The Day Before, Saiyuki fic
The last installment in the story I wrote for the kinkmeme. This might be my favorite opening line ever. Thanks again to 
emungere for the beta.
Apparently the rooftop garden at the top of the Lotus Center is not an appropriate place to sunbathe. Even if you keep your shirt on.
I'd been up there waiting for Gen for half an hour, and the Holy Brethren were starting to hover. Usually they only did that when I was near something worth stealing, but maybe they thought I'd consider the peach tree fair game. (I guess after Ed started working at the temple, the monks decided that anyone Gen actually appeared to care about came from the prison, and I definitely counted in that tally. The fact that Ed could quote Shakespeare from memory as well as I could didn't help; though, like Gen said, it was nice to see they'd lost some misconceptions about ex-cons.)
I admit it was fun, most of the time. If they spent an hour counting to make sure I hadn't swiped any of their plastic chopsticks, that was on them, not me. Plus I could look up their noses from my spot on the ground, which was juvenile, but amusing.
I pushed my sunglasses up my nose and fixed my gaze on the one nearest me, one of the younger guys just out of college. He'd been pretending to inspect the greenhouse. "Can I help you with something?"
He hesitated. They usually did, if I actually called them on their bullshit. "No," he finally stammered. "I'm fine."
"Nice day, huh?" That's why I'd come up here to wait in the first place; there was too much sunlight to waste the afternoon sitting outside Gen's office waiting for the world's longest meeting to wrap up.
"Ah," he said, his hands smoothing his robe down nervously. I wondered what they'd told him about me. "It is."
"You get to come up here often? Check the garden?"
He nodded. Poor kid, he looked terrified.
"I always wanted a garden. Never had a place where I could really do it." I'd had a tomato plant in fourth grade, but I lost it when I switched foster homes. And the plants I kept in the window weren't really the same, though I liked having them around. "You from the city?"
He shook his head. "Grew up on a farm."
"So this is small potatoes, huh?"
He smiled in spite of himself. "You could say that, yeah."
"You came out here for the temple?"
"College," he said, and finally got brave enough to step a little closer to me. "The temple found me."
I gestured over at the chair next to me, and he sat down. "I can't really stay and talk," he said. "I have to check the irrigation system."
"I didn't realize you irrigated up here."
"Oh yes," he said. "It's a drip system, which uses water much more efficiently; spraying loses so much to evaporation...."
He was still sitting there talking irrigation when Gen finally came out. "Hey," he said. "Don't you have work to do?"
"Don't get jealous," I said, as the kid scampered away. "He's young enough to be my son."
"It's good for him," he said, turning back to the door and holding it open for me. "Keeps him on his toes. They all think they just need to sit down on a cushion and say some magic words and they'll be freed from all cares in life. Morons."
I Ieaned up and kissed him, hoping the Brethren got a good eyeful. Look. Attachment. Old people having sex. Grab your smelling salts.
In the morning, I traced poetry on Gen's back to wake him up.
I was halfway though finally meet when he said, "One of these mornings, you're doing to do that, and I'm going to smack the hell out of you before I'm even awake."
"I'm good at dodging." I kissed the back of his neck. "You gonna tell me what's up now?" He'd
avoided it last night, and I'd mostly let him, but he couldn't play that game forever.
He sighed like a martyr. "You'll keep asking."
I put my arm around him and pulled him closer. "Yep."
"I've got to go west," he grumbled, like it was a tooth extraction. "Deal with the other temples. I've put it off too long already."
"You know I'm on sabbatical this semester," I said. "I can come with you."
He snorted. "And work on your book how?"
I shrugged. "They make magical devices called tablets. I can work on the road."
"I don't want you dragged into this bullshit."
Tough shit, I thought, but I knew what his answer would be to that. "I'll just hang out at the motel or whatever and write. We'd have the nights to ourselves. No Holy Brethren giving us dirty looks."
He shook his head.
"C'mon, I'll make breakfast and we can talk about it."
He sighed again. "You just think you can talk me into anything."
Well, yes. "I think I'm hungry."
Jeff said, "You've gotta be shitting me."
"I wasn't aware you had anything better to do," Gen snapped.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't aware how much you prized my company."
Gen gave him the finger.
"Ladies," I said, getting up from the table and walking over to the couch Jeff was lounging on, "you're both pretty."
They both gave me the finger for that. Gen stalked off to the kitchen after Ed, which was hilarious, because it wasn't like he'd actually lift a finger to help.
Jeff shook his head and leaned back into the cushion. Whoever that old lady had been, she had some fantastic furniture. "How do you put up with it?"
It took me a second to realize what he was asking. I love him, I thought. I said, "He's not so bad."
"You're insane," he said, tipping his bottle up to drain the last of the beer.
I scooted closer. "Look," I said, my voice low. "He's driving into a pile of shit, and he thinks he can do it all himself."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"You can drive," I said, "and you speak better Spanish than any of us. Ed can check the books, but I think we'll need more than that." And Ed needs you. And I think we all will.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me, more closely than normal. "What kind of shit do you think you're getting into?"
I glanced over at the kitchen; Ed was rambling on about something, which meant Gen would at least be pretending to listen. "Ever hear why I got fired from Bicycle?"
He shook his head. "Just that Gen had the blog post that did it up in the office for years."
"People in the Buddhist community don't like to air out the dirty laundry. And I named names. Not just Tendzin giving people HIV back in the 80's, shit that was going down now."
"Go on," he said.
"Even back then, they were calling some of the temples a cult. I don't think it's gotten any better."
He frowned. "Cult like 'they're weird' or cult like Jim Jones?"
"Everything I've heard points to poison Kool-Aid."
"It was Flavor-Aid," he said, absentmindedly.
"Thank you, Jeff, for that completely useless correction."
He laughed. "You used to say that in class too. So what, you're worried someone'll come after us with guns?" He searched my face, and the grin disappeared. "You are worried someone'll come after us with guns."
"Probably not 'us,'" I said wryly. "Just Gen. He's the son of the founder, and probably the one person left who can challenge this guy on his own turf." I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I could be totally off. I hope I am. I mean, worst case scenario, you get a free vacation, right?"
He nodded at that. "Yeah, I guess so." He'd been hunting for jobs for almost a month now, since the bar burned down, and I knew it was getting to him.
"I figure if we drive out, hit the temples as we go, it shouldn't be more than a month or two." Yeah, well, I can't be right about everything. "We're lucky, I'm wrong. You get a break, I get some time with Gen, everybody wins." Like I said, I'm not right about everything. I was sure right about not wanting Gen out there alone, though.
"I'll talk it over with Ed," Jeff said.
"Thanks." Just asking him had eased the nervous scratching at the back of my mind. And I guess I knew we'd talk them into it in the end. Whatever Gen was going to have to deal with, I was damned if he'd do it alone.
Whether he liked it or not.
Also, there are a few quick notes on my abuse of Buddhism in the AO3 version.
ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A MULTI-CHAPTERED WORK 'COMPLETE' IN THE AO3? Why are things on this archive so hard? EDIT: Never mind, it's fixed now. IDEK.
emungere for the beta.
Apparently the rooftop garden at the top of the Lotus Center is not an appropriate place to sunbathe. Even if you keep your shirt on.
I'd been up there waiting for Gen for half an hour, and the Holy Brethren were starting to hover. Usually they only did that when I was near something worth stealing, but maybe they thought I'd consider the peach tree fair game. (I guess after Ed started working at the temple, the monks decided that anyone Gen actually appeared to care about came from the prison, and I definitely counted in that tally. The fact that Ed could quote Shakespeare from memory as well as I could didn't help; though, like Gen said, it was nice to see they'd lost some misconceptions about ex-cons.)
I admit it was fun, most of the time. If they spent an hour counting to make sure I hadn't swiped any of their plastic chopsticks, that was on them, not me. Plus I could look up their noses from my spot on the ground, which was juvenile, but amusing.
I pushed my sunglasses up my nose and fixed my gaze on the one nearest me, one of the younger guys just out of college. He'd been pretending to inspect the greenhouse. "Can I help you with something?"
He hesitated. They usually did, if I actually called them on their bullshit. "No," he finally stammered. "I'm fine."
"Nice day, huh?" That's why I'd come up here to wait in the first place; there was too much sunlight to waste the afternoon sitting outside Gen's office waiting for the world's longest meeting to wrap up.
"Ah," he said, his hands smoothing his robe down nervously. I wondered what they'd told him about me. "It is."
"You get to come up here often? Check the garden?"
He nodded. Poor kid, he looked terrified.
"I always wanted a garden. Never had a place where I could really do it." I'd had a tomato plant in fourth grade, but I lost it when I switched foster homes. And the plants I kept in the window weren't really the same, though I liked having them around. "You from the city?"
He shook his head. "Grew up on a farm."
"So this is small potatoes, huh?"
He smiled in spite of himself. "You could say that, yeah."
"You came out here for the temple?"
"College," he said, and finally got brave enough to step a little closer to me. "The temple found me."
I gestured over at the chair next to me, and he sat down. "I can't really stay and talk," he said. "I have to check the irrigation system."
"I didn't realize you irrigated up here."
"Oh yes," he said. "It's a drip system, which uses water much more efficiently; spraying loses so much to evaporation...."
He was still sitting there talking irrigation when Gen finally came out. "Hey," he said. "Don't you have work to do?"
"Don't get jealous," I said, as the kid scampered away. "He's young enough to be my son."
"It's good for him," he said, turning back to the door and holding it open for me. "Keeps him on his toes. They all think they just need to sit down on a cushion and say some magic words and they'll be freed from all cares in life. Morons."
I Ieaned up and kissed him, hoping the Brethren got a good eyeful. Look. Attachment. Old people having sex. Grab your smelling salts.
In the morning, I traced poetry on Gen's back to wake him up.
I was halfway though finally meet when he said, "One of these mornings, you're doing to do that, and I'm going to smack the hell out of you before I'm even awake."
"I'm good at dodging." I kissed the back of his neck. "You gonna tell me what's up now?" He'd
avoided it last night, and I'd mostly let him, but he couldn't play that game forever.
He sighed like a martyr. "You'll keep asking."
I put my arm around him and pulled him closer. "Yep."
"I've got to go west," he grumbled, like it was a tooth extraction. "Deal with the other temples. I've put it off too long already."
"You know I'm on sabbatical this semester," I said. "I can come with you."
He snorted. "And work on your book how?"
I shrugged. "They make magical devices called tablets. I can work on the road."
"I don't want you dragged into this bullshit."
Tough shit, I thought, but I knew what his answer would be to that. "I'll just hang out at the motel or whatever and write. We'd have the nights to ourselves. No Holy Brethren giving us dirty looks."
He shook his head.
"C'mon, I'll make breakfast and we can talk about it."
He sighed again. "You just think you can talk me into anything."
Well, yes. "I think I'm hungry."
Jeff said, "You've gotta be shitting me."
"I wasn't aware you had anything better to do," Gen snapped.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't aware how much you prized my company."
Gen gave him the finger.
"Ladies," I said, getting up from the table and walking over to the couch Jeff was lounging on, "you're both pretty."
They both gave me the finger for that. Gen stalked off to the kitchen after Ed, which was hilarious, because it wasn't like he'd actually lift a finger to help.
Jeff shook his head and leaned back into the cushion. Whoever that old lady had been, she had some fantastic furniture. "How do you put up with it?"
It took me a second to realize what he was asking. I love him, I thought. I said, "He's not so bad."
"You're insane," he said, tipping his bottle up to drain the last of the beer.
I scooted closer. "Look," I said, my voice low. "He's driving into a pile of shit, and he thinks he can do it all himself."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"You can drive," I said, "and you speak better Spanish than any of us. Ed can check the books, but I think we'll need more than that." And Ed needs you. And I think we all will.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me, more closely than normal. "What kind of shit do you think you're getting into?"
I glanced over at the kitchen; Ed was rambling on about something, which meant Gen would at least be pretending to listen. "Ever hear why I got fired from Bicycle?"
He shook his head. "Just that Gen had the blog post that did it up in the office for years."
"People in the Buddhist community don't like to air out the dirty laundry. And I named names. Not just Tendzin giving people HIV back in the 80's, shit that was going down now."
"Go on," he said.
"Even back then, they were calling some of the temples a cult. I don't think it's gotten any better."
He frowned. "Cult like 'they're weird' or cult like Jim Jones?"
"Everything I've heard points to poison Kool-Aid."
"It was Flavor-Aid," he said, absentmindedly.
"Thank you, Jeff, for that completely useless correction."
He laughed. "You used to say that in class too. So what, you're worried someone'll come after us with guns?" He searched my face, and the grin disappeared. "You are worried someone'll come after us with guns."
"Probably not 'us,'" I said wryly. "Just Gen. He's the son of the founder, and probably the one person left who can challenge this guy on his own turf." I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I could be totally off. I hope I am. I mean, worst case scenario, you get a free vacation, right?"
He nodded at that. "Yeah, I guess so." He'd been hunting for jobs for almost a month now, since the bar burned down, and I knew it was getting to him.
"I figure if we drive out, hit the temples as we go, it shouldn't be more than a month or two." Yeah, well, I can't be right about everything. "We're lucky, I'm wrong. You get a break, I get some time with Gen, everybody wins." Like I said, I'm not right about everything. I was sure right about not wanting Gen out there alone, though.
"I'll talk it over with Ed," Jeff said.
"Thanks." Just asking him had eased the nervous scratching at the back of my mind. And I guess I knew we'd talk them into it in the end. Whatever Gen was going to have to deal with, I was damned if he'd do it alone.
Whether he liked it or not.
Also, there are a few quick notes on my abuse of Buddhism in the AO3 version.
ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A MULTI-CHAPTERED WORK 'COMPLETE' IN THE AO3? Why are things on this archive so hard? EDIT: Never mind, it's fixed now. IDEK.