My smallfandomfest entry
Title: That's It
Author: adamhsalways a.k.a. damnednforsaken
Fandom: Live Free or Die Hard
Pairing/Characters: Matt/John
Rating/Category: PG-13/Slash
Prompt: Accidents & Consequences
Word count: 1961
Summary: John does something dumb and Matt reacts accordingly
Notes/Warnings: Somewhat established relationship, slight angst. This is my first ever story in this fandom, and I've seen the movie only a couple of times, so I'm not too sure how well I like this story... Any and all constructive criticism is welcomed.
Something crashed to the floor on the other side of his loft apartment as Matthew Farrell opened his eyes upon waking that morning. Blearily, he glanced at the clock, noticed it was 5:45, and pulled the covers back over his head. Muffled cursing and the sound of something scraping across the hardwood floors had him awake in an instant. Jumping out of the bed, Matt found his foot caught in the covers, and he tumbled to the ground in a painful tangle of bed linens and fragile human flesh.
Letting a few curses of his own exit his mouth, Matt disentangled himself from the monster trying to suck out his soul, i.e. his comforter, and made his way to the front room. Once there, a set met his eyes that made him want to curl up in a corner and just cry. As that was not something he made a habit of doing, he settled for his usual course of action: stare in shock and disbelief while trying to talk but only making incoherent noises of protest.
Matt's computer, his baby, the one he had built up as a substitute for the one that went up in smoke during the beginning stages of the failed fire sale debacle, was now nothing more than spare parts. That might have been an exaggeration except for the way that it was in pieces, most of them smoking, all over the floor in front of his desk. The fact that he always backed up every single file or program onto an external hard drive whenever he used his computer was not getting through to him. What were getting through to him were the two facts that his computer was dead and that John McClane had killed it.
The latter would be a little hard to believe for most people who did not know John as well as Matt did. Matt, however, knew John did it just by taking one look at John's hunched shoulders. This might not have been enough to convict John for most, but John's being across the room from the dead computer with a book in his hands on quantum physics that was upside down was definitely a good way to convince Matt.
A cold, numbing anger spread through Matt as he looked at the smoldering remains of his computer. It had started out as spare parts collected furtively, usually from computer store dumpsters, and it ended up the way it began. "McClane," he began, watching John suppress a flinch at the use of his last name, "what happened to my computer?" Matt was ready for some off-the-wall excuse like he would normally get. Instead...
"I knocked it over," John said simply. Matt waited.
When nothing more was forthcoming, the hacker prompted, "And?"
John looked confused. Granted, he was trying to read a quantum physics book upside down, so that might have been why, but he still asked, "And what? I knocked it over; it crashed on the floor. That's it."
Matt felt the way his jaw dropped (again) and the way his eyes bugged out in disbelief (again), but what settled over him after those realizations was something completely different: anger. White hot anger. "That's it? That's IT?!" he exclaimed, his voice rising to a near-shout at the end. His eyes narrowed in an uncharacteristic display of temper as he turned back around into the bedroom. Grabbing a duffel bag, Matt picked up some of John's clothes from off of the floor and threw them into the bag, not even bothering to care or check if they were clean or not. That done, he picked up some random personal belongings of John's and threw them in, too.
Once his mission was accomplished, he took the bag, stalked over to John, and dropped the bag at his feet. John looked up at him in surprise, obviously expecting some sort of words to be said. When they were not, he said, "So what's this mean?"
The icy way that Matt answered shocked John even more than the words the young man said. "Get out."
John blinked. "What?" he replied eloquently.
"Get. Out. I want you out of my apartment right now. Take your bag and go. I'll send you the rest of your things when you get a new place," Matt said, the same icy tone in his voice. Outwardly, he was as calm, cool, and unmoving as a boulder. Inside, he was quivering, not only at his own daring, but also with the hurt that he felt over John's insensitivity.
John looked up at him in disbelief before putting the book down and standing to reach out to Matt. When the young man flinched away from his touch, backing up a step, John took the hint, buried any feelings he might have felt, and picked up the bag. Intending to walk out the door without so much as a word to the kid, he therefore surprised himself when he delivered a last parting shot to him, "If I'd known what a fucking sissy you were about that damn computer, I'd have broken it on purpose weeks ago instead of knocking it over accidentally. At least then I would have deserved this piss poor attitude."
With that, he was gone.
As soon as the door snicked shut, Matt's knees gave out. He did not collapse to the floor sobbing as most cliché's go, but he merely stared at the closed door in disbelief. He stayed where he was for a few moments before slowly standing and trying to pick up the scattered remains of the accident that caused this whole mess.
~*~*~
A few weeks passed before Matt saw anyone. People called to talk to him, sure, but all they got was the recorded greeting of his voicemail. Not one of them was John.
One day, when Matt was putting the finishing touches on his newly rebuilt computer, a knock sounded in the apartment, originating at the front door. Matt's head shot up, surprised at the sound, before he quietly made his way over and looked through the peephole on the door. His surprise grew as he saw Lucy McClane standing outside in the hall.
Matt weighed his options, either pretend nonexistence or let her in, but his musings were cut short as her voice rang out, "Open the door, Farrell. I know you're in there." This was followed by a few sharp raps at the door and a resigned sigh from the man in question.
Plastering a fake smile on his face, he opened the door. Pulling up his joking personality like a security blanket, he said, "Hey, Lucy! Long time no harassed by. Come on in!"
Matt took one look at her and realized that his jokes might not save him. "What did you do to my dad, Farrell?" she asked. She was much better at the ice voice than he was, he noted absently.
Then her words kicked in. Indignantly, he replied, "What did I do to him? Shouldn't you be asking what he did to me?"
"As he's the one in the hospital right now with a few gunshot wounds from a suicide mission that everyone said he shouldn't take, no I really don't think I'll be asking what he did to you," Lucy sneered, arms crossed over her chest.
Matt froze. "Hospital...? Gunshot.... What the hell?! Where is he? What hospital?" he squeaked out, panic setting in. Running through a mental list of everything he would need, Matt started to dart around his apartment, grabbing a few of John's things that he never actually sent plus a few of his own that he would need.
As he was doing this, Lucy just stood and watched, incredulity etched on her face, as Matt ran himself ragged. As he passed her for the fifth time with the same thing in his hand, she grabbed his arm and swung him to face her. When he stopped where he was, looking at her wildly, she shook him slightly to get him focused, then took a good look at him. He was thinner than she remembered, looked kind of sleep deprived, too. "Shit, Farrell, have you been taking care of yourself at all?" she asked. "When was the last time you ate a meal that had nothing to do with a frozen pizza?"
Matt looked down at his feet, absently noted that his socks did not match, and mumbled, "Feweesago."
Lucy looked at him. "Wanna repeat that so I can hear you?"
Sighing, Matt reiterated, "A few weeks ago."
The pieces clicked pretty fast for her, and Lucy rolled her eyes so hard that she felt like they should have popped out of her skull. "Come on," she began. "Lemme help you get your stuff, and you're coming with me."
At those words, Matt's original frenzy returned as he remembered that John was in the hospital. In record time, they were out of the apartment and at the hospital. After sneaking past the nurses' station, Lucy and Matt made their way to John's room. When they got there, he was asleep, something for which Matt was very thankful.
Lucy manhandled Matt over to the cot next to her father's bed after moving it closer to said bed. Pushing the brunet onto the bed, she instructed sternly, "Sleep. I'll wake you up when he does." When Matt opened his mouth to protest, she held up a fist. "I'll knock you out if I have to, Matt."
He chuckled wearily at her words before lying down fully on the cot and falling asleep soon after. Lucy sat vigil over both of them, knowing that something had happened and knowing that the two of them would have to work it out. She left them for a bit to go to the nurses' station to let them know her father was not to be disturbed. They made to protest but she said it was a personal, family matter. A note was made that if his condition worsened, the nurses would be called, and Lucy returned to John's room.
The sight that greeted Lucy made her stop in the doorway before her senses caught up with her, and she backed out again, shutting the door behind her. Matt was lying half on, half off his own cot while wrapped around John. John seemed to have moved in his sleep, clutching the smaller body to his own, while Matt buried his head in John's neck. Lucy smiled as she walked to the cafeteria, secure in the knowledge that they would stop being so damned stubborn now.
As soon as the room door shut, John opened his eyes slightly, feeling something heavy draped across his chest. Looking down, he saw the dark head, felt the thin arms, and heard the brunet's soft breathing. Smiling slightly, he closed his eyes before quietly saying, "I'm sorry, kid. It was an accident. Didn't mean to break your stupid computer."
When no reply immediately came, John was glad his assumption was correct and Matt was still sleeping. The man was then jolted to hear a groggy voice say, "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. I fixed it. You've faced the consequences. It's done. Love you, too, even though you are a dumb ass. Shut up and go to sleep."
A surprised chuckle rumbled in John's chest before he held Matt closer, pressed a kiss to his head and whispered as he fell back asleep, "Love you, too, kid."
Fin
Author: adamhsalways a.k.a. damnednforsaken
Fandom: Live Free or Die Hard
Pairing/Characters: Matt/John
Rating/Category: PG-13/Slash
Prompt: Accidents & Consequences
Word count: 1961
Summary: John does something dumb and Matt reacts accordingly
Notes/Warnings: Somewhat established relationship, slight angst. This is my first ever story in this fandom, and I've seen the movie only a couple of times, so I'm not too sure how well I like this story... Any and all constructive criticism is welcomed.
Something crashed to the floor on the other side of his loft apartment as Matthew Farrell opened his eyes upon waking that morning. Blearily, he glanced at the clock, noticed it was 5:45, and pulled the covers back over his head. Muffled cursing and the sound of something scraping across the hardwood floors had him awake in an instant. Jumping out of the bed, Matt found his foot caught in the covers, and he tumbled to the ground in a painful tangle of bed linens and fragile human flesh.
Letting a few curses of his own exit his mouth, Matt disentangled himself from the monster trying to suck out his soul, i.e. his comforter, and made his way to the front room. Once there, a set met his eyes that made him want to curl up in a corner and just cry. As that was not something he made a habit of doing, he settled for his usual course of action: stare in shock and disbelief while trying to talk but only making incoherent noises of protest.
Matt's computer, his baby, the one he had built up as a substitute for the one that went up in smoke during the beginning stages of the failed fire sale debacle, was now nothing more than spare parts. That might have been an exaggeration except for the way that it was in pieces, most of them smoking, all over the floor in front of his desk. The fact that he always backed up every single file or program onto an external hard drive whenever he used his computer was not getting through to him. What were getting through to him were the two facts that his computer was dead and that John McClane had killed it.
The latter would be a little hard to believe for most people who did not know John as well as Matt did. Matt, however, knew John did it just by taking one look at John's hunched shoulders. This might not have been enough to convict John for most, but John's being across the room from the dead computer with a book in his hands on quantum physics that was upside down was definitely a good way to convince Matt.
A cold, numbing anger spread through Matt as he looked at the smoldering remains of his computer. It had started out as spare parts collected furtively, usually from computer store dumpsters, and it ended up the way it began. "McClane," he began, watching John suppress a flinch at the use of his last name, "what happened to my computer?" Matt was ready for some off-the-wall excuse like he would normally get. Instead...
"I knocked it over," John said simply. Matt waited.
When nothing more was forthcoming, the hacker prompted, "And?"
John looked confused. Granted, he was trying to read a quantum physics book upside down, so that might have been why, but he still asked, "And what? I knocked it over; it crashed on the floor. That's it."
Matt felt the way his jaw dropped (again) and the way his eyes bugged out in disbelief (again), but what settled over him after those realizations was something completely different: anger. White hot anger. "That's it? That's IT?!" he exclaimed, his voice rising to a near-shout at the end. His eyes narrowed in an uncharacteristic display of temper as he turned back around into the bedroom. Grabbing a duffel bag, Matt picked up some of John's clothes from off of the floor and threw them into the bag, not even bothering to care or check if they were clean or not. That done, he picked up some random personal belongings of John's and threw them in, too.
Once his mission was accomplished, he took the bag, stalked over to John, and dropped the bag at his feet. John looked up at him in surprise, obviously expecting some sort of words to be said. When they were not, he said, "So what's this mean?"
The icy way that Matt answered shocked John even more than the words the young man said. "Get out."
John blinked. "What?" he replied eloquently.
"Get. Out. I want you out of my apartment right now. Take your bag and go. I'll send you the rest of your things when you get a new place," Matt said, the same icy tone in his voice. Outwardly, he was as calm, cool, and unmoving as a boulder. Inside, he was quivering, not only at his own daring, but also with the hurt that he felt over John's insensitivity.
John looked up at him in disbelief before putting the book down and standing to reach out to Matt. When the young man flinched away from his touch, backing up a step, John took the hint, buried any feelings he might have felt, and picked up the bag. Intending to walk out the door without so much as a word to the kid, he therefore surprised himself when he delivered a last parting shot to him, "If I'd known what a fucking sissy you were about that damn computer, I'd have broken it on purpose weeks ago instead of knocking it over accidentally. At least then I would have deserved this piss poor attitude."
With that, he was gone.
As soon as the door snicked shut, Matt's knees gave out. He did not collapse to the floor sobbing as most cliché's go, but he merely stared at the closed door in disbelief. He stayed where he was for a few moments before slowly standing and trying to pick up the scattered remains of the accident that caused this whole mess.
~*~*~
A few weeks passed before Matt saw anyone. People called to talk to him, sure, but all they got was the recorded greeting of his voicemail. Not one of them was John.
One day, when Matt was putting the finishing touches on his newly rebuilt computer, a knock sounded in the apartment, originating at the front door. Matt's head shot up, surprised at the sound, before he quietly made his way over and looked through the peephole on the door. His surprise grew as he saw Lucy McClane standing outside in the hall.
Matt weighed his options, either pretend nonexistence or let her in, but his musings were cut short as her voice rang out, "Open the door, Farrell. I know you're in there." This was followed by a few sharp raps at the door and a resigned sigh from the man in question.
Plastering a fake smile on his face, he opened the door. Pulling up his joking personality like a security blanket, he said, "Hey, Lucy! Long time no harassed by. Come on in!"
Matt took one look at her and realized that his jokes might not save him. "What did you do to my dad, Farrell?" she asked. She was much better at the ice voice than he was, he noted absently.
Then her words kicked in. Indignantly, he replied, "What did I do to him? Shouldn't you be asking what he did to me?"
"As he's the one in the hospital right now with a few gunshot wounds from a suicide mission that everyone said he shouldn't take, no I really don't think I'll be asking what he did to you," Lucy sneered, arms crossed over her chest.
Matt froze. "Hospital...? Gunshot.... What the hell?! Where is he? What hospital?" he squeaked out, panic setting in. Running through a mental list of everything he would need, Matt started to dart around his apartment, grabbing a few of John's things that he never actually sent plus a few of his own that he would need.
As he was doing this, Lucy just stood and watched, incredulity etched on her face, as Matt ran himself ragged. As he passed her for the fifth time with the same thing in his hand, she grabbed his arm and swung him to face her. When he stopped where he was, looking at her wildly, she shook him slightly to get him focused, then took a good look at him. He was thinner than she remembered, looked kind of sleep deprived, too. "Shit, Farrell, have you been taking care of yourself at all?" she asked. "When was the last time you ate a meal that had nothing to do with a frozen pizza?"
Matt looked down at his feet, absently noted that his socks did not match, and mumbled, "Feweesago."
Lucy looked at him. "Wanna repeat that so I can hear you?"
Sighing, Matt reiterated, "A few weeks ago."
The pieces clicked pretty fast for her, and Lucy rolled her eyes so hard that she felt like they should have popped out of her skull. "Come on," she began. "Lemme help you get your stuff, and you're coming with me."
At those words, Matt's original frenzy returned as he remembered that John was in the hospital. In record time, they were out of the apartment and at the hospital. After sneaking past the nurses' station, Lucy and Matt made their way to John's room. When they got there, he was asleep, something for which Matt was very thankful.
Lucy manhandled Matt over to the cot next to her father's bed after moving it closer to said bed. Pushing the brunet onto the bed, she instructed sternly, "Sleep. I'll wake you up when he does." When Matt opened his mouth to protest, she held up a fist. "I'll knock you out if I have to, Matt."
He chuckled wearily at her words before lying down fully on the cot and falling asleep soon after. Lucy sat vigil over both of them, knowing that something had happened and knowing that the two of them would have to work it out. She left them for a bit to go to the nurses' station to let them know her father was not to be disturbed. They made to protest but she said it was a personal, family matter. A note was made that if his condition worsened, the nurses would be called, and Lucy returned to John's room.
The sight that greeted Lucy made her stop in the doorway before her senses caught up with her, and she backed out again, shutting the door behind her. Matt was lying half on, half off his own cot while wrapped around John. John seemed to have moved in his sleep, clutching the smaller body to his own, while Matt buried his head in John's neck. Lucy smiled as she walked to the cafeteria, secure in the knowledge that they would stop being so damned stubborn now.
As soon as the room door shut, John opened his eyes slightly, feeling something heavy draped across his chest. Looking down, he saw the dark head, felt the thin arms, and heard the brunet's soft breathing. Smiling slightly, he closed his eyes before quietly saying, "I'm sorry, kid. It was an accident. Didn't mean to break your stupid computer."
When no reply immediately came, John was glad his assumption was correct and Matt was still sleeping. The man was then jolted to hear a groggy voice say, "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. I fixed it. You've faced the consequences. It's done. Love you, too, even though you are a dumb ass. Shut up and go to sleep."
A surprised chuckle rumbled in John's chest before he held Matt closer, pressed a kiss to his head and whispered as he fell back asleep, "Love you, too, kid."
Fin