[DMBJ novels] Behind the Door (snippet)
OK, I know it’s stupid late to be posting a fic snippet, and it's been a very long time since I've posted fic from this blog, but I need to do something to make myself feel better and tumblr is... let's just say I'm not trusting them to protect my stuff at the moment, so here we are. Hopefully people will find it?
This snippet takes place during the last chapters of “Ten Years Later” and will eventually follow the Iron Triangle as they recover from that separation. Enjoy? ^_^ (And yes, the below gif is mine; I did not repost it. I’m just... hopefully temporarily locked out of my main blog. :P)
"What will you do? When this is all over?"
Pangzi turned his head, catching just a glimpse of the man sitting beside him. Pangzi didn't need more than that to know that he had his attention. "Will you go back to the life you knew before? Always chasing the next tomb, the next mystery?" He bumped their shoulders together. "Or do you think you'll be ready to try something new?"
"Something new…?"
Pangzi nodded. "He's going to need time when he comes out. Time to readjust. To remember what it's like to be human and not… whatever it is that he became…"
"Behind the doors."
A soft sigh. "Yeah. We can't expect him to just pick up and go haring off into tombs with us again without missing a beat. Even he may not bounce back from 10 years of solitary confinement so quickly. So what will you do? Leave him somewhere to work it out for himself while you go off having adventures? Or…"
The barest quirk of lips gave him away long before the words emerged. "Or try something new."
A quiet laugh followed those words-breathless, almost mirthless-but it cheered Pangzi to hear it just the same. It had been a long time since he'd heard his friend laugh, seen him smile. The journey up the mountain had taken its toll on all of them, even him. Pangzi nudged his shoulder again. "Well?"
A deep breath, only slowly released, and with it, much of the tension in that lithe frame eased. That tiny quirk of a smile widened, just a hint, just enough. "Would it be premature to retire at my age?"
Pangzi snorted out a great laugh, hooking his arm around those slim shoulders and pulling him in for a tight hug that might have been more wrestling move than actual hug, but what did that matter between friends as good as they? "Premature to retire at your age?" He snorted. "Well, it's not premature to retire at *my* age, and that makes it two against one. We'll talk him into it somehow."
"Yes. We will. A quiet place. A gentle place. Where he can spend his hours however *he* choses. Where he can just… be."
Pangzi released him with a fond pat. "I think that sounds lovely. And I'm sure once we've talked him into it, he will, too." Pangzi turned his attention back to the silent doors they had been sitting vigil in front of for the past twelve hours. He shifted, digging a stone out from under his ass with a low growl. "If it takes much longer for these damned things to open, I'm going to blast them down, consequences be damned."
Pangzi was tired of waiting. He wanted his friend back.
"Be patient, Pangzi. They *will* open. You'll see."
Pangzi snorted. "Patience may be a virtue, but it's not one of mine. Ten years, on the dot, you said. The dot passed an hour ago."
"'At my best guess,' I said. Give him time."
Pangzi crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, but otherwise subsided. If he'd been here with them ten years ago, this wouldn't have happened; he was sure of it. But of course, Tianzhen hadn't called him, hadn't told him, hadn't warned him, so he could be prepared, and they could talk some *sense* into-
No. There was no point in recriminations, in wishing the past could have happened differently. It was done, and there was no changing it. But they *could* start from now, and help their friend pick up the pieces when he emerged from whatever he'd been through while behind those damned doors.
"There. Pangzi, look!"
Pangzi jerked his gaze up just in time to see the doors ease open a hair, and then a crack, and then finally widely enough for a person to pass through. Pangzi was just numb enough from the cold, just stiff enough from having sat on the cold ground all night, that he wasn't the first person to reach the door. He wasn't the one to catch their missing third when he all but fell through it, either, but he was there barely a second later, crouched down beside them both, laughing through tears as he gazed upon that face that he'd missed so very, very much-more than he'd realized he could miss anyone.
Dazed eyes took in both their faces, wrinkles drawing those brows together as he fought to find words after not needing them for ten years.
"…you're here."
Pangzi wrapped his arms around his friends, drawing them into an even closer embrace. "He promised, didn't he?"
At the slow nod he received in response, Pangzi couldn't help himself anymore. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to that sweat-dampened brow, wrapped a hand around his friend's nape and squeezed just a little, just enough to reassure them both that he was really there.
"Welcome back, Tianzhen. Welcome back." (This entry was originally posted on DW @ https://eirenical.dreamwidth.org/262455.html)
This snippet takes place during the last chapters of “Ten Years Later” and will eventually follow the Iron Triangle as they recover from that separation. Enjoy? ^_^ (And yes, the below gif is mine; I did not repost it. I’m just... hopefully temporarily locked out of my main blog. :P)
"What will you do? When this is all over?"
Pangzi turned his head, catching just a glimpse of the man sitting beside him. Pangzi didn't need more than that to know that he had his attention. "Will you go back to the life you knew before? Always chasing the next tomb, the next mystery?" He bumped their shoulders together. "Or do you think you'll be ready to try something new?"
"Something new…?"
Pangzi nodded. "He's going to need time when he comes out. Time to readjust. To remember what it's like to be human and not… whatever it is that he became…"
"Behind the doors."
A soft sigh. "Yeah. We can't expect him to just pick up and go haring off into tombs with us again without missing a beat. Even he may not bounce back from 10 years of solitary confinement so quickly. So what will you do? Leave him somewhere to work it out for himself while you go off having adventures? Or…"
The barest quirk of lips gave him away long before the words emerged. "Or try something new."
A quiet laugh followed those words-breathless, almost mirthless-but it cheered Pangzi to hear it just the same. It had been a long time since he'd heard his friend laugh, seen him smile. The journey up the mountain had taken its toll on all of them, even him. Pangzi nudged his shoulder again. "Well?"
A deep breath, only slowly released, and with it, much of the tension in that lithe frame eased. That tiny quirk of a smile widened, just a hint, just enough. "Would it be premature to retire at my age?"
Pangzi snorted out a great laugh, hooking his arm around those slim shoulders and pulling him in for a tight hug that might have been more wrestling move than actual hug, but what did that matter between friends as good as they? "Premature to retire at your age?" He snorted. "Well, it's not premature to retire at *my* age, and that makes it two against one. We'll talk him into it somehow."
"Yes. We will. A quiet place. A gentle place. Where he can spend his hours however *he* choses. Where he can just… be."
Pangzi released him with a fond pat. "I think that sounds lovely. And I'm sure once we've talked him into it, he will, too." Pangzi turned his attention back to the silent doors they had been sitting vigil in front of for the past twelve hours. He shifted, digging a stone out from under his ass with a low growl. "If it takes much longer for these damned things to open, I'm going to blast them down, consequences be damned."
Pangzi was tired of waiting. He wanted his friend back.
"Be patient, Pangzi. They *will* open. You'll see."
Pangzi snorted. "Patience may be a virtue, but it's not one of mine. Ten years, on the dot, you said. The dot passed an hour ago."
"'At my best guess,' I said. Give him time."
Pangzi crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, but otherwise subsided. If he'd been here with them ten years ago, this wouldn't have happened; he was sure of it. But of course, Tianzhen hadn't called him, hadn't told him, hadn't warned him, so he could be prepared, and they could talk some *sense* into-
No. There was no point in recriminations, in wishing the past could have happened differently. It was done, and there was no changing it. But they *could* start from now, and help their friend pick up the pieces when he emerged from whatever he'd been through while behind those damned doors.
"There. Pangzi, look!"
Pangzi jerked his gaze up just in time to see the doors ease open a hair, and then a crack, and then finally widely enough for a person to pass through. Pangzi was just numb enough from the cold, just stiff enough from having sat on the cold ground all night, that he wasn't the first person to reach the door. He wasn't the one to catch their missing third when he all but fell through it, either, but he was there barely a second later, crouched down beside them both, laughing through tears as he gazed upon that face that he'd missed so very, very much-more than he'd realized he could miss anyone.
Dazed eyes took in both their faces, wrinkles drawing those brows together as he fought to find words after not needing them for ten years.
"…you're here."
Pangzi wrapped his arms around his friends, drawing them into an even closer embrace. "He promised, didn't he?"
At the slow nod he received in response, Pangzi couldn't help himself anymore. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to that sweat-dampened brow, wrapped a hand around his friend's nape and squeezed just a little, just enough to reassure them both that he was really there.
"Welcome back, Tianzhen. Welcome back." (This entry was originally posted on DW @ https://eirenical.dreamwidth.org/262455.html)