[Table five] [The Dark Is Rising] [Will/Bran]
Titles: Payback, Responsibility, Testing, Bridge, Choice
Author: twilightsrain/edenbound (ficjournal)
Fandom: The Dark Is Rising
Pairing: Will/Bran
Table/Theme: V, 11-15
Rating: G-PG
Word Counts: 132, 145, 155, 128, 127
Warnings: Angst, sap
Disclaimer: Susan Cooper owns all, I'm just playing with them.
Notes: Choice follows Bridge, in my mind, though both stand alone.
11 -- Hostile intent -- Payback
"I should pay you back for that, sais," Bran says, his eyes all fire and teasing, even as he tries to look as if he means it. He pins Will down, heavier than him and taller and able to tackle him to the ground like this with ease nowadays. Will grins up at him, letting life be simple, letting this moment be about the warmth of Bran's hands that he can feel even through his t-shirt and the horribly compromising position they're in.
"So do," he says, challenging, and Bran leans down to kiss him with a quick fierceness that takes his breath away, more reward than punishment. Punishment is when Bran pulls away, grinning at him, moving to his feet quicker than he can follow and moving on up the path.
12 -- Change of hands -- Responsibility
"You can't take it all on yourself," Bran says, as if he knows the deeper issue at stake, but of course he doesn't, and can't, and won't. Will wonders what to say to him, to turn him away but not offend him -- because Bran is right, and the responsibility is heavy, and even just with Bran at his side, unknowing, he'd feel less heavy with it all.
"I'm not," he says, not even sure what he's talking about anymore, and Bran shakes his head, his mouth a flat stubborn line.
"Tell me, Stanton," with agression slipping into his voice, applying pressure, "just tell me, and stop looking like something just died."
And Will tells: not everything, hardly even a fraction, but enough to make him feel as if he could hold his head up a little higher and watch all the better for it.
13 -- Trial by fire -- Testing
"What are you doing?" Bran asks, breathless and excited, looking at the world that changes around them even as he speaks. Will doesn't say a word, not yet, too concentrated on fighting back what is rising that should've been beaten back. He thinks, bitterly, that Bran will prove if he really is as strong as he says, if Bran can really handle the sudden weight of returning memories and an ancient responsibility, too much for any one man.
But then, he won't be alone, because Will is going to be beside him, from here 'til the end of the world; it might be a testing of Bran, but he still won't go alone as Will did. And maybe, he thinks, memories are the key: for the concentrated force of the Dark to be truly gone, some human must remember it existed in the first place to see the difference and take fate by the horns.
14 -- RSVP -- Bridge
Will hasn't visited in a while, in over two years, and Bran wonders what he could say to make Will come, to make him stay, to bring him close after the years and the distance. He was stupid back then, of course, stupid and still too much of a boy to do anything but stare dumbly when Will kissed him and then pass it off as a joke.
Letters aren't enough, but they're a start, and if Will writes back, he'll have a straw to clutch at. He writes his letter and he invites Will to stay, glumly thinking that at least he's trying, even if the invitation is likely to be rejected. At least, he thinks, it'll be a start -- the first plank of the bridge.
15 -- Weighing options -- Choice
The letter pushes a button in him that Will thought'd been locked down and rendered unusable. Not that he doesn't care about Bran anymore -- he cares so much it hurts and he's woken from dreams of Bran with tears in his eyes -- but he'd thought he'd given up on that part of his life, that hope that somehow Bran would remember and their old connection would be there again, and that he'd be understood. He isn't sure what to reply, and knows only that Bran needs a reply, that he himself needs to write a reply, to open up something new or close the door forever.
He knows which option would be better, for both their hearts. He knows which option he wants to take.
Author: twilightsrain/edenbound (ficjournal)
Fandom: The Dark Is Rising
Pairing: Will/Bran
Table/Theme: V, 11-15
Rating: G-PG
Word Counts: 132, 145, 155, 128, 127
Warnings: Angst, sap
Disclaimer: Susan Cooper owns all, I'm just playing with them.
Notes: Choice follows Bridge, in my mind, though both stand alone.
11 -- Hostile intent -- Payback
"I should pay you back for that, sais," Bran says, his eyes all fire and teasing, even as he tries to look as if he means it. He pins Will down, heavier than him and taller and able to tackle him to the ground like this with ease nowadays. Will grins up at him, letting life be simple, letting this moment be about the warmth of Bran's hands that he can feel even through his t-shirt and the horribly compromising position they're in.
"So do," he says, challenging, and Bran leans down to kiss him with a quick fierceness that takes his breath away, more reward than punishment. Punishment is when Bran pulls away, grinning at him, moving to his feet quicker than he can follow and moving on up the path.
12 -- Change of hands -- Responsibility
"You can't take it all on yourself," Bran says, as if he knows the deeper issue at stake, but of course he doesn't, and can't, and won't. Will wonders what to say to him, to turn him away but not offend him -- because Bran is right, and the responsibility is heavy, and even just with Bran at his side, unknowing, he'd feel less heavy with it all.
"I'm not," he says, not even sure what he's talking about anymore, and Bran shakes his head, his mouth a flat stubborn line.
"Tell me, Stanton," with agression slipping into his voice, applying pressure, "just tell me, and stop looking like something just died."
And Will tells: not everything, hardly even a fraction, but enough to make him feel as if he could hold his head up a little higher and watch all the better for it.
13 -- Trial by fire -- Testing
"What are you doing?" Bran asks, breathless and excited, looking at the world that changes around them even as he speaks. Will doesn't say a word, not yet, too concentrated on fighting back what is rising that should've been beaten back. He thinks, bitterly, that Bran will prove if he really is as strong as he says, if Bran can really handle the sudden weight of returning memories and an ancient responsibility, too much for any one man.
But then, he won't be alone, because Will is going to be beside him, from here 'til the end of the world; it might be a testing of Bran, but he still won't go alone as Will did. And maybe, he thinks, memories are the key: for the concentrated force of the Dark to be truly gone, some human must remember it existed in the first place to see the difference and take fate by the horns.
14 -- RSVP -- Bridge
Will hasn't visited in a while, in over two years, and Bran wonders what he could say to make Will come, to make him stay, to bring him close after the years and the distance. He was stupid back then, of course, stupid and still too much of a boy to do anything but stare dumbly when Will kissed him and then pass it off as a joke.
Letters aren't enough, but they're a start, and if Will writes back, he'll have a straw to clutch at. He writes his letter and he invites Will to stay, glumly thinking that at least he's trying, even if the invitation is likely to be rejected. At least, he thinks, it'll be a start -- the first plank of the bridge.
15 -- Weighing options -- Choice
The letter pushes a button in him that Will thought'd been locked down and rendered unusable. Not that he doesn't care about Bran anymore -- he cares so much it hurts and he's woken from dreams of Bran with tears in his eyes -- but he'd thought he'd given up on that part of his life, that hope that somehow Bran would remember and their old connection would be there again, and that he'd be understood. He isn't sure what to reply, and knows only that Bran needs a reply, that he himself needs to write a reply, to open up something new or close the door forever.
He knows which option would be better, for both their hearts. He knows which option he wants to take.