Against All Odds - Prequel to Affirmation
Boys and Girls, Ladies and Gentlemen, Kids and Kittens, Liver and Bacon, Spring and Onion... Whiskey and Soda. (Thank you Paul Merton at the Palladium)
Here's the prequel to my WLIIA Affirmation story!!! Against All Odds. (Yes, the story title and chapters are from the song "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins, continuing with the song theme of my Whose Line stories.)
Title: Against All Odds
Author: Shinigami518
Rating: PG-13, but with some bits of R in it.
Main Character(s) and/or pairings: Tony/Paul (starts as friendship, turns to "?", and ends with solid love), Josie/Richard, Paul/Caroline (kinda rocky, but established), Josie/Greg friendship, Stephen/Tony Friendship, Richard/Paul Friendship, Ryan/Colin at end
Summary: In late 1996, after a taping of HIGNFY, Paul is told by Greg and Josie about Tony's downward spiral into darkness. This is what happened to Tony and Paul before Affirmation with some angst, some fluff, some H/C, some horror, and a happy ending that'll lead to the sequel to Affirmation.
And Now, on with the show:
Notes: I don’t own Whose Line or any of the guys and girls that participate in that show. The only characters I do own are the ones that do not seem familiar to any reader. This is mostly set in the mid 90’s and is a prequel to my Affirmation story. This deals with mostly Tony and Paul, but will have appearances from Josie, Greg, Stephen Fry, and others. It will also deal with Tony’s depression and his feelings for Paul.
Prologue - Cos we've shared the laughter and the pain, and even shared the tears
Dec. 13th 2006
The Comedy Store
Paul Merton ran from the room, fighting back the burning tears forming in his eyes, as he found a spot to find solstice in the next room. What had started out as an innocent question ended up reopening a door that had once locked an all-too-painful memory.
He finally leaned against a wall in the other room, panting for breath as he stared heavenward. He blinked back the tears that had started forming, but as much as he could, he couldn’t stop them from coming.
It was supposed to be a fun game - suggested by Neil - just a question of if you had the chance to live your life over, what would be different knowing what you know now. Neil, who had been quite hammered, had egged him on for his answer. It had opened up the flood gates and unlocked a memory Paul had been trying to forget for ten years.
Paul slid down the wall, finally collapsing on his backside. It had been ten years since it happened, but the memory still burn in his mind as if it only happened the other day.
He was shaking now. He held himself tight, trying to stop the tremors, but they continued. Finally a single warm tear escaped his gentle blue eyes, making a small trail down his pale face.
A choked sob escaped from his lips as he pulled his body close, his knees nearly touching his chest, arms grazing his legs every time he rocked back and forth. Another tear joined the first one, followed by another one. This time, he couldn’t stop himself.
“Paul?”
A soft voice asked from the other side of the room. Paul blinked as he looked up, trying to focus through his now tear stained glasses on the figure in the passage way, staring down at him in surprise.
“Oh.” The man whispered as he made his way over to the sobbing man. He crouched down next to Paul, who was back to looking down at the floor, and placed a hand on his shaky left shoulder.
“Paul… Neil didn’t know. He wasn’t there.” The man reassured. Paul nodded weakly, another set of small tears rolling down his face.
“It still hurts, Rich…,” Paul whispered, “After all this time… ten damn years… it still hurts.” Paul still held himself, but had ceased rocking.
Richard nodded; he knew what Paul was saying. He hadn’t been with him to see the event that hurt Paul’s heart, but he had been there when Paul had to tell several of their friends, including him and Josie, about it.
“If it’s any consolation, Josie’s reading him the right act right now.” Richard stated. Paul nodded again, still not looking at his friend. Richard leaned a bit closer to Paul, growing more concerned.
“Paul? Paul, are you sure you’re-?”
Richard never got the chance to finish his question, because he found himself nearly falling backwards on his heals as Paul lunged at him and clung to him like a scared child on his first day of school. He didn’t know how to react at first, as Paul’s sudden embrace took him completely by surprise. Once he realized what was going on - plus the fact that his shirt was now starting to feel damp and Paul was letting out heartbroken sobs - he put his arms around his friend.
“It’s not your fault, Paul. You didn’t know. None of us knew what Tony was doing.” Richard soothed, holding him tightly.
“It still hurts. If you had… if you saw what I saw…” Paul whispered, tears finally falling as he clung to Richard’s shirt. Richard said nothing, but held Paul closer, letting him continue crying.
Part One will be coming as soon as possible after a quick check over, so wait, read, and review.