Ficlet: That Word: Don, David, Megan, Colby
Title: That Word
Fandom: Numb3rs
Characters: Don, David, Megan, Colby
Rating: PG
Word Count: 499
Prompt: Word #187 Heritage for 15minuteficlets
Disclaimer: Not mine, only borrowing, just fun, no infringement intended.
The first time Don heard that word, he’d been playing baseball on the school playground, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. When he and Charlie had gotten into a fight in front of their parents, he’d called Charlie that word, and his dad slapped him - actually took an open hand across his face - and dragged him inside the house. There was a long lecture about it, and the memory of his father’s hand on him - the pain and knee-weakening shock - stayed with him so thoroughly that he became sick to his stomach every time he heard it after that.
The first time David heard that word, his mom had yelled it out of an open apartment window in the Bronx, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. He’d come to know that word as part of the daily lexicon, but it wasn’t until he heard it spat by an angry police officer - mispronounced with an “e-r” instead of an “a” - that he felt something clench inside of him and make his stomach twist into knots. He told his mother, and, next thing he knew, there was a mob of people from his neighborhood lined up outside of the police station.
The first time Megan heard that word, a man on the television said it to a woman before he hit her, and she knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. But when she said it to her mother because Mommy wouldn’t let her stay out for an extra ten minutes to finish the game with the neighborhood boys, Ma pulled her into the kitchen and washed her mouth out with soap. She could still taste the bitter burn on her tongue whenever she heard that word, and it made her stomach churn.
The first time Colby heard that word, he was thirteen, and it was his father who’d said it, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. What he did know was what made his dad seem at least somewhat placated, so he did those things - took shop class, dated cheerleaders, signed up for the US Army. In boot camp, he’d heard that word every day, shouted by drill sergeants and hissed by fellow platoon mates. It was followed by excruciating torture - blistering heat during twenty-mile runs, trying to climb apparatuses when his fingers were frozen from cold, tube sock-wrapped bars of soap pounding against his back in the middle of the night - and whenever he heard that word, his stomach tightened, and he needed a few moments for the nausea to pass.
They sit together in the war room, and there’s a lot of things you can say to them that flow over their skin like oil over water, but four words remain off limits, triggering disgust, anger, indignation, and hardened walls to seal shut, stomachs taut and swords drawn.
Fandom: Numb3rs
Characters: Don, David, Megan, Colby
Rating: PG
Word Count: 499
Prompt: Word #187 Heritage for 15minuteficlets
Disclaimer: Not mine, only borrowing, just fun, no infringement intended.
The first time Don heard that word, he’d been playing baseball on the school playground, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. When he and Charlie had gotten into a fight in front of their parents, he’d called Charlie that word, and his dad slapped him - actually took an open hand across his face - and dragged him inside the house. There was a long lecture about it, and the memory of his father’s hand on him - the pain and knee-weakening shock - stayed with him so thoroughly that he became sick to his stomach every time he heard it after that.
The first time David heard that word, his mom had yelled it out of an open apartment window in the Bronx, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. He’d come to know that word as part of the daily lexicon, but it wasn’t until he heard it spat by an angry police officer - mispronounced with an “e-r” instead of an “a” - that he felt something clench inside of him and make his stomach twist into knots. He told his mother, and, next thing he knew, there was a mob of people from his neighborhood lined up outside of the police station.
The first time Megan heard that word, a man on the television said it to a woman before he hit her, and she knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. But when she said it to her mother because Mommy wouldn’t let her stay out for an extra ten minutes to finish the game with the neighborhood boys, Ma pulled her into the kitchen and washed her mouth out with soap. She could still taste the bitter burn on her tongue whenever she heard that word, and it made her stomach churn.
The first time Colby heard that word, he was thirteen, and it was his father who’d said it, and he knew it was an insult, but the details beyond that were unknown. What he did know was what made his dad seem at least somewhat placated, so he did those things - took shop class, dated cheerleaders, signed up for the US Army. In boot camp, he’d heard that word every day, shouted by drill sergeants and hissed by fellow platoon mates. It was followed by excruciating torture - blistering heat during twenty-mile runs, trying to climb apparatuses when his fingers were frozen from cold, tube sock-wrapped bars of soap pounding against his back in the middle of the night - and whenever he heard that word, his stomach tightened, and he needed a few moments for the nausea to pass.
They sit together in the war room, and there’s a lot of things you can say to them that flow over their skin like oil over water, but four words remain off limits, triggering disgust, anger, indignation, and hardened walls to seal shut, stomachs taut and swords drawn.