(no subject)
the academy is; rise of the fall tour series, 2005
flying at tree level (1/10)
mike / william, 1113 words (pg in the best way)
-- we're down in the basement, in the dark, after we crash your car, hoping fast that my arrow hits the mark, so you know who we are
The thing about Mike Carden that most people-- most people, mind you-- overlook is that he is easily distracted. In some cases, this is not a problem, in fact he can usually get away with just about anything. In some cases, he can play his distraction off as a momentary interest in something deeply interesting. He possesses the uncanny ability to get other people interested in his distractions as well, making it seem like he's not distracted at all, just pointing out some spectacular view. But when he is stationed behind the wheel of a car, this one miniscule character flaw simply cannot be ignored.
Mike tends to get distracted by stupid shiny things, or squirrels in nearby trees. He tends to get sleepy and finds it unnecessary to keep his hands on the wheel. More often than not, he tends to forget he's driving and attempts to eat a sandwich or change his clothes or play solitaire.
William remembers the last time they got into an accident, driving around in Jon's crescent road neighbourhood while there were no other cars in sight. He swerved to avoid a mailbox and hit a telephone pole instead.
Sitting down in the basement, in the dark, after he crashed the car, that was the last straw.
The rest of the guys decided that never again would Mike Carden drive a car unless he was one hundred percent focussed on the task at hand. What that really meant was that no one trusted him enough to let him drive, except in extreme situations.
Like today, with everyone packed into the back of the van trying to catch a wink of sleep as they drive past long stretches of road on the way to palm trees and a never-ending beach. For as long as they had been on the road, Mike slept comfortably spread out in the back of the van, taking up all the space while everyone else took turns driving, nearly falling asleep at the wheel. William spent the whole night drunk off four plastic cups of gas station coffee and very bad lemon jelly donuts, constantly tilting the seat back to try and find some sort of comfort in the stiff reupholstered leather and rubbing his eyes at random intervals, in an attempt to keep them open.
At five past six, just as the sun rises over the horizon, he pulls over and goes around to the back, hops over Tony and tries to wake Mike up.
"Mike," he whispers, close enough to his ear that it is positively sexual, but he sleeps on, smiling slightly behind a look of complacent calm. "Mike, Mike, Mi-ike, Michael Stephen Carden!" he says through clenched teeth, shaking him violently.
"Ahh, what what what do you want?" William smiles innocently and Mike pulls a thin sheet up a bit, as though he needs a place to hide. "What?"
"You have to drive, now, I'm falling asleep here," and, as an afterthought, "Please?"
After ten minutes of heated debate, offers of sexual favours and copious amounts of money, William manages to guide Tom to the back of the bus so he can take his place, practically shoving Mike, who is still complaining, into the driver's side.
"I'll kill us all," he whines, but gets in at the incredulous glance Bill directs at him because if looks could kill, he'd already be dead.
After mere seconds, Mike turns his head to the side window and chuckles, raises his hand to point out a particularly lopsided tree.
"Eyes on the road," William offers sternly, not even bothering to look up from his book. He can hear Mike shifting back into the seat, can hear a heavy sigh and a scoff, but he ignores it and reads on.
Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. Mike reaches into his pocket and finds his wallet, takes out a few small bills and three twenties and begins counting them. "Eyes on the road," William shakes his head and takes the money from Mike, putting it into his own pocket and setting the empty wallet aside.
"Bill, I need to count that, I don't know if we'll all have enough for that hotel." He keeps his eyes focussed on the bills, but returns them to the road when William looks up from the page, scowling.
With all the patience he can muster, William smiles politely and speaks as though he's talking to his four year old brother. "You have sixty eight dollars, I don't even have to count it. You had eighty dollars yesterday and you spent seven on lunch and five on the donuts."
James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. Mike turns completely around and grabs the box of donuts still there, perched unceremoniously on top of the Butcher. He reaches in, grabs a rainbow sprinkled one and just as he is about to take a bite, William snatches it out of his hands.
"You are interrupting my reading," he starts, and Mike sinks into his seat as if to avoid the lecture, which comes anyway. "You can't possibly be so hungry that you would endanger the safety of everyone in this van so you can have a donut."
He looks at Mike for some kind of answer, but all he says is, "But I am," after a particularly painful silence.
William folds the page down in his book and sets it at his feet, turns sideways in his seat and shakes his head. "You drive," he offers, "just drive, keep your eyes on the road, don't do anything but drive and I will feed you the donut. Do you want some coffee? Do you want me to read to you? Whatever it is-- I will brush your teeth for you-- just, you just drive."
Taking this as a good thing, Mike nods and sits up. "You're gonna feed me donuts? That's sexy."
William mutters "Michael, not here," while blushing a particularly pretty shade of pink, but he holds out the donut and Mike takes a bite allowing sprinkles to fall all over Bill's fingers.
Somewhere in the back of the van, Tom groans, "Please stop talking so loudly," and they both laugh.
--
i realize it was kind of about nothing, but i thought it would be a nice introduction to mike and william's relationship, and sexier things are in store, i assure you. and yes, william reads harry potter.
photo from theacademyis.com: september twentieth, two thousand and five