: "ugli" is pronounced just how it's spelled and stands for undergraduate library, and when i was in college we called it the ugli because it was. (it has since had a facelift and it no longer looks like a brick box.) the slug is a nickname for the brown jug, which is an inexpensive studenty restaurant in ann arbor. and i remember preacher mike from when i was an undergrad, altho i have zero recollection what he used to rant about, aside from generalized religious/biblical stuff. also, the boys are juniors or seniors in this.
Daniel realizes that by now he should be used to the experience of leaving a classroom or lecture hall or building and finding Nash either waiting for him or coincidentally just passing by, and yet when he walks out of the graduate library, after a couple fruitless hours in the stacks, he is surprised to see Nash sitting at the bottom of the front steps, smoking a cigarette and watching Preacher Mike pacing back and forth on one of the stone benches across the sidewalk.
"Are you stalking me?" Daniel asks, dropping down onto the step next to him.
"My, what a big ego we have." Nash grins at Daniel and flicks ash off the end of his cigarette into a paper coffee cup that Daniel sincerely hopes is empty. "I was in fact listening to Mr End of the World Is at Hand over there." He gestures with the cigarette. "That's some fine apocalyptic rhetoric, I must say."
"Is he stuck on the world going to hell in a handbasket because no one believes in god any more?"
"Oh no. It's the fault of liberal thinkers, feminists, pro-choicers, gays, and illegal immigrants." Nash takes a drag off his cigarette. "I think Preacher Mike is getting political in his old age."
"Is there an election coming up?"
"Not that I know of."
Nash finishes his cigarette and Daniel watches Preacher Mike pacing and ranting. The guy has been a campus fixture since before Daniel and Nash even graduated from high school. He comes out in nice weather and he always dresses the same - black pants, black shoes, white button-down, Bible under his arm. In colder weather he wears a brown sweater.
While the boys watch, a girl with brown hair in a ponytail, a long orange and yellow scarf, and an army-green jacket starts to argue with him. Daniel can tell from the way Mike stops pacing and the girl's voice carries across the pavement. He can't make out the words but the tone is very earnest.
"Freshman," Nash says. Upperclassmen tend to ignore Preacher Mike because they're used to him, although if you wait long enough you're pretty much guaranteed someone in a confrontational or just provocative kind of mood.
"Neil said Ari got into it with him last week. The guy said something anti-Semitic, apparently."
Nash shrugs. "I hope Ari wasn't surprised."
"I think he was, hence the arguing."
Nash snorts. He has a dim view of organized religions, especially the intensely proselytizing ones, and he occasionally likes to get in people's faces, tell them they're being idiots, and walk away. Daniel has a sneaking suspicion that Nash is sitting here on the steps of the Grad just waiting for an opportunity to be a smartass to Preacher Mike.
"Were you really waiting for me?" Daniel asks.
"It was a sudden decision, but actually, yes, I was. Ten points for reading my mind."
"You should be getting the points for reading my mind. How'd you know I was in the Grad and not the UGLi or Angell Hall or somewhere?"
"Because you're you." Nash grins at him again, stubs out his cigarette on the step, and drops the butt in the coffee cup. "If I remember your schedule correctly, you don't have class for another" - he grabs Daniel's wrist, pushes back his sleeve, and looks at his watch - "forty minutes. Yes? Let's go have lunch." He stands up. "Well? I'll buy you a burger at the Slug."
"You just want to flirt with the waitresses." Daniel stands as well and brushes off his butt. He notes that the girl with the ponytail is still there. He wonders what she and Mike are arguing about, and how long it will take her to get fed up and leave.
"Transparent as glass, that's me." Another grin, and instead of turning around to take the path running alongside the Grad to get to the street, Nash trots across the pavement and joins Preacher Mike's little audience.
"You said lunch," Daniel mutters. "This is not lunch."
"How can you have a violent and loving god?" the girl with the ponytail is demanding. "If he really loved us he wouldn't punish us for thinking for ourselves."
"He punishes because he loves," Preacher Mike says.
"Sounds like an abusive relationship to me," Nash says. Daniel inwardly facepalms and counts to ten. His idea of lunch does not involve engaging Preacher Mike in a theological discussion, and if he knew this was what Nash was planning he would have gone out the Grad's back door.
"You say that because you have not been saved. You do not feel god's love."
"Oh, I feel love all right. I feel a lot of love." Nash grabs Daniel's face and kisses him soundly. It's a good, deep kiss, and normally Daniel would like it, except not on the sidewalk in front of Preacher Mike and anyone else who might happen by, and not in a way that makes him feel totally set up.
Nash finally releases him, grins a wide, self-satisfied grin, takes Daniel's hand, and strides away.
"You set me up for that," Daniel snorts, when they finally get to the street and have to wait to cross. "You were just using me to be a smartass in public."
"You know you love it," Nash says. "But you need to work on your technique, Daniel."
"I need to work on finding other friends, Nash."
"We just gave Preacher Mike some really good, specific ranting material. Who else would do that for you?"
"Fortunately, no one. I have thirty-five minutes and then I'm going to be late."
"Relax. Everything will be fine. Remember, god loves us."
"And is punishing me with you. You were right, it is an abusive relationship."
"But I kiss better than he does." Nash gives Daniel a quick, affectionate peck on the cheek and then runs across the street. "The burger's waiting, Daniel!" he calls.
Daniel sighs, looks both ways, and follows. As far as he's concerned, Preacher Mike is full of shit - no god would inflict Nash on someone he truly loved.
’Verse/characters: ot4 (daniel and nash)
Prompt: 40 - sight
Word Count: 1024
Rating: pg for boykissage
Author's Notes: "ugli" is pronounced just how it's spelled and stands for undergraduate library, and when i was in college we called it the ugli because it was. (it has since had a facelift and it no longer looks like a brick box.) the slug is a nickname for the brown jug, which is an inexpensive studenty restaurant in ann arbor. and i remember preacher mike from when i was an undergrad, altho i have zero recollection what he used to rant about, aside from generalized religious/biblical stuff. also, the boys are juniors or seniors in this.
Daniel realizes that by now he should be used to the experience of leaving a classroom or lecture hall or building and finding Nash either waiting for him or coincidentally just passing by, and yet when he walks out of the graduate library, after a couple fruitless hours in the stacks, he is surprised to see Nash sitting at the bottom of the front steps, smoking a cigarette and watching Preacher Mike pacing back and forth on one of the stone benches across the sidewalk.
"Are you stalking me?" Daniel asks, dropping down onto the step next to him.
"My, what a big ego we have." Nash grins at Daniel and flicks ash off the end of his cigarette into a paper coffee cup that Daniel sincerely hopes is empty. "I was in fact listening to Mr End of the World Is at Hand over there." He gestures with the cigarette. "That's some fine apocalyptic rhetoric, I must say."
"Is he stuck on the world going to hell in a handbasket because no one believes in god any more?"
"Oh no. It's the fault of liberal thinkers, feminists, pro-choicers, gays, and illegal immigrants." Nash takes a drag off his cigarette. "I think Preacher Mike is getting political in his old age."
"Is there an election coming up?"
"Not that I know of."
Nash finishes his cigarette and Daniel watches Preacher Mike pacing and ranting. The guy has been a campus fixture since before Daniel and Nash even graduated from high school. He comes out in nice weather and he always dresses the same - black pants, black shoes, white button-down, Bible under his arm. In colder weather he wears a brown sweater.
While the boys watch, a girl with brown hair in a ponytail, a long orange and yellow scarf, and an army-green jacket starts to argue with him. Daniel can tell from the way Mike stops pacing and the girl's voice carries across the pavement. He can't make out the words but the tone is very earnest.
"Freshman," Nash says. Upperclassmen tend to ignore Preacher Mike because they're used to him, although if you wait long enough you're pretty much guaranteed someone in a confrontational or just provocative kind of mood.
"Neil said Ari got into it with him last week. The guy said something anti-Semitic, apparently."
Nash shrugs. "I hope Ari wasn't surprised."
"I think he was, hence the arguing."
Nash snorts. He has a dim view of organized religions, especially the intensely proselytizing ones, and he occasionally likes to get in people's faces, tell them they're being idiots, and walk away. Daniel has a sneaking suspicion that Nash is sitting here on the steps of the Grad just waiting for an opportunity to be a smartass to Preacher Mike.
"Were you really waiting for me?" Daniel asks.
"It was a sudden decision, but actually, yes, I was. Ten points for reading my mind."
"You should be getting the points for reading my mind. How'd you know I was in the Grad and not the UGLi or Angell Hall or somewhere?"
"Because you're you." Nash grins at him again, stubs out his cigarette on the step, and drops the butt in the coffee cup. "If I remember your schedule correctly, you don't have class for another" - he grabs Daniel's wrist, pushes back his sleeve, and looks at his watch - "forty minutes. Yes? Let's go have lunch." He stands up. "Well? I'll buy you a burger at the Slug."
"You just want to flirt with the waitresses." Daniel stands as well and brushes off his butt. He notes that the girl with the ponytail is still there. He wonders what she and Mike are arguing about, and how long it will take her to get fed up and leave.
"Transparent as glass, that's me." Another grin, and instead of turning around to take the path running alongside the Grad to get to the street, Nash trots across the pavement and joins Preacher Mike's little audience.
"You said lunch," Daniel mutters. "This is not lunch."
"How can you have a violent and loving god?" the girl with the ponytail is demanding. "If he really loved us he wouldn't punish us for thinking for ourselves."
"He punishes because he loves," Preacher Mike says.
"Sounds like an abusive relationship to me," Nash says. Daniel inwardly facepalms and counts to ten. His idea of lunch does not involve engaging Preacher Mike in a theological discussion, and if he knew this was what Nash was planning he would have gone out the Grad's back door.
"You say that because you have not been saved. You do not feel god's love."
"Oh, I feel love all right. I feel a lot of love." Nash grabs Daniel's face and kisses him soundly. It's a good, deep kiss, and normally Daniel would like it, except not on the sidewalk in front of Preacher Mike and anyone else who might happen by, and not in a way that makes him feel totally set up.
Nash finally releases him, grins a wide, self-satisfied grin, takes Daniel's hand, and strides away.
"You set me up for that," Daniel snorts, when they finally get to the street and have to wait to cross. "You were just using me to be a smartass in public."
"You know you love it," Nash says. "But you need to work on your technique, Daniel."
"I need to work on finding other friends, Nash."
"We just gave Preacher Mike some really good, specific ranting material. Who else would do that for you?"
"Fortunately, no one. I have thirty-five minutes and then I'm going to be late."
"Relax. Everything will be fine. Remember, god loves us."
"And is punishing me with you. You were right, it is an abusive relationship."
"But I kiss better than he does." Nash gives Daniel a quick, affectionate peck on the cheek and then runs across the street. "The burger's waiting, Daniel!" he calls.
Daniel sighs, looks both ways, and follows. As far as he's concerned, Preacher Mike is full of shit - no god would inflict Nash on someone he truly loved.