To Wing
Title: To Wing
Chapter: Interlude
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: ...mature themes? ^^; Also a little language.
Summary: Two ex-lovers and a strange man find themselves on the losing side of a war for independence. (...I really need to come up with a better summary...)
Interlude || Yukanaide
Ten years ago.
Dennis tried to see through the dark, but all he could see of Ira was a moving shadow that kept dodging away every time he reached out. "Wait. Ira, what's wrong? Come back already." He tripped over a protruding root that had cracked through the sidewalk and landed on the ragged edge of concrete. He didn't stop chasing Ira even though he felt sticky warm blood on his knee when he reached through the tear in his jeans. After a moment the cold numbed it enough that he wasn't limping.
Ira stopped suddenly, and Dennis put on an extra burst of speed to reach him before he could slip away again. He grabbed the sleeve of Ira's shirt - a shirt! And in this weather! - and doubled over to catch his breath. "Where...where de you think you're going in the middle of the night?" he demanded when he recovered enough to stand up straight again.
Ira didn't answer at first, but he didn't start running again either so Dennis waited. "I didn't hear you," he said finally.
"You are so full of shit. Where were you going?" Dennis tugged on his sleeve until he turned around. "God, what happened to you? Your face...you need to clean that."
Ira seemed surprised to feel the shallow, bloodied scratches across the cheek . "I don't remember," he said slowly. He noticed Dennis staring at him skeptically. "I don't!"
"Sure," Dennis said, looking away, glad the night hid his embarrassment. "If I'm being a stick in the mud, just tell me. I'll let you go." He turned to leave, but he was surprised when Ira grabbed him by the arm to stop him. Ira stared at him for a moment, his eyes wide. Dennis winced as the grip on his arm tightened. "Let go. You're hurting me."
"No, Dennis...I don't...I'm not lying, I swear. The last thing I remember was..." He let go of Dennis's arm and sank to the ground, sitting back on his heels. He put his head in his hands. "Fuck. What happened...?"
"Hey," Dennis said. "Are you okay?" He wanted to sit down beside Ira, but the concrete was cold and Ira might get the wrong idea. It had been awkward between after Ira's clumsy kiss at the fair, and Dennis wasn't going to put their friendship, let alone himself, into that precarious position again. He settled for standing close and letting Ira lean against his leg.
"We were fighting," Ira murmured, tracing the lines on his cheek. "She hit me again."
"I figured." Dennis scrunched up his nose. "I don't see why you put up with..." He trailed off when Ira dropped onto his knees to retch on the ground, barely missing Dennis's tennis shoes. Dennis tried to step away but Ira had clutched the leg of his jeans to support himself. He inched away from the mess as much as he could, and waited for Ira to recover.
He didn't.
Ira stayed kneeling on the ground, keeping a death-grip on Dennis's pants. "Fuck," he repeated over and over under his breath.
Dennis felt a wave of his own nausea rising. Ira...shouldn't be like this. Ira was one with the jokes and the unflappable smile. He didn't break down, least of all when it meant he had only Dennis to lean on. "H-hey," Dennis said, nudging Ira's shoulder. "Say something, man."
Ira fell silent. Then he laughed. "God, I even changed before I left. I'm such a bastard."
"Would you talk to me already?" Dennis snapped, bending down and to the side so that Ira's bowed head was at eye-level. "What happened?"
"I can't stay here," Ira said. "I've got to go before they..." His head snapped up, and banged squarely into Dennis's nose. Ira let go of his leg and watched with a bewildered look as Dennis stumbled backwards, cursing, as if he had forgotten his friend was there.
Dennis cursed as pain stole his vision for a few seconds. "God, I thik you broke id."
"You'd better go home," Ira said, regaining some semblance of his former cool.
Dennis looked up, tears still stinging his eyes. "Whad?" he said, without bothering to take his hand from his nose.
"You shouldn't let anyone see you with me."
Dennis stared at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kiddig me!" He blamed his outburst on the throbbing in his nose and the irritating confusion of the whole conversation, but later he had to admit that he enjoyed seeing Ira look so taken aback. "You bade be follow you all the way oud here, and now you broke by fuckig dose - tell be what the hell happed or I'b goig to tell by dad aboud dis."
From the looks of it, Ira didn't believe the threat, but Dennis hadn't meant to carry it out. It was enough that Ira dropped the facade. "You already hate me," he said weakly.
"I do not. Tell be."
Ira grabbed Dennis by the unoccupied hand and dragged him away from the sidewalk, into the park. Dennis followed him into the maze of wood and plastic, until they reached a plastic tunnel that Ira seemed to think was private enough. They sat huddled there for a moment, facing each other as Dennis prodded at his nose and winced. "Id might nod be broked."
"I killed her," Ira said suddenly.
Dennis froze. "Thad's not funny."
Ira looked at him pleadingly. "I know it's not. I didn't mean to. It was like...I wasn't even the one doing it until just now. I mean, I didn't remember it like I was the one doing it. And...when she started on me this time...it's the anniversary, you know? I kept...it was like getting mixed up. And she grabbed a knife and it was...I kept remembering that night. I...I just wanted her to stop. And then I took the knife and she hit me..." He brushed his scratches. "I don't even remember starting to cut her. It was like watching someone else do it."
"Whad the fuck is wrong with you?" Dennis gaped at him. He was talking like it was some new trick he had learned. Was he crazy? "You killed someone."
"That's why I have to go."
Dennis froze up at that. "No," he said. "You can't go. That...it..." He couldn't explain it. Even with the weirdness between them, it was still impossible to imagine him gone. It would be like overcast days and nights where the sun and moon were gone until the clouds melted away. Except that this would last more than a day.
"What am I supposed to do? Stay here and get arrested?"
Dennis couldn't meet his eyes when he was like this. It made him sick. How could he be so calm about it? Just because he didn't really feel like he had done it.... But it was Ira.
"I'll go with you," he said.