Fic: Together Again
: Together Again
Author: dawning_star
Fandom: Shelter
Pairing: Zach/Shaun, Cody/OMC, Gabe
Genre: Angst/Romance
Word Count: 830
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Shelter.
Note: This is future!fic. This is also major character death!fic, and was written for my schmoop_bingo 'reunion' prompt.
Summary: 'Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end' - "Closing Time" -- Semisonic
All he could remember was sitting down and clutching his chest. A great, sudden burst of pain, enough to make him gasp for breath, struggling.
Breathing. Just breathing.
And then nothing.
The pain was a swiftly fading memory and Zach found himself sitting straight up. “Christ,” he breathed out loud. “What was that all about?”
“Not Christ, dude. Didn't think you'd forgotten my name.”
Zach whipped around. It was a voice he hadn't heard in a year, not since the accident, the one white Christmas he'd ever experienced had taken from him more than he could've ever expected.
It can't be. He's … they're … it can't be him.
Gabe laughed.
Of course Gabe laughed. He'd probably been laughing when the Grim Reaper reached down to take him and Shaun both away from him forever.
“Oh come on now. I thought you were the romantic one here who forced me to believe in forever by virtue of being so stupid over my brother.”
“Gabe?” He whispered, voice shaky.
It was his best friend. He looked not a day older than twenty, a wide grin on his face and surfboard at his feet.
“What're you waiting for, an engraved invitation? You know I don't do that prissy shit---”
“Shut the fuck up!” Zach clutched his friend to his shoulder. “Just … oh my fucking God. I can't believe this.”
“Well,” and now Gabe's voice didn't sound nearly as steady. “You'd better start believing it.”
They're dead. He's dead. Shaun and Gabe are dead.
He stood back finally and rubbed his chest absently.
Does that make me dead too?
“It's about fuckin' time that you got here,” Gabe said casually, picking his board up. “Didn't know how much longer I'd be able to stand the princess moaning and groaning for you.”
“Shaun's here too?”
Gabe blinked at him. “Where else would he be?”
~ ~ ~
Zach had had thirty wonderful years with Shaun. They had raised Cody together, seen him happily married with kids. That the kids came from Haiti and Thailand didn't matter, nor did Zach have any blame for himself when Cody first brought Marcus home to meet them.
Those demons, those questions that nagged him in the middle of the night with Jeanne's voice, had been conquered long before.
Thirty years of kisses, of laughter, of stupid fights, angry tears. Theirs wasn't a perfect life, a fairytale love, but it was theirs nonetheless.
Thirty wonderful years, gone with the screech of useless brakes and ice on the road.
To lose Gabe or Shaun separately would have been bad enough - but together had truly proven unbearable.
Zach had found himself putting down his brushes, unable to pick them up again.
The years ahead of him stretched out, long and lonely.
Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised now to realize that his heart had given out. One year to the day of when he had buried his husband and his brother. One year to the date of when his brushes began to gather dust.
Fitting, in a way, he supposed.
But where was Shaun now?
~ ~ ~
“I told that fucker I'd better get first dibs.” Zach found himself in a wetsuit, clutching his own board, moving with the ease of years long past. “I knew I wouldn't see you two again until your grandkids got here.”
“I'm touched,” Zach said dryly, shoving his friend down before running into waves he hadn't seen until that point.
Was this heaven? He didn't know. But with his best friend by his side and the familiar rhythm of the ocean beneath him, he figured it was close enough to suffice.
The ocean still meant freedom after all of this time.
~ ~ ~
“I've missed the hell out of you,” he confessed later. If it was later. Time didn't seem to be the same and try as he might, he couldn't make himself worry that he was forcing Shaun to wait for him unnecessarily.
“You too.” Gabe hugged him. “Come find me when you're done.”
“What?” Gabe had disappeared - probably because hands were covering his eyes.
“I think it's my turn to say 'turn around'.”
Shaun's voice, so beloved, rang in his ear and Zach found himelf trembling. Wanting to believe and terrified to see whether it was true.
He spun around slowly. Shaun grinned at him, eyes crinkling adorably, and Zach pulled himself up to meet his lips in a fierce kiss.
He wouldn't ever let go again.
~ ~ ~
“Are you all right, babe?”
The last mourners had left Zach's funeral. Cody was sitting near Zach's casket, clutching a paintbrush loosely in his hand.
At his husband's words, he nodded. Tear tracks shone on his face, but Cody found a sweetly sad smile.
“They're together again. I'm definitely all right with that.”
//end//
Author: dawning_star
Fandom: Shelter
Pairing: Zach/Shaun, Cody/OMC, Gabe
Genre: Angst/Romance
Word Count: 830
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Shelter.
Note: This is future!fic. This is also major character death!fic, and was written for my schmoop_bingo 'reunion' prompt.
Summary: 'Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end' - "Closing Time" -- Semisonic
All he could remember was sitting down and clutching his chest. A great, sudden burst of pain, enough to make him gasp for breath, struggling.
Breathing. Just breathing.
And then nothing.
The pain was a swiftly fading memory and Zach found himself sitting straight up. “Christ,” he breathed out loud. “What was that all about?”
“Not Christ, dude. Didn't think you'd forgotten my name.”
Zach whipped around. It was a voice he hadn't heard in a year, not since the accident, the one white Christmas he'd ever experienced had taken from him more than he could've ever expected.
It can't be. He's … they're … it can't be him.
Gabe laughed.
Of course Gabe laughed. He'd probably been laughing when the Grim Reaper reached down to take him and Shaun both away from him forever.
“Oh come on now. I thought you were the romantic one here who forced me to believe in forever by virtue of being so stupid over my brother.”
“Gabe?” He whispered, voice shaky.
It was his best friend. He looked not a day older than twenty, a wide grin on his face and surfboard at his feet.
“What're you waiting for, an engraved invitation? You know I don't do that prissy shit---”
“Shut the fuck up!” Zach clutched his friend to his shoulder. “Just … oh my fucking God. I can't believe this.”
“Well,” and now Gabe's voice didn't sound nearly as steady. “You'd better start believing it.”
They're dead. He's dead. Shaun and Gabe are dead.
He stood back finally and rubbed his chest absently.
Does that make me dead too?
“It's about fuckin' time that you got here,” Gabe said casually, picking his board up. “Didn't know how much longer I'd be able to stand the princess moaning and groaning for you.”
“Shaun's here too?”
Gabe blinked at him. “Where else would he be?”
~ ~ ~
Zach had had thirty wonderful years with Shaun. They had raised Cody together, seen him happily married with kids. That the kids came from Haiti and Thailand didn't matter, nor did Zach have any blame for himself when Cody first brought Marcus home to meet them.
Those demons, those questions that nagged him in the middle of the night with Jeanne's voice, had been conquered long before.
Thirty years of kisses, of laughter, of stupid fights, angry tears. Theirs wasn't a perfect life, a fairytale love, but it was theirs nonetheless.
Thirty wonderful years, gone with the screech of useless brakes and ice on the road.
To lose Gabe or Shaun separately would have been bad enough - but together had truly proven unbearable.
Zach had found himself putting down his brushes, unable to pick them up again.
The years ahead of him stretched out, long and lonely.
Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised now to realize that his heart had given out. One year to the day of when he had buried his husband and his brother. One year to the date of when his brushes began to gather dust.
Fitting, in a way, he supposed.
But where was Shaun now?
~ ~ ~
“I told that fucker I'd better get first dibs.” Zach found himself in a wetsuit, clutching his own board, moving with the ease of years long past. “I knew I wouldn't see you two again until your grandkids got here.”
“I'm touched,” Zach said dryly, shoving his friend down before running into waves he hadn't seen until that point.
Was this heaven? He didn't know. But with his best friend by his side and the familiar rhythm of the ocean beneath him, he figured it was close enough to suffice.
The ocean still meant freedom after all of this time.
~ ~ ~
“I've missed the hell out of you,” he confessed later. If it was later. Time didn't seem to be the same and try as he might, he couldn't make himself worry that he was forcing Shaun to wait for him unnecessarily.
“You too.” Gabe hugged him. “Come find me when you're done.”
“What?” Gabe had disappeared - probably because hands were covering his eyes.
“I think it's my turn to say 'turn around'.”
Shaun's voice, so beloved, rang in his ear and Zach found himelf trembling. Wanting to believe and terrified to see whether it was true.
He spun around slowly. Shaun grinned at him, eyes crinkling adorably, and Zach pulled himself up to meet his lips in a fierce kiss.
He wouldn't ever let go again.
~ ~ ~
“Are you all right, babe?”
The last mourners had left Zach's funeral. Cody was sitting near Zach's casket, clutching a paintbrush loosely in his hand.
At his husband's words, he nodded. Tear tracks shone on his face, but Cody found a sweetly sad smile.
“They're together again. I'm definitely all right with that.”
//end//