Portal: Along the Road
title: Along the Road
fandom: Portal
rating: PG-13...?
pairings: Chell x human Wheatley
summary: Small vignettes from a life not meant to be. Takes place during "Until the End".
She
She smells terrible on hot days and her clothes are frayed and filthy. She jumps at certain small noises, throwing her hands up as if she still had a gun to shoot an escape route with. If he comes up behind her without warning she lashes out (but she's always sorry after). Sometimes at night he wakes up to see her wide-eyed and shaking, seeing cold walls instead of the place they are sleeping in. She loves anything that looks like cake or tastes like it but the word itself makes her skin crawl.
She laughs without a sound when she runs barefoot down an empty road. Her hair is matted and tangled but it streams out behind her like a flag in the wind. Under the travel dirt, her skin is soft and warm. She doesn't make a sound but the breath catching in her throat when she arcs against him always leaves him reeling.
She's broken and funny and strange.
She is everything he lives for.
Again
"One year, two hundred fifty-seven days, three hours, eighteen minutes."
His voice, choked and hoarse, startles her from sleep. She rolls over to see him staring wide-eyed out of the guard shack window, the moon shining on his face. He doesn't seem to notice her until she puts a hand to his cheek, at which he whimpers and curls around himself. Her fingers come away wet.
"Oh, it's just you," he rasps. "I'm not in space, then?"
She cups her hand around his cheek, smiling in the dark.
"Right. That...That was a dream, was it?"
He can't hide the tremble in his voice, doesn't even try. She curls around him, wrapping his head and shoulders in her warmth, shielding him from the night sky. She strokes his hair and holds him as tight as she can without hurting him any further. Her shirt is damp when he can finally speak again.
"One year, two hundred fifty-seven days, three hours, eighteen minutes. It's...it's how long I was out...there. Before she pulled me back and...and did this..."
It's not the first time she wishes she could say something comforting. Carefully, firmly, she presses his ear against her chest.
"I'm so sorry," he chokes. "You, what I did...it's all I could think about up there."
Before he can start browbeating himself again she presses her lips into his hair, patting his cheek firmly. She forgives him and he has enough on his shoulders without carrying this. He sniffles and listens to her beating heart filling the silence. Once in a while he sniffles or whispers something about not being in space anymore. He drifts off again and she follows soon after, his breath warm and moist on her skin.
Be More
Rain is drumming on the old house roof. Every drop makes him cringe. He focuses on the shape of her leaning in the open doorway, silhouetted against gray and green. The day is still warm and he feels hot and sticky in his clothes. Suddenly she stands up straight, flashes him a grin, and dashes out into the downpour.
"What are you doing?!" he yelps, leaping for the door but stopping just at the edge, shaking.
She's sprinting through the rain, arms flung out like a bird trying to fly. He watches her do a graceful cartwheel or two, skip barefoot through the green grass, then leap as high as she can into a puddle. Water plumes around her and for a moment time freezes on her smiling face, dripping and joyous. When she sees him watching she waves enthusiastically for him to come join her.
"Uh, no thanks!" he calls, hunching into the door.
Her disappointed look makes him reconsider and, hesitantly, he sticks a hand out into the wet only to snatch it back. There doesn't appear to be any damage but one can never be too careful. Cool wet fingers wrap around his arm and she's grinning up at him through her sodden black hair. Slowly she pulls his arm out into the rain and refuses to let go when he tries to pull back. Keeping his focus on her, he shuffles into the grass until he's all the way out, standing hunched in the downpour.
"Well. Now what?" She slaps him gently on the arm and bounces away, looking over her shoulder expectantly. "Hey, don't leave me here!"
They play tag in the rain. When he slides on the grass and falls in a puddle she laughs so hard she winds up sitting in it with him. That smile is worth any number of soaked jumpsuits, he decides. He loses track of time as she jumps in puddles with him and tries to teach him how to do a cartwheel.
The rain begins to slack off and the sun peeks past the clouds while they lie panting in the grass together, still grinning. She sits up and points frantically at an arc of colors against the sky.
"Wow," he breathes. "Beautiful."
He isn't looking at the rainbow.
fandom: Portal
rating: PG-13...?
pairings: Chell x human Wheatley
summary: Small vignettes from a life not meant to be. Takes place during "Until the End".
She
She smells terrible on hot days and her clothes are frayed and filthy. She jumps at certain small noises, throwing her hands up as if she still had a gun to shoot an escape route with. If he comes up behind her without warning she lashes out (but she's always sorry after). Sometimes at night he wakes up to see her wide-eyed and shaking, seeing cold walls instead of the place they are sleeping in. She loves anything that looks like cake or tastes like it but the word itself makes her skin crawl.
She laughs without a sound when she runs barefoot down an empty road. Her hair is matted and tangled but it streams out behind her like a flag in the wind. Under the travel dirt, her skin is soft and warm. She doesn't make a sound but the breath catching in her throat when she arcs against him always leaves him reeling.
She's broken and funny and strange.
She is everything he lives for.
Again
"One year, two hundred fifty-seven days, three hours, eighteen minutes."
His voice, choked and hoarse, startles her from sleep. She rolls over to see him staring wide-eyed out of the guard shack window, the moon shining on his face. He doesn't seem to notice her until she puts a hand to his cheek, at which he whimpers and curls around himself. Her fingers come away wet.
"Oh, it's just you," he rasps. "I'm not in space, then?"
She cups her hand around his cheek, smiling in the dark.
"Right. That...That was a dream, was it?"
He can't hide the tremble in his voice, doesn't even try. She curls around him, wrapping his head and shoulders in her warmth, shielding him from the night sky. She strokes his hair and holds him as tight as she can without hurting him any further. Her shirt is damp when he can finally speak again.
"One year, two hundred fifty-seven days, three hours, eighteen minutes. It's...it's how long I was out...there. Before she pulled me back and...and did this..."
It's not the first time she wishes she could say something comforting. Carefully, firmly, she presses his ear against her chest.
"I'm so sorry," he chokes. "You, what I did...it's all I could think about up there."
Before he can start browbeating himself again she presses her lips into his hair, patting his cheek firmly. She forgives him and he has enough on his shoulders without carrying this. He sniffles and listens to her beating heart filling the silence. Once in a while he sniffles or whispers something about not being in space anymore. He drifts off again and she follows soon after, his breath warm and moist on her skin.
Be More
Rain is drumming on the old house roof. Every drop makes him cringe. He focuses on the shape of her leaning in the open doorway, silhouetted against gray and green. The day is still warm and he feels hot and sticky in his clothes. Suddenly she stands up straight, flashes him a grin, and dashes out into the downpour.
"What are you doing?!" he yelps, leaping for the door but stopping just at the edge, shaking.
She's sprinting through the rain, arms flung out like a bird trying to fly. He watches her do a graceful cartwheel or two, skip barefoot through the green grass, then leap as high as she can into a puddle. Water plumes around her and for a moment time freezes on her smiling face, dripping and joyous. When she sees him watching she waves enthusiastically for him to come join her.
"Uh, no thanks!" he calls, hunching into the door.
Her disappointed look makes him reconsider and, hesitantly, he sticks a hand out into the wet only to snatch it back. There doesn't appear to be any damage but one can never be too careful. Cool wet fingers wrap around his arm and she's grinning up at him through her sodden black hair. Slowly she pulls his arm out into the rain and refuses to let go when he tries to pull back. Keeping his focus on her, he shuffles into the grass until he's all the way out, standing hunched in the downpour.
"Well. Now what?" She slaps him gently on the arm and bounces away, looking over her shoulder expectantly. "Hey, don't leave me here!"
They play tag in the rain. When he slides on the grass and falls in a puddle she laughs so hard she winds up sitting in it with him. That smile is worth any number of soaked jumpsuits, he decides. He loses track of time as she jumps in puddles with him and tries to teach him how to do a cartwheel.
The rain begins to slack off and the sun peeks past the clouds while they lie panting in the grass together, still grinning. She sits up and points frantically at an arc of colors against the sky.
"Wow," he breathes. "Beautiful."
He isn't looking at the rainbow.