Die Hard 4 Fanfiction: "Silver Linings" (PG-13)
Title: Silver Linings
Fandom: Die Hard 4
Author: HalfshellVenus
Characters: John McClane, Matthew Farrell (Gen or pre-Slash)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: You can forget that not all surprises are bad.
Author's Notes: For the writerverse prompt of "Response."
x-x-x-x-x
John McClane had a very simple plan for life: Don't fuck up, and keep moving forward. The reality was harder to pin down, maybe something closer to Fuck up less, and Just keep moving. That was hard enough. He'd been a cop with a troubled marriage who became an overnight hero, then a disciplinary problem, then a hero again, then an attitudinal headcase-turned-hero. Now he was still years away from retirement (assuming he didn't get killed first) and still doing grunt work like picking up some kid in Jersey on the say-so of someone too far above his pay grade to even bother telling him Why.
He'd nearly been blown up within minutes of knocking on the kid's door, which was some kind of personal record, and shot at for the better part of a day. The clincher was when he actually shot himself.
It'd be great to say that nothing like that had ever happened before, but it wouldn't be true. The kid was new-thank God for the kid-and so was taking down a helicopter with a car. But the rest was the kind of craziness that made John focus on mottoes and shit in the hope of keeping his life under some kind of control.
As far as he could tell, it had never worked.
Finally, at the end of one of the worst days of his life, he found himself inviting the kid to come stay with him while they both recovered from their injuries. Blame the painkillers, maybe, because while John would start a gunfight at the drop of a hat, he wasn't the type to extend himself long-term for much of anyone. Hey, that "charity" shit would kill you.
Still, he'd done it anyway, and the kid had actually said yes. It had been a long time since John had been so goddamn happy to hear a Yes.
The two of them living in his apartment for weeks or months might be awkward and inconvenient, and yet John was totally looking forward to it.
Planning, he had finally decided, was overrated.
--/--
Fandom: Die Hard 4
Author: HalfshellVenus
Characters: John McClane, Matthew Farrell (Gen or pre-Slash)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: You can forget that not all surprises are bad.
Author's Notes: For the writerverse prompt of "Response."
x-x-x-x-x
John McClane had a very simple plan for life: Don't fuck up, and keep moving forward. The reality was harder to pin down, maybe something closer to Fuck up less, and Just keep moving. That was hard enough. He'd been a cop with a troubled marriage who became an overnight hero, then a disciplinary problem, then a hero again, then an attitudinal headcase-turned-hero. Now he was still years away from retirement (assuming he didn't get killed first) and still doing grunt work like picking up some kid in Jersey on the say-so of someone too far above his pay grade to even bother telling him Why.
He'd nearly been blown up within minutes of knocking on the kid's door, which was some kind of personal record, and shot at for the better part of a day. The clincher was when he actually shot himself.
It'd be great to say that nothing like that had ever happened before, but it wouldn't be true. The kid was new-thank God for the kid-and so was taking down a helicopter with a car. But the rest was the kind of craziness that made John focus on mottoes and shit in the hope of keeping his life under some kind of control.
As far as he could tell, it had never worked.
Finally, at the end of one of the worst days of his life, he found himself inviting the kid to come stay with him while they both recovered from their injuries. Blame the painkillers, maybe, because while John would start a gunfight at the drop of a hat, he wasn't the type to extend himself long-term for much of anyone. Hey, that "charity" shit would kill you.
Still, he'd done it anyway, and the kid had actually said yes. It had been a long time since John had been so goddamn happy to hear a Yes.
The two of them living in his apartment for weeks or months might be awkward and inconvenient, and yet John was totally looking forward to it.
Planning, he had finally decided, was overrated.
--/--