for bard!
Lalala fic 2/50. FFFT.
The dry grass crunched under his shoes as he got off the bus. It was too hot to be functioning really, but he’d needed to go in for the audition. They said that he was in the top three, and that they’d send the tape in to the producers and the director so that was good news. Fantastic news, actually. He’d been giddy all afternoon, making Leo come out and meet him so he had someone to gush at about it. It was a lead role, too. Singing and dancing and fuck, he was so excited he might about pee himself in utter -terror-.
It always amazed him how surreal the walk home was from the bus stop, though. It was like everything from outside went away and he only had this one little pocket of reality to live in. He could feel the grass through the soles of his shoes, which was probably an indicator to get a new pair. The woman who lived in the building next to their apartment block never watered her lawn. They were lucky, having a bus stop so close to the building. He had wanted to take the car, but the air conditioning was fucked and it must’ve been thirty nine degrees or some such crap because he could feel his clothes starting to stick to him. Sitting in the waiting room at the hall had been bad enough. They had about a billion fans, but all that had done was push the hot air around. He was looking forward to getting inside and into a cool bath, perhaps.
He fished his keys out of his bag as he walked, the shirt underneath the strap sticking to his skin. He had too many key rings and too few keys, lost amongst the glitter and the shine. Thesky had given him a couple, under the impression that Avery liked that gaudy crap as much as he did. He didn’t mind them, sure. They had mirrors and fuckin’ glitter in bottles and one of them had a tiny tiki mug floating in a sea of what looked like leprechaun sick. He kept that there just for the sheer what-the-hell of it.
Stumbling on the second step (He needed to talk to the landlord about that) he made it up the stairs. It got cooler the further he went up, the stairs hidden under a sort of veranda. They were on the first floor, first apartment to the left. The remains of a cactus farm that had grown out of control and then sacrificed sat on the sill of the window leading out into the hallway and facing the apartment opposite. Number sixteen. Avery’d always found that funny, because that was how old Fyre’d been when he rented the place. His father had bought him the deed to it when he turned eighteen. A sort of conciliatory gesture. Fyre’d been grateful but it had taken a little more than that for he and his father to see eye to eye again. But the upside was that they hadn’t needed to go house hunting once they’d moved out and finished school.
The key grated for a moment, and Avery thought it was going to break. They really needed to get the locks replaced. Someone’d tried to break in a couple of months before, and they’d never gotten around to getting the locks done professionally. The blast of cool air that hit him when he entered the apartment was a surprise. He didn’t think he’d turned on the air conditioning when he’d left. Making a face at himself, he closed the door, greeting the dog when he came over to say hello. Zeus was part Rottweiler and part horse, he’d decided. The dog wagged his tail at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth and headbutting his hip in greeting, his whole body seeming to shake with glee. They’d managed to cure him of his jumping at one point, and he almost laughed as he saw Zeus’s rear wriggle, like he was preparing to pounce.
“Don’t even think about it, dog.” He said, wandering in and locking the door behind himself. It was nice to be in the apartment right now. They’d decided long ago what their mutual optimum temperature was, so the air con pumped out a constant twenty one degrees. The lizards were sprawled all over the divider between the kitchen and the living room, the twin iguanas sprawled all over each other like puppies. Running a finger along their backs, he smiled. They were just out of their teenage years, according to the internet. As far as anyone was concerned, they were totally married. One lizard wouldn’t go anywhere without the other. Looking up and into the living room as he dumped his bag, he stopped short.
It shouldn’t be so surprising to see Fyre sprawled out on the couch like that, but he was supposed to be on exercises up in the north of some desert in the buttfuck of nowhere. He should’ve guessed that someone had been in the apartment, but he honestly hadn’t been expecting to see his husband. Husband. Now that was something insanely cool to think about, so he just dumped his bag and headed over, grinning a little stupidly before bracing himself on the back of the couch and leaning down to kiss his forehead. The man grumbled, short black hair mussing up even more as he shifted.
“Mrrpggph.” It wasn’t exactly the most eloquent Fyre’d ever been, but it got him to open his eyes. He looked a little alarmed for a moment, like he couldn’t figure out where he was. He relaxed once he registered that it was Avery there, smiling and reaching a hand up to slide his fingers along his jaw.
“Hey, lovely. Surprise.” His voice was scratchy and warm, and it shocked Avery with how much he’d missed it. He felt the pressure build up behind his eyes without any sort of provocation and shifted, walking around the couch before plonking down next to him and burying his face in his shoulder. He smelt like aeroplane; the combination of the strange, stuffy smell and hospital grade disinfectant coupled with the smell of children. It would figure that Fyre’d get the attention of the only child on the plane. If it had been -just- one child, and not the mother as well. The funniest thing he’d ever seen was a frazzled mother foisting her two year old off on Fyre while she tried to calm her baby on a flight.
“You weren’t meant to be back for another three weeks.” He said, quietly. Like he was afraid if he talked louder, the man would disappear. Fyre stretched languidly, long brown arms coming up and sliding around Avery’s back. He buried his nose in his hair before he spoke, curling around him and using every part of his body he could to touch him.
“They wanted to deploy us for nine months and yes, I -know-,” He responded to the noise Avery made at the back of his throat, “I know that’s a long fucking time. We’ve got fifteen days leave right now before they deploy us, and then two months back. I swear, I’ll be back in time for your birthday.”
“It’s just after Christmas now. You missed -Christmas- here.” And god, he knew he was whining but he couldn’t make himself stop.
“I’m sorry, babe. I’m leaving right at the beginning of February, but I’ll be back in time for your birthday.” And he really did sound contrite. Almost worried, and Avery shifted to look up at him, frowning. It sucked, yeah. It more than sucked that he wouldn’t be able to see him for so long, but he knew what he’d signed up for when he hadn’t vetoed the army thing. Fyre’d given him the choice to say no, and he hadn’t.
So.
“You’ll still be able to call, right? Or at least write?” And Fyre made this noise at the back of his throat at that, sliding his left hand up and snagging his own, the rings on their fingers clinking together as he leaned over to kiss him.
“Of course.”
That settled that then. Wriggling around until he was comfortable, Avery shifted his grip on Fyre’s hand, crossing his arm over his chest and sighing, pressing their foreheads together. He’d never say it out loud, but this was one of his favourite things to do. They were on the same level like this. Avery didn’t feel so damn short. Smiling and nosing at his cheek, Fyre relaxed and closed his eyes.
“So what’ve you been up to since about thirty six hours ago?”
Avery shrugged, wriggling until he was pressed as close as he could get without getting all Hannibal on him and crawling into his skin. He found himself just rambling, talking about his audition that day (fantastic! Went brilliantly, like I said it would. I’m just that good), how the dog was doing (I swear, the older he gets the stupider he becomes. He’s like a reverse puppy) and how everyone else was going (they went COUCH SHOPPING. I mean it. Weston was standing there amongst all the floral shit and Leo was like a kid in a candy store.) in relation to where they were six months ago.
Fyre listened; sliding his fingers down and along Avery’s back, leaving his other hand where it was as he rambled. Avery found it so easy to just talk to him, knowing the silence not as disinterest but quiet amusement. Fyre’d said often that he liked to hear Avery talk. He’d tried to put that feeling to music once. He didn’t think Avery knew, but he’d seen him plunking away at the keyboard he’d gotten him for his birthday a couple of years ago, biting his lip in concentration and talking quietly to himself, snippets of the conversation they’d had earlier that night.
“I love you, y’know. More than anything.” And of course Fyre’d just come right out and say that, the stupid shit. Avery was completely derailed from his train of thought by the warm, heavy feeling settling in his chest. A slow smile spread over his face as he nodded, leaning over to kiss the corner of his mouth, nosing at his cheek.
“I know, babe. You too.”
Avery smiled at him, tilting his head and shifting his grip on his hand, wriggling a little closer. Something clinked in Fyre’s pocket and they both raised an eyebrow at each other before laughing.
“Oh, right. I’d forgotten they were there.” The bigger man said, wriggling a little so he could get his hand down and into his pocket. “Close your eyes.”
“Oh god, you’re so lame.” But he did as he was asked, closing his eyes and making an odd sound at the back of his throat when something clinked over and around his neck.
“You love me anyway though.” Confident little fucker, wasn’t he? Grinning, Avery nodded. “Alright, open your eyes.”
He tilted his head to look down automatically, raising a hand before he’d even realised he was doing it. He shouldn’t have been so surprised that Fyre’d give him a pair of dog tags. They were heavier than he thought they’d be, and the edges were lined with rubber, so they didn’t clink together. A dark, steel colour, they looked slightly strange against his shirt.
“Seriously, though. You’re lame.”
Fyre cleared his throat before answering, tugging his own dog tags out and holding them up so Avery could see.
“Here. Where it has the initials of next of kin. I didn’t know if you wanted me to, but you’ve been listed as first contact. They’re not allowed to ask and I don’t have to tell, so.”
The enormity of the risk Fyre’d taken to put him there didn’t escape him. The fact that Fyre’d even changed his last name for him (and hadn’t THAT been a surprise?) might have clued him in, but...
Running his fingers over the raised letters, he grinned at him, leaning over to kiss him and making a sort, happy sound against his mouth.
“You’re so lame. No wonder I love you.”
The dry grass crunched under his shoes as he got off the bus. It was too hot to be functioning really, but he’d needed to go in for the audition. They said that he was in the top three, and that they’d send the tape in to the producers and the director so that was good news. Fantastic news, actually. He’d been giddy all afternoon, making Leo come out and meet him so he had someone to gush at about it. It was a lead role, too. Singing and dancing and fuck, he was so excited he might about pee himself in utter -terror-.
It always amazed him how surreal the walk home was from the bus stop, though. It was like everything from outside went away and he only had this one little pocket of reality to live in. He could feel the grass through the soles of his shoes, which was probably an indicator to get a new pair. The woman who lived in the building next to their apartment block never watered her lawn. They were lucky, having a bus stop so close to the building. He had wanted to take the car, but the air conditioning was fucked and it must’ve been thirty nine degrees or some such crap because he could feel his clothes starting to stick to him. Sitting in the waiting room at the hall had been bad enough. They had about a billion fans, but all that had done was push the hot air around. He was looking forward to getting inside and into a cool bath, perhaps.
He fished his keys out of his bag as he walked, the shirt underneath the strap sticking to his skin. He had too many key rings and too few keys, lost amongst the glitter and the shine. Thesky had given him a couple, under the impression that Avery liked that gaudy crap as much as he did. He didn’t mind them, sure. They had mirrors and fuckin’ glitter in bottles and one of them had a tiny tiki mug floating in a sea of what looked like leprechaun sick. He kept that there just for the sheer what-the-hell of it.
Stumbling on the second step (He needed to talk to the landlord about that) he made it up the stairs. It got cooler the further he went up, the stairs hidden under a sort of veranda. They were on the first floor, first apartment to the left. The remains of a cactus farm that had grown out of control and then sacrificed sat on the sill of the window leading out into the hallway and facing the apartment opposite. Number sixteen. Avery’d always found that funny, because that was how old Fyre’d been when he rented the place. His father had bought him the deed to it when he turned eighteen. A sort of conciliatory gesture. Fyre’d been grateful but it had taken a little more than that for he and his father to see eye to eye again. But the upside was that they hadn’t needed to go house hunting once they’d moved out and finished school.
The key grated for a moment, and Avery thought it was going to break. They really needed to get the locks replaced. Someone’d tried to break in a couple of months before, and they’d never gotten around to getting the locks done professionally. The blast of cool air that hit him when he entered the apartment was a surprise. He didn’t think he’d turned on the air conditioning when he’d left. Making a face at himself, he closed the door, greeting the dog when he came over to say hello. Zeus was part Rottweiler and part horse, he’d decided. The dog wagged his tail at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth and headbutting his hip in greeting, his whole body seeming to shake with glee. They’d managed to cure him of his jumping at one point, and he almost laughed as he saw Zeus’s rear wriggle, like he was preparing to pounce.
“Don’t even think about it, dog.” He said, wandering in and locking the door behind himself. It was nice to be in the apartment right now. They’d decided long ago what their mutual optimum temperature was, so the air con pumped out a constant twenty one degrees. The lizards were sprawled all over the divider between the kitchen and the living room, the twin iguanas sprawled all over each other like puppies. Running a finger along their backs, he smiled. They were just out of their teenage years, according to the internet. As far as anyone was concerned, they were totally married. One lizard wouldn’t go anywhere without the other. Looking up and into the living room as he dumped his bag, he stopped short.
It shouldn’t be so surprising to see Fyre sprawled out on the couch like that, but he was supposed to be on exercises up in the north of some desert in the buttfuck of nowhere. He should’ve guessed that someone had been in the apartment, but he honestly hadn’t been expecting to see his husband. Husband. Now that was something insanely cool to think about, so he just dumped his bag and headed over, grinning a little stupidly before bracing himself on the back of the couch and leaning down to kiss his forehead. The man grumbled, short black hair mussing up even more as he shifted.
“Mrrpggph.” It wasn’t exactly the most eloquent Fyre’d ever been, but it got him to open his eyes. He looked a little alarmed for a moment, like he couldn’t figure out where he was. He relaxed once he registered that it was Avery there, smiling and reaching a hand up to slide his fingers along his jaw.
“Hey, lovely. Surprise.” His voice was scratchy and warm, and it shocked Avery with how much he’d missed it. He felt the pressure build up behind his eyes without any sort of provocation and shifted, walking around the couch before plonking down next to him and burying his face in his shoulder. He smelt like aeroplane; the combination of the strange, stuffy smell and hospital grade disinfectant coupled with the smell of children. It would figure that Fyre’d get the attention of the only child on the plane. If it had been -just- one child, and not the mother as well. The funniest thing he’d ever seen was a frazzled mother foisting her two year old off on Fyre while she tried to calm her baby on a flight.
“You weren’t meant to be back for another three weeks.” He said, quietly. Like he was afraid if he talked louder, the man would disappear. Fyre stretched languidly, long brown arms coming up and sliding around Avery’s back. He buried his nose in his hair before he spoke, curling around him and using every part of his body he could to touch him.
“They wanted to deploy us for nine months and yes, I -know-,” He responded to the noise Avery made at the back of his throat, “I know that’s a long fucking time. We’ve got fifteen days leave right now before they deploy us, and then two months back. I swear, I’ll be back in time for your birthday.”
“It’s just after Christmas now. You missed -Christmas- here.” And god, he knew he was whining but he couldn’t make himself stop.
“I’m sorry, babe. I’m leaving right at the beginning of February, but I’ll be back in time for your birthday.” And he really did sound contrite. Almost worried, and Avery shifted to look up at him, frowning. It sucked, yeah. It more than sucked that he wouldn’t be able to see him for so long, but he knew what he’d signed up for when he hadn’t vetoed the army thing. Fyre’d given him the choice to say no, and he hadn’t.
So.
“You’ll still be able to call, right? Or at least write?” And Fyre made this noise at the back of his throat at that, sliding his left hand up and snagging his own, the rings on their fingers clinking together as he leaned over to kiss him.
“Of course.”
That settled that then. Wriggling around until he was comfortable, Avery shifted his grip on Fyre’s hand, crossing his arm over his chest and sighing, pressing their foreheads together. He’d never say it out loud, but this was one of his favourite things to do. They were on the same level like this. Avery didn’t feel so damn short. Smiling and nosing at his cheek, Fyre relaxed and closed his eyes.
“So what’ve you been up to since about thirty six hours ago?”
Avery shrugged, wriggling until he was pressed as close as he could get without getting all Hannibal on him and crawling into his skin. He found himself just rambling, talking about his audition that day (fantastic! Went brilliantly, like I said it would. I’m just that good), how the dog was doing (I swear, the older he gets the stupider he becomes. He’s like a reverse puppy) and how everyone else was going (they went COUCH SHOPPING. I mean it. Weston was standing there amongst all the floral shit and Leo was like a kid in a candy store.) in relation to where they were six months ago.
Fyre listened; sliding his fingers down and along Avery’s back, leaving his other hand where it was as he rambled. Avery found it so easy to just talk to him, knowing the silence not as disinterest but quiet amusement. Fyre’d said often that he liked to hear Avery talk. He’d tried to put that feeling to music once. He didn’t think Avery knew, but he’d seen him plunking away at the keyboard he’d gotten him for his birthday a couple of years ago, biting his lip in concentration and talking quietly to himself, snippets of the conversation they’d had earlier that night.
“I love you, y’know. More than anything.” And of course Fyre’d just come right out and say that, the stupid shit. Avery was completely derailed from his train of thought by the warm, heavy feeling settling in his chest. A slow smile spread over his face as he nodded, leaning over to kiss the corner of his mouth, nosing at his cheek.
“I know, babe. You too.”
Avery smiled at him, tilting his head and shifting his grip on his hand, wriggling a little closer. Something clinked in Fyre’s pocket and they both raised an eyebrow at each other before laughing.
“Oh, right. I’d forgotten they were there.” The bigger man said, wriggling a little so he could get his hand down and into his pocket. “Close your eyes.”
“Oh god, you’re so lame.” But he did as he was asked, closing his eyes and making an odd sound at the back of his throat when something clinked over and around his neck.
“You love me anyway though.” Confident little fucker, wasn’t he? Grinning, Avery nodded. “Alright, open your eyes.”
He tilted his head to look down automatically, raising a hand before he’d even realised he was doing it. He shouldn’t have been so surprised that Fyre’d give him a pair of dog tags. They were heavier than he thought they’d be, and the edges were lined with rubber, so they didn’t clink together. A dark, steel colour, they looked slightly strange against his shirt.
“Seriously, though. You’re lame.”
Fyre cleared his throat before answering, tugging his own dog tags out and holding them up so Avery could see.
“Here. Where it has the initials of next of kin. I didn’t know if you wanted me to, but you’ve been listed as first contact. They’re not allowed to ask and I don’t have to tell, so.”
The enormity of the risk Fyre’d taken to put him there didn’t escape him. The fact that Fyre’d even changed his last name for him (and hadn’t THAT been a surprise?) might have clued him in, but...
Running his fingers over the raised letters, he grinned at him, leaning over to kiss him and making a sort, happy sound against his mouth.
“You’re so lame. No wonder I love you.”