ficbits
Hm, was digging through old journals last night (until waaay too late), and I'd totally forgotten about all these little Bootcamp snippets I'd hoarded. Thought I might do something with them eventually, but all the burners on my stove are overfull as it is.
So.
1. Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed/Roy
Adjustment
Ed dreams he's lying stripped on a narrow cot, in a tent, wearing nothing but his boxers, and Mustang is there, leaning over him with a flathead screwdriver.
"The fuck are you doing with that?" Ed demands, realizing his right arm is stretched out, half over Mustang's knee, the steel gleaming dully in the thin dusty light.
"It's only a minor adjustment," says Mustang. He's wearing a white shirt, Ed notices, unbuttoned to his chest and the cuffs rolled up. Ed stares at the man's wrists and licks his lips.
"Don't screw it up." He knows he shouldn't sound nervous, Mustang will have a field day with him.
"I know what I'm doing," the man says, still eerily calm, slotting the screwdriver neatly into his elbow joint. "I learned this during the war."
He twists his wrist, and Ed feels it through his whole body; a hot tightening in every nerve and every muscle, and god it's good, it's better than anything he's ever felt.
"Do that again," he gasps, and Mustang shakes his head, smiling faintly.
"I think that's enough for now. You don't want to overdo it, right there."
**
2. Ouran Host Club, Hunny/Kaoru
4a. Kaoru catches a glimpse, on their way up in the lift, of Hunny-senpai suspended in mid-air above the jump, the edge of his snowboard gleaming like a blade in the winter sun and the breathless excitement of flight sharpening every line of his body.
4b. Though he's swaying several meters above the snow pack himself, Kaoru feels queerly earthbound; tethered by care and gravity, and the million things every day that snare him until he forgets there's even a sky up there.
4c. He sees Hikaru squirming restlessly in the chair up ahead, and wonders if he's even capable of breaking free enough to fly; whether Senpai will ever teach him that secret; whether it would hurt the people left on the ground if he tried.
snack
Hunny-senpai is perched on a stool in the spotless white kitchen, at the counter with a plate of white cake. Angel Food, Kaoru guesses at first glance. He's in his pyjamas too, white flannel, and pink bunny slippers dangling from his feet.
Kaoru doesn't entirely understand about the cake and sweets, except that they make Senpai happy. So he wanders in quietly, takes the stool next to Senpai when he smiles.
He's trying to think how to ask--what's with the cake? What's your secret about happiness? How do I learn to fly? But he can't put it together so that it'll make sense, and ends up just sitting there, cheek on his hand and glad for the company at least.
At length, Senpai cuts off a wedge of cake and lifts it up to Kaoru, with a funny little smile that makes Kaoru think about sharing food on the same fork, and indirect kisses--a silly thing, but they're in a house full of people, and have to be careful.
3. Ouran Host Club/Blackbirdverse, Mori
Drowse
He goes out at the same time every night, to see if Mitsukuni will come back.
After the first ten nights he stops counting, because it isn't as though he has any choice about it. This isn't a challenge, or a test of fortitude, or even a mission for him. Most of the day he has no clear idea where he is, or what's happening around him. And then the sun sets, and it's time to go outside and wait, so he does.
Something tells him the world has kept on turning around him, but where he is, everything has stopped. He'll find himself in the bathroom, holding his toothbrush, or sitting next to his brother at dinner, or halfway down the garden path to the doujo, and every time he has to stop and think how he got there. What was he doing, between one moment and the next? How long was he nowhere, before surfacing to find himself somewhere? It makes him curious occasionally, but the effort it takes to think about it makes him tired, and usually he decides to go lie down instead of think.
And then the sun goes down, and it's time to go and wait.
He stands in the same place every night. At the bottom of the steps, by the driveway, next to where Mitsukuni's car had idled. Where the rear door had closed, before the car pulled away. Of course the driveway is raked every morning at sunrise. There are no tire marks, or shoe prints still marking the spot. But he doesn't need them. He knows the place because he feels it, the precise quality of the emptiness at this particular patch of grass and gravel is what brings him here.
*****
So.
1. Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed/Roy
Adjustment
Ed dreams he's lying stripped on a narrow cot, in a tent, wearing nothing but his boxers, and Mustang is there, leaning over him with a flathead screwdriver.
"The fuck are you doing with that?" Ed demands, realizing his right arm is stretched out, half over Mustang's knee, the steel gleaming dully in the thin dusty light.
"It's only a minor adjustment," says Mustang. He's wearing a white shirt, Ed notices, unbuttoned to his chest and the cuffs rolled up. Ed stares at the man's wrists and licks his lips.
"Don't screw it up." He knows he shouldn't sound nervous, Mustang will have a field day with him.
"I know what I'm doing," the man says, still eerily calm, slotting the screwdriver neatly into his elbow joint. "I learned this during the war."
He twists his wrist, and Ed feels it through his whole body; a hot tightening in every nerve and every muscle, and god it's good, it's better than anything he's ever felt.
"Do that again," he gasps, and Mustang shakes his head, smiling faintly.
"I think that's enough for now. You don't want to overdo it, right there."
**
2. Ouran Host Club, Hunny/Kaoru
4a. Kaoru catches a glimpse, on their way up in the lift, of Hunny-senpai suspended in mid-air above the jump, the edge of his snowboard gleaming like a blade in the winter sun and the breathless excitement of flight sharpening every line of his body.
4b. Though he's swaying several meters above the snow pack himself, Kaoru feels queerly earthbound; tethered by care and gravity, and the million things every day that snare him until he forgets there's even a sky up there.
4c. He sees Hikaru squirming restlessly in the chair up ahead, and wonders if he's even capable of breaking free enough to fly; whether Senpai will ever teach him that secret; whether it would hurt the people left on the ground if he tried.
snack
Hunny-senpai is perched on a stool in the spotless white kitchen, at the counter with a plate of white cake. Angel Food, Kaoru guesses at first glance. He's in his pyjamas too, white flannel, and pink bunny slippers dangling from his feet.
Kaoru doesn't entirely understand about the cake and sweets, except that they make Senpai happy. So he wanders in quietly, takes the stool next to Senpai when he smiles.
He's trying to think how to ask--what's with the cake? What's your secret about happiness? How do I learn to fly? But he can't put it together so that it'll make sense, and ends up just sitting there, cheek on his hand and glad for the company at least.
At length, Senpai cuts off a wedge of cake and lifts it up to Kaoru, with a funny little smile that makes Kaoru think about sharing food on the same fork, and indirect kisses--a silly thing, but they're in a house full of people, and have to be careful.
3. Ouran Host Club/Blackbirdverse, Mori
Drowse
He goes out at the same time every night, to see if Mitsukuni will come back.
After the first ten nights he stops counting, because it isn't as though he has any choice about it. This isn't a challenge, or a test of fortitude, or even a mission for him. Most of the day he has no clear idea where he is, or what's happening around him. And then the sun sets, and it's time to go outside and wait, so he does.
Something tells him the world has kept on turning around him, but where he is, everything has stopped. He'll find himself in the bathroom, holding his toothbrush, or sitting next to his brother at dinner, or halfway down the garden path to the doujo, and every time he has to stop and think how he got there. What was he doing, between one moment and the next? How long was he nowhere, before surfacing to find himself somewhere? It makes him curious occasionally, but the effort it takes to think about it makes him tired, and usually he decides to go lie down instead of think.
And then the sun goes down, and it's time to go and wait.
He stands in the same place every night. At the bottom of the steps, by the driveway, next to where Mitsukuni's car had idled. Where the rear door had closed, before the car pulled away. Of course the driveway is raked every morning at sunrise. There are no tire marks, or shoe prints still marking the spot. But he doesn't need them. He knows the place because he feels it, the precise quality of the emptiness at this particular patch of grass and gravel is what brings him here.
*****