Ten Drabbles
Title: Ten Drabbles
Author: plumoneoneseven
Rating: They go from PG to PG-15 for swearing. We've already established that I can't write porn without a looooong run-up.
Beta: oz_the_bobble
Warning: More angst involved than usual, some fluff and Bad Words. Slash.
Disclaimer: None of these people belong to me. They all belong to themselves. Or one another.
-----------------------
A Brief Summary List for the Drabbles below.
1. Dan/Andy - Who Are You?
2. Griff/Johnny - Lucio Starts Fires - (Taken from the School!fic AU that I'm writing)
3. Greg/Tony - Land of a Thousand Words
4. Greg/Clive - The New Year
5. Tony/Richard - Spit It Out
6. Greg/Brad - Freak
7. Paul/Ian - True (Not strictly speaking WLIIA, but I don't care)
8. Stephen/Hugh - Postcards From... (A collection of undated postcards, not in order)
9. Brad/Jeff - An Innocent Man
10. Greg/Ryan - I'm So Worried
1. Dan/Andy - Who Are You?
When Dan first saw Andy in a room full of other BBC executive types he didn't think to ask who he was, he just smiled as their eyes met and hoped that he would see him again.
The second time Dan saw Andy, he was striding down a corridor trying to keep pace with a furious Jeremy Clarkson. He knew Jeremy of course, but as they both rushed past he caught a glimpse of a smile on Andy's face that burned its way into his brain.
The third time Dan saw Andy, Andy had seen him first, and was coming over to talk, but Dan couldn't reach the button in time, and the lift doors clacked shut between then.
The fourth time Dan saw Andy he was unable to think of anything to say, and so he smiled vaguely, awkwardness curling his innards, and waved briefly. Luckily Andy caught the wave and returned it with such an enthusiastic grin that Dan found himself grinning in response, and even though they were in a meeting and couldn't talk Dan still wondered at the silent communication that passed between them.
The fifth time Dan saw Andy he was crying. He'd been wandering the corridors, 'tracking down some stuff' as he liked to call it; not just 'going for a nosey into other people's business' which was what it actually was. He'd opened a door into a store-room he didn't remember ever having seen before and came knee to face with Andy curled up on the floor in the back of the cupboard. Andy had blinked in the brightness, sniffed and looked up to see Dan's worried gaze. Dan sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulder.
Andy nuzzled into the half-hug and yawned.
Finally, he stopped sniffing and shuddering and pulled back out of the hug a fraction, staring into Dan's eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked.
2. Griff/Johnny - Lucio Starts Fires
Johnny has always played with fire. He's a dangerous boy, and lives by dangerous rules, but getting mixed up with this is probably the most dangerous thing he's ever done.
He stands supercilious amongst his friends, such as they are - most of those who call themselves his friends are beneath him, but their barbaric rituals amuse him sometimes. There are few who live up to his impossibly high standards.
Griff is different though. He's older. More mature, is how Johnny sees it. But he's easily controlled. Griff won't get out of hand. And Johnny finds it more difficult each day to remember to call Griff 'Mr Jones' when he's in class.
Getting mixed up with a teacher is one thing, but Johnny never did like to make things easy for himself. Falling in love is quite another.
Griff treats him well. Treats him with respect; which is what he wants, and allows him some measure of control over their relationship, as if he never expected it in the first place.
Johnny lets Griff map the contours of his body, as if he were drawing a map of Johnny's soul, tracing the lines on his skin. Griff never expected to play with fire, but Johnny starts fires in people's hearts, and he never lets them forget it.
It would be much simpler if not for love.
3. Greg/Tony - Land of a Thousand Words
Both of them talk too much.
Neither one can get a word in edgewise.
But in the midst of the confusion and the cacophony is a lilting undertone. A gentle whisper in their noisy world.
It can only really be heard in the middle of the night, in the dark silence, when Greg leans closer to Tony, hugs them both together and whispers "I love you" into the sleeping man's ear.
Then it's off and out and back again into the whirlwind of their lives, a thousand voices screaming, begging, laughing, crying, pulling at them, pulling them in different directions. Away from one another.
Much later their lives are in tatters. Greg pretends to have the world figured out, but the lie is growing thinner with age, and Tony's stopped pretending at all anymore. Left tiredness behind a long time ago, with youth and the foolish assumption that he could cope alone.
They speak briefly, cramming millions of phrases in together, running into one another, words congealing as they crush. But the words run out eventually, and they sit in silence.
Greg is reminded of the blackness of the nights, the dark silence is waiting.
"I loved you." A question.
"I know." An apology.
4. Greg/Clive - The New Year
A bottle or several of champagne. A shared midnight kiss. Talking until dawn and still sleeping in one another's arms. These are the things that started our relationship.
We were younger then and happier. Easier to fool, but easier to love. It was New Year's Eve when we met at the party and drunk and talked until the wee small hours of the morning when we watched the sun rise and fell asleep together. It wasn't until a few weeks later that we first fucked.
We fitted together, he and I, his wit and sarcasm with mine. Our job allowed us to flirt, but we had secret smiles underneath because we knew that the flirting was a prelude to screwing in the dressing-rooms.
We were both already married, but that didn't seem to matter. As far as we were all concerned the marriages were for convenience above everything else.
When he moved away again, went with the show back home to his precious city, he would write me letters. They started off filthy, as I had rather expected, and ended up sentimental. I kept asking him to come back for a while, but he could only decline so many times before I stopped asking.
Then he came to see me. Didn't tell me he was coming. As far as I know it, he didn't tell his wife either, but I'd long ago stopped telling mine things she didn't need to know, and she used the convenience of our home as much as I did.
He said he needed to say goodbye. He didn't say why, he just said that he needed to.
This time we made love. Gentle. Soft. As we did so I felt my heart break.
He hung around for a while, a week or so after that, for the celebrations. It was New Year's Eve once again.
A bottle or several of champagne. A shared midnight kiss. Talking until dawn and still sleeping in one another's arms. These are the things that ended our relationship.
5. Tony/Richard - Spit It Out
"Well, say it, come on! Spit it out! I know you've got something to say, I know you're hiding something!" Tony teased Richard as he bustled back and forth in the tiny kitchen, bumping into the table, the cupboards and occasionally Richard himself, and complaining about the state of the place.
"I think we should get a cat," stated Richard honestly. "I know you like cats and I like cats, and I want a cat." He pouted at Tony whilst Tony stared at him, blinking repeatedly for a few seconds, before wheeling around to the cooker that was about to burst into flames by Richard's reckoning. Tony's cooking was always interesting, but came with the side-effect of sometimes getting the fire-services involved.
"Is that it? Is that all you've had bottled up in that head of yours for the past few weeks? Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you." Tony managed to rescue the food and spin around to give Richard an affectionate kiss on the top of his head in one graceful movement. "Of course we can get a cat. I can't believe that's what's been bothering you for days!"
Tony started to hum under his breath as the dinner was assembled.
"Actually, that wasn't the only thing..." said Richard, carefully concealing his smile.
"Hmm?" Tony prompted, not looking up from the saucepan.
"I'm pregnant."
Richard tried to keep his grin under control as Tony's head perked up, his jaw dropped and his eyebrows tried to rise in surprise and frown simultaneously. Richard pitched forward onto the table, giggling uncontrollably as Tony recovered his expression, but not his wounded sense of pride, and bore down upon him with the wrath of a lover mocked.
'It's good to have conversations like this sometimes', Richard mused, as Tony tickled him senseless.
6. Greg/Brad - Freak
The kids at school had always called him 'freak' because he wore glasses and had a weird voice, and they didn't get his jokes. That was why he found himself aged 30-something and still bitching to crowds of people about things that annoyed him; and why he found himself still wearing the glasses that had become a shield, and dressing in weird clothes to make people laugh.
He was damaged on the inside.
Most people are, even if they don't notice it.
I was never really sure of my place in his life. All that I know is that I felt better once I'd met him and put an attitude and a life behind the face I'd seen on TV.
He was shy and fearful, behind a huge blanket of lies and jokes. It took me ages to coax my way inside. Most people would have did give up far too easily. Me, I like a challenge.
I'm probably what most people would call incredibly straight, but I often surprise them. It's not that I did it because I wanted him, I could have gotten that easily, I just liked who he was on the inside, and I wanted to see more of him than the occasional brief glimpse between layers of fear.
It took years before I was allowed to see more than a glimpse of his truth, more years still before I was allowed a proper look at his soul.
When I finally unravelled all of the false trails and false starts, gotten to the centre of him, I stopped. Almost afraid to look at what he was now willing to show me.
He was so scared. So afraid of still being the freak that he believed himself to be. I calmed him and tried to help him see that he was not what he thought he was, but it was far too late. Too ground into him to ever be removed. A part of him now. I built the walls back up, but left myself a way back through the maze, returning to him his scathing wit and his mocking humour.
I told him again and again, "You are not a freak, it's a lie," and it sunk into his mind. Through the layers and down the pathways that I'd left. But it never really seemed to reach him.
Maybe it's because I'm a freak too.
7. Paul/Ian - True
Angus was the worst gossip either of them had ever known, so there was no question that they had to keep it from him. He'd end up getting drunk and letting it slip to Piers Morgan or someone equally repulsive, so Paul and Ian were very careful about their relationship being more than just friendly.
Of course, when the scandal about Angus came out in the papers they both mocked him shamelessly, relishing being able to savour some truth in their world of lies.
It wasn't until afterwards, when they were wishing him good luck with his next show, and wondering why they'd been quite so harsh to him that he turned to them both and told them the truth.
"I know. I know all about you two, and I also know you didn't think you could trust me. Well you can. I may not be the most reliable person in the world, we all know that, but I would never tell my friends' secrets. You should have known I could be trusted. It hurts that you think so little of me. I've known you were in love since before you two did, I knew when you went from flirting to screwing, and I'm not going to tell anyone." He paused.
"What you have to work out is if what I'm saying is true."
He turned on his heels and left, two identical gaping mouths and pairs of wide eyes behind him, a grin on his face.
8. Stephen/Hugh - Postcards From...
Hope you're doing well. I'm off travelling in the arse end of nowhere for some bloody thing that they want me to write about. I feel ghastly, but I am reminded of our dinner engagement upon my return. Be well love,
Stephen x
Bollocks!
I bloody hate this place.
Why do they insist on sending me to countries full of bloody flies?!
Stephen x
Another trip, another postcard. I'm starting to feel like this is becoming a tradition. I like it here actually. It's not ludicrously hot and full of dead things. Off to america next week. Will be taking my laptop, I'll speak to you online.
Stephen x
That's it! I'm going the way of Douglas! Macs forever!
Stephen x
Have you seen all the shiny new toys they have in america? It's fantastic! I think I'm in love with a small piece of plastic that plays me music. It's so sleek!
Stephen x
Feeling a little bit out of it, but I've been visiting people for this series thing, and I don't want to talk about it. Carrie was lovely, as ever, and I've missed Tony's constant babbling, I'm glad he's feeling better. We could do some kind of party. Like Peter's Friends only less dreary! I still haven't decided on medicines, but at least Jo's happier about the whole thing.
Stephen x
I'm so sorry.
Stephen x
New house! And you...
Come and visit?
Stephen x
Have fun in america. Don't you dare go native or I shall come straight over the sea and set Alan on you!
Stephen x
Sometimes I despair of the intelligence of the average person. Johnny stopped by before, it was good to see him, he's his usual, smug self. You really shouldn't get someone as gossipy as Johnny to spy on me for you!
I'm alright. I promise. Jo would tell you if I wasn't, and she's a lot more subtle than Johnny.
Stephen x
I miss you.
Come home soon?
Stephen x
Goodbye.
x
9. Brad/Jeff - An Innocent Man
Brad wasn't sure what he'd expected when he'd come on to Jeff, but the man seemed more boyish and innocent, and it certainly wasn't the easy acceptance and swift trip to the restroom to watch Jeff drop to his knees and feel his mind blur together that he had thought would happen. What he had thought didn't change what had happened.
Jeff was curiously quiet on the subject afterwards. Brad hadn't really know what he wanted from Jeff, but he wanted to still be friends, have that easy banter back and forth with him, and Jeff now seemed hollow somehow.
Jeff was not an innocent man.
Brad came to this conclusion after much watching of Jeff. Watching to see the subtle ways he hid himself from the world. Finding the tell-tale flinches that would ordinarily have meant nothing suddenly filled Brad's heart with sorrow. Jeff was hollow. And he needed to know why.
10. Greg/Ryan - I'm So Worried
Greg was always the one who hid his fear best. He lets it seep out slowly into his jokes, adding poison to barbs that were already extremely sharp. He lets his worries build up into a tangible mass and then drinks them away. Not that it helps.
Ryan flusters. He usually does much the same as Greg - tries to drink away his problems. It doesn't work for him either, but he isn't the sort of person who can let go of things easily. He never went to anyone for advice, and I'm sure all of his worries from his whole life are stuck in his head somewhere.
I always give the impression of being worried. Perhaps it was because I went grey early, perhaps it was just that next to Greg and Ryan I looked so much older, but I've always played my part.
Ryan and I clowned around. We are best friends, but I'd like to let you know that there wasn't any kissing that went on between us offstage. Couldn't you tell? We played it up for the audience, but let's be honest here, the amount of sexual tension we generated on stage was just that, on stage. It was an act. Sorry to disappoint you. Ryan and Greg on the other hand...
They had a lot of tension on stage; the brighter amongst you will have noticed that; but it didn't get resolved much whilst there. It was mostly in the hotel rooms where we were all staying.
I couldn't tell you exactly when it started, but they know that I know, seeing as I've walked in on them enough times. Those two really need to learn how to lock doors!
They have a lot to worry about these days, what with Ryan's kids getting older and being able to see things that they never saw before; and Jen has started to want children, not that Greg will give in to that, he's scared to death of kids.
They're my friends you see, so even though there are all these secrets that you might not approve of, I know that they love one another, and for all it doesn't seem that it's possible, I almost wish they'd tell one another the truth.
I get so worried you see.
Author: plumoneoneseven
Rating: They go from PG to PG-15 for swearing. We've already established that I can't write porn without a looooong run-up.
Beta: oz_the_bobble
Warning: More angst involved than usual, some fluff and Bad Words. Slash.
Disclaimer: None of these people belong to me. They all belong to themselves. Or one another.
-----------------------
A Brief Summary List for the Drabbles below.
1. Dan/Andy - Who Are You?
2. Griff/Johnny - Lucio Starts Fires - (Taken from the School!fic AU that I'm writing)
3. Greg/Tony - Land of a Thousand Words
4. Greg/Clive - The New Year
5. Tony/Richard - Spit It Out
6. Greg/Brad - Freak
7. Paul/Ian - True (Not strictly speaking WLIIA, but I don't care)
8. Stephen/Hugh - Postcards From... (A collection of undated postcards, not in order)
9. Brad/Jeff - An Innocent Man
10. Greg/Ryan - I'm So Worried
1. Dan/Andy - Who Are You?
When Dan first saw Andy in a room full of other BBC executive types he didn't think to ask who he was, he just smiled as their eyes met and hoped that he would see him again.
The second time Dan saw Andy, he was striding down a corridor trying to keep pace with a furious Jeremy Clarkson. He knew Jeremy of course, but as they both rushed past he caught a glimpse of a smile on Andy's face that burned its way into his brain.
The third time Dan saw Andy, Andy had seen him first, and was coming over to talk, but Dan couldn't reach the button in time, and the lift doors clacked shut between then.
The fourth time Dan saw Andy he was unable to think of anything to say, and so he smiled vaguely, awkwardness curling his innards, and waved briefly. Luckily Andy caught the wave and returned it with such an enthusiastic grin that Dan found himself grinning in response, and even though they were in a meeting and couldn't talk Dan still wondered at the silent communication that passed between them.
The fifth time Dan saw Andy he was crying. He'd been wandering the corridors, 'tracking down some stuff' as he liked to call it; not just 'going for a nosey into other people's business' which was what it actually was. He'd opened a door into a store-room he didn't remember ever having seen before and came knee to face with Andy curled up on the floor in the back of the cupboard. Andy had blinked in the brightness, sniffed and looked up to see Dan's worried gaze. Dan sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulder.
Andy nuzzled into the half-hug and yawned.
Finally, he stopped sniffing and shuddering and pulled back out of the hug a fraction, staring into Dan's eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked.
2. Griff/Johnny - Lucio Starts Fires
Johnny has always played with fire. He's a dangerous boy, and lives by dangerous rules, but getting mixed up with this is probably the most dangerous thing he's ever done.
He stands supercilious amongst his friends, such as they are - most of those who call themselves his friends are beneath him, but their barbaric rituals amuse him sometimes. There are few who live up to his impossibly high standards.
Griff is different though. He's older. More mature, is how Johnny sees it. But he's easily controlled. Griff won't get out of hand. And Johnny finds it more difficult each day to remember to call Griff 'Mr Jones' when he's in class.
Getting mixed up with a teacher is one thing, but Johnny never did like to make things easy for himself. Falling in love is quite another.
Griff treats him well. Treats him with respect; which is what he wants, and allows him some measure of control over their relationship, as if he never expected it in the first place.
Johnny lets Griff map the contours of his body, as if he were drawing a map of Johnny's soul, tracing the lines on his skin. Griff never expected to play with fire, but Johnny starts fires in people's hearts, and he never lets them forget it.
It would be much simpler if not for love.
3. Greg/Tony - Land of a Thousand Words
Both of them talk too much.
Neither one can get a word in edgewise.
But in the midst of the confusion and the cacophony is a lilting undertone. A gentle whisper in their noisy world.
It can only really be heard in the middle of the night, in the dark silence, when Greg leans closer to Tony, hugs them both together and whispers "I love you" into the sleeping man's ear.
Then it's off and out and back again into the whirlwind of their lives, a thousand voices screaming, begging, laughing, crying, pulling at them, pulling them in different directions. Away from one another.
Much later their lives are in tatters. Greg pretends to have the world figured out, but the lie is growing thinner with age, and Tony's stopped pretending at all anymore. Left tiredness behind a long time ago, with youth and the foolish assumption that he could cope alone.
They speak briefly, cramming millions of phrases in together, running into one another, words congealing as they crush. But the words run out eventually, and they sit in silence.
Greg is reminded of the blackness of the nights, the dark silence is waiting.
"I loved you." A question.
"I know." An apology.
4. Greg/Clive - The New Year
A bottle or several of champagne. A shared midnight kiss. Talking until dawn and still sleeping in one another's arms. These are the things that started our relationship.
We were younger then and happier. Easier to fool, but easier to love. It was New Year's Eve when we met at the party and drunk and talked until the wee small hours of the morning when we watched the sun rise and fell asleep together. It wasn't until a few weeks later that we first fucked.
We fitted together, he and I, his wit and sarcasm with mine. Our job allowed us to flirt, but we had secret smiles underneath because we knew that the flirting was a prelude to screwing in the dressing-rooms.
We were both already married, but that didn't seem to matter. As far as we were all concerned the marriages were for convenience above everything else.
When he moved away again, went with the show back home to his precious city, he would write me letters. They started off filthy, as I had rather expected, and ended up sentimental. I kept asking him to come back for a while, but he could only decline so many times before I stopped asking.
Then he came to see me. Didn't tell me he was coming. As far as I know it, he didn't tell his wife either, but I'd long ago stopped telling mine things she didn't need to know, and she used the convenience of our home as much as I did.
He said he needed to say goodbye. He didn't say why, he just said that he needed to.
This time we made love. Gentle. Soft. As we did so I felt my heart break.
He hung around for a while, a week or so after that, for the celebrations. It was New Year's Eve once again.
A bottle or several of champagne. A shared midnight kiss. Talking until dawn and still sleeping in one another's arms. These are the things that ended our relationship.
5. Tony/Richard - Spit It Out
"Well, say it, come on! Spit it out! I know you've got something to say, I know you're hiding something!" Tony teased Richard as he bustled back and forth in the tiny kitchen, bumping into the table, the cupboards and occasionally Richard himself, and complaining about the state of the place.
"I think we should get a cat," stated Richard honestly. "I know you like cats and I like cats, and I want a cat." He pouted at Tony whilst Tony stared at him, blinking repeatedly for a few seconds, before wheeling around to the cooker that was about to burst into flames by Richard's reckoning. Tony's cooking was always interesting, but came with the side-effect of sometimes getting the fire-services involved.
"Is that it? Is that all you've had bottled up in that head of yours for the past few weeks? Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you." Tony managed to rescue the food and spin around to give Richard an affectionate kiss on the top of his head in one graceful movement. "Of course we can get a cat. I can't believe that's what's been bothering you for days!"
Tony started to hum under his breath as the dinner was assembled.
"Actually, that wasn't the only thing..." said Richard, carefully concealing his smile.
"Hmm?" Tony prompted, not looking up from the saucepan.
"I'm pregnant."
Richard tried to keep his grin under control as Tony's head perked up, his jaw dropped and his eyebrows tried to rise in surprise and frown simultaneously. Richard pitched forward onto the table, giggling uncontrollably as Tony recovered his expression, but not his wounded sense of pride, and bore down upon him with the wrath of a lover mocked.
'It's good to have conversations like this sometimes', Richard mused, as Tony tickled him senseless.
6. Greg/Brad - Freak
The kids at school had always called him 'freak' because he wore glasses and had a weird voice, and they didn't get his jokes. That was why he found himself aged 30-something and still bitching to crowds of people about things that annoyed him; and why he found himself still wearing the glasses that had become a shield, and dressing in weird clothes to make people laugh.
He was damaged on the inside.
Most people are, even if they don't notice it.
I was never really sure of my place in his life. All that I know is that I felt better once I'd met him and put an attitude and a life behind the face I'd seen on TV.
He was shy and fearful, behind a huge blanket of lies and jokes. It took me ages to coax my way inside. Most people would have did give up far too easily. Me, I like a challenge.
I'm probably what most people would call incredibly straight, but I often surprise them. It's not that I did it because I wanted him, I could have gotten that easily, I just liked who he was on the inside, and I wanted to see more of him than the occasional brief glimpse between layers of fear.
It took years before I was allowed to see more than a glimpse of his truth, more years still before I was allowed a proper look at his soul.
When I finally unravelled all of the false trails and false starts, gotten to the centre of him, I stopped. Almost afraid to look at what he was now willing to show me.
He was so scared. So afraid of still being the freak that he believed himself to be. I calmed him and tried to help him see that he was not what he thought he was, but it was far too late. Too ground into him to ever be removed. A part of him now. I built the walls back up, but left myself a way back through the maze, returning to him his scathing wit and his mocking humour.
I told him again and again, "You are not a freak, it's a lie," and it sunk into his mind. Through the layers and down the pathways that I'd left. But it never really seemed to reach him.
Maybe it's because I'm a freak too.
7. Paul/Ian - True
Angus was the worst gossip either of them had ever known, so there was no question that they had to keep it from him. He'd end up getting drunk and letting it slip to Piers Morgan or someone equally repulsive, so Paul and Ian were very careful about their relationship being more than just friendly.
Of course, when the scandal about Angus came out in the papers they both mocked him shamelessly, relishing being able to savour some truth in their world of lies.
It wasn't until afterwards, when they were wishing him good luck with his next show, and wondering why they'd been quite so harsh to him that he turned to them both and told them the truth.
"I know. I know all about you two, and I also know you didn't think you could trust me. Well you can. I may not be the most reliable person in the world, we all know that, but I would never tell my friends' secrets. You should have known I could be trusted. It hurts that you think so little of me. I've known you were in love since before you two did, I knew when you went from flirting to screwing, and I'm not going to tell anyone." He paused.
"What you have to work out is if what I'm saying is true."
He turned on his heels and left, two identical gaping mouths and pairs of wide eyes behind him, a grin on his face.
8. Stephen/Hugh - Postcards From...
Hope you're doing well. I'm off travelling in the arse end of nowhere for some bloody thing that they want me to write about. I feel ghastly, but I am reminded of our dinner engagement upon my return. Be well love,
Stephen x
Bollocks!
I bloody hate this place.
Why do they insist on sending me to countries full of bloody flies?!
Stephen x
Another trip, another postcard. I'm starting to feel like this is becoming a tradition. I like it here actually. It's not ludicrously hot and full of dead things. Off to america next week. Will be taking my laptop, I'll speak to you online.
Stephen x
That's it! I'm going the way of Douglas! Macs forever!
Stephen x
Have you seen all the shiny new toys they have in america? It's fantastic! I think I'm in love with a small piece of plastic that plays me music. It's so sleek!
Stephen x
Feeling a little bit out of it, but I've been visiting people for this series thing, and I don't want to talk about it. Carrie was lovely, as ever, and I've missed Tony's constant babbling, I'm glad he's feeling better. We could do some kind of party. Like Peter's Friends only less dreary! I still haven't decided on medicines, but at least Jo's happier about the whole thing.
Stephen x
I'm so sorry.
Stephen x
New house! And you...
Come and visit?
Stephen x
Have fun in america. Don't you dare go native or I shall come straight over the sea and set Alan on you!
Stephen x
Sometimes I despair of the intelligence of the average person. Johnny stopped by before, it was good to see him, he's his usual, smug self. You really shouldn't get someone as gossipy as Johnny to spy on me for you!
I'm alright. I promise. Jo would tell you if I wasn't, and she's a lot more subtle than Johnny.
Stephen x
I miss you.
Come home soon?
Stephen x
Goodbye.
x
9. Brad/Jeff - An Innocent Man
Brad wasn't sure what he'd expected when he'd come on to Jeff, but the man seemed more boyish and innocent, and it certainly wasn't the easy acceptance and swift trip to the restroom to watch Jeff drop to his knees and feel his mind blur together that he had thought would happen. What he had thought didn't change what had happened.
Jeff was curiously quiet on the subject afterwards. Brad hadn't really know what he wanted from Jeff, but he wanted to still be friends, have that easy banter back and forth with him, and Jeff now seemed hollow somehow.
Jeff was not an innocent man.
Brad came to this conclusion after much watching of Jeff. Watching to see the subtle ways he hid himself from the world. Finding the tell-tale flinches that would ordinarily have meant nothing suddenly filled Brad's heart with sorrow. Jeff was hollow. And he needed to know why.
10. Greg/Ryan - I'm So Worried
Greg was always the one who hid his fear best. He lets it seep out slowly into his jokes, adding poison to barbs that were already extremely sharp. He lets his worries build up into a tangible mass and then drinks them away. Not that it helps.
Ryan flusters. He usually does much the same as Greg - tries to drink away his problems. It doesn't work for him either, but he isn't the sort of person who can let go of things easily. He never went to anyone for advice, and I'm sure all of his worries from his whole life are stuck in his head somewhere.
I always give the impression of being worried. Perhaps it was because I went grey early, perhaps it was just that next to Greg and Ryan I looked so much older, but I've always played my part.
Ryan and I clowned around. We are best friends, but I'd like to let you know that there wasn't any kissing that went on between us offstage. Couldn't you tell? We played it up for the audience, but let's be honest here, the amount of sexual tension we generated on stage was just that, on stage. It was an act. Sorry to disappoint you. Ryan and Greg on the other hand...
They had a lot of tension on stage; the brighter amongst you will have noticed that; but it didn't get resolved much whilst there. It was mostly in the hotel rooms where we were all staying.
I couldn't tell you exactly when it started, but they know that I know, seeing as I've walked in on them enough times. Those two really need to learn how to lock doors!
They have a lot to worry about these days, what with Ryan's kids getting older and being able to see things that they never saw before; and Jen has started to want children, not that Greg will give in to that, he's scared to death of kids.
They're my friends you see, so even though there are all these secrets that you might not approve of, I know that they love one another, and for all it doesn't seem that it's possible, I almost wish they'd tell one another the truth.
I get so worried you see.