[✐fanfic challenge] ygodrabble: a world away
Challenge Name and Number: #031, “Back”
Drabble Title: A World Away
Word Count: 361
Summary: They've gotten older, but their retreat hasn't changed.
The road to the beach hasn't changed, still a twisty unwound ball of string abandoned in a dust cloud; a new bus takes them, though, sleek and lean and incongruous, since the old one rattled itself to the junkyard years ago. A lifetime for a bus, generations for the crabs weaving sideways in the sand, teasing close to Jounouchi's toe-tips but always giving Shizuka the respectful distance a lady deserves.
They've gotten older, too.
Shizuka's sneakers have slipped off and they dangle flopping from one dainty hand; she skirts along the surf, shivering and bobbing but never falling in. Jounouchi wore sandals to begin with and blistered himself on the walk down the mountain; he sits in the waves to cool the abrasion and fidgets as the sand threatens the safety of his shorts. Shizuka kicks a splash onto his T-shirt and giggles like a child, bubblegum tongue pinched between curvy lips, hair auburn corn-wisps rumpled by gusts. He staggers to his feet to give chase, but only catches up when she slips on a shell, splays into the foam: then, his feet grow wings, or jet propellers, kicking up sand-spray in his tracks.
They eat bentos out of square green boxes and drink warm soda too quickly, so Jounouchi's stomach grows sour and Shizuka bubbles in little popping hiccups. They build another sandcastle, sculpting a world for just the two of them, where fathers don't hit and mothers don't leave. Shizuka's nose flushes with sun-prickles; Jounouchi scolds her but his ears look like cherries among the gold of his hair.
Among the rocks, they sit for hours, dozing and sighing and soaking it all in, though Jounouchi watches Shizuka most of all. When the chill of the night pricks their arms and the surf stings their skin more than cools, they trek back up the mountain to the world still waiting, but Shizuka carries in her eyes a better place, one she'd thought she might never again see.
Today's cost Jounouchi his entire paper-route paycheck, but as Shizuka drowses against his shoulder, head bumping and jostled by the bus ride back, he's already planning how next to fill those eyes.
Drabble Title: A World Away
Word Count: 361
Summary: They've gotten older, but their retreat hasn't changed.
The road to the beach hasn't changed, still a twisty unwound ball of string abandoned in a dust cloud; a new bus takes them, though, sleek and lean and incongruous, since the old one rattled itself to the junkyard years ago. A lifetime for a bus, generations for the crabs weaving sideways in the sand, teasing close to Jounouchi's toe-tips but always giving Shizuka the respectful distance a lady deserves.
They've gotten older, too.
Shizuka's sneakers have slipped off and they dangle flopping from one dainty hand; she skirts along the surf, shivering and bobbing but never falling in. Jounouchi wore sandals to begin with and blistered himself on the walk down the mountain; he sits in the waves to cool the abrasion and fidgets as the sand threatens the safety of his shorts. Shizuka kicks a splash onto his T-shirt and giggles like a child, bubblegum tongue pinched between curvy lips, hair auburn corn-wisps rumpled by gusts. He staggers to his feet to give chase, but only catches up when she slips on a shell, splays into the foam: then, his feet grow wings, or jet propellers, kicking up sand-spray in his tracks.
They eat bentos out of square green boxes and drink warm soda too quickly, so Jounouchi's stomach grows sour and Shizuka bubbles in little popping hiccups. They build another sandcastle, sculpting a world for just the two of them, where fathers don't hit and mothers don't leave. Shizuka's nose flushes with sun-prickles; Jounouchi scolds her but his ears look like cherries among the gold of his hair.
Among the rocks, they sit for hours, dozing and sighing and soaking it all in, though Jounouchi watches Shizuka most of all. When the chill of the night pricks their arms and the surf stings their skin more than cools, they trek back up the mountain to the world still waiting, but Shizuka carries in her eyes a better place, one she'd thought she might never again see.
Today's cost Jounouchi his entire paper-route paycheck, but as Shizuka drowses against his shoulder, head bumping and jostled by the bus ride back, he's already planning how next to fill those eyes.