Fic ~ Smoke (5/12)
Title ~ Smoke
Rating ~ PG-13 (for language and general intensity)
Characters ~ Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Roger Federer, Mirka Vavrinev, Andy Roddick, with appearances by others.
Warnings ~ Implied slash and het, scary situations.
Disclaimer ~ Disclaimers are boring. I claim Rafa’s eyebrow quirk. You know the one.
Author’s Notes ~ This story was inspired by the Rome hotel fire (Anybody remember that? It happened a few years ago. Two people died, Andy played the hero, and quite a few players probably had trouble sleeping in hotels for a little while.), but I originally intended it to occupy a completely different fandom, so it is NOT a retelling of that night.
Part Five ~ In which difficult decisions must be made, or not.
Rafael was verging on hysteria, and Carlos could only repeat the same useless reassurances while he turned in a circle, hoping to find a better option to just standing there. Despite his efforts, there was still smoke leaking in, and the heat coming from the door could be felt from several feet away. There was fire on the other side of the door. Before long, it could be on this side of the door as well. Rafael was right. They had to get out.
Finally making up his mind, he grabbed Rafael and pushed him toward the balcony. Yanking open the sliding door, they plunged out into the cool, fresh air.
“Carlos, what are we going to do?” Rafael asked, his voice small.
“I don’t know yet.” Carlos shut the doors behind them, cutting off smoke and the heat.
For now.
They were on the fifth floor, the street spread out below them.
With no place to go.
~
By the time they had passed the door leading to the second floor, the air was clear enough for Roger to stand upright, and he hurried Mirka down in front of him. The stairwell was jammed with people now, slowing them down. Roger was struck with a pang of relief as he caught sight of each familiar face among the crowd, but it did nothing to outweigh the dread. It was hard to resist the urge to look back up the way they’d come, hard not to wonder about the people staying on the floors above them.
~
Andy snored.
To Be Continued...
To be continued...