2 ficlets: Lost & Harry Potter
Title: the seventh day
Character(s)/Pairing(s): harry/hermione
Word Count: 630
Summary: Saving the world has put his life into perspective...or turned him into a short sighted bastard
A/N: Written for the Impromptu (im)Prompt-a-thon over at crickets' LJ. The prompt was travel.
It happens in Málaga.
Three months, one week, two days, thirty-two hours after the war is over.
This was supposed to be a vacation for all three of them, but only Hermione and Harry were here. Ron had canceled citing work. He had been helping George since Fred had passed. Hermione claimed this made him a good man.
Which was never a good sign, because Harry was learning that nice guys finished last. Or dead. He wasn't sure which was more upsetting these days. There was something about surviving death twice that made a person less inclined to see it as punishment.
So he tells himself it doesn't look good for Ron because it assuages his guilt. He's spent the whole trip burning a whole through Hermione, who looks different now that the worry no longer drags her down. She looks less like his best friend and more like something else he cannot name.
It's on day two of their vacation. He's drowning himself in sweet wine, while Hermione is droning on and on about the culture significance of everything that is Feria de Málaga. He's not really listening but rather watching the way her lips pull upward everytime she drops a tiny fact no one would know. It's her pride that reminds him she is human, not perfect and that it's okay to slip sometimes.
He stands up, because it's too much, and if he doesn't leave now he's going to do something that will no longer label him as a good guy when he loses his balance - too much sweet wine. Hermione grips at his arm and hauls him against her. So much for an abrupt and unnoticed exit.
"And where do you think you're going?" she asks, and she has to whisper it in his ear to be heard over the music which is increasing in volume as the band playing in the street moves closer. He feels her breath on the side of his neck and gets goosebumps. It's the hottest month of the year in Spain and she has him shivering.
These are the excuses he lines up for what happens next. He's not drunk, but he is tipsy enough where is judgment is lacking. He is grieving a whole boatload of people so he's obviously clinging on to the live ones he's still got. He just sacrificed himself for the whole world so he's allowed a few really bad moves. Hermione looks really beautiful when the sun sets in this place and he doesn't think he can ignore that.
He turns his head and kisses her. Because of all those excuses and a few more he'll think up the next morning. At first, it's one of those sloppy kisses that misses the mark, and lips land somewhere in the vicinty of the the top corner of her lip, but then Hermione surprises him (like she always does) and turns so that they're lips actually meet. And she even lets his tongue dart out and taste the rum on her lips before she pulls back with a tiny gasp.
"You're going crazy," she says, eyes half sad and half amused all at once.
He quirks an eyebrow. "Yes, but what's your excuse?"
He gets a odd satisfaction from the way she bites her lips and doesn't answer. She's smiling now and he doesn't know why, but he finds he doesn't care.
Saving the world has put his life into perspective...or turned him into a short sighted bastard. Either way, as he takes her by the hand back to their hotel room, he finds himself genuinely happy and guilt free at the same time for the first time in years.
Everyone gets to take a vacation from playing the paragon of good once and awhile.
---
Title: immortality weighs on you
Character(s)/Pairing(s): jacob/richard
Word Count: 200
Summary: In the end, everything ends - whether it wants to or not.
A/N: Written for the Impromptu (im)Prompt-a-thon over at crickets' LJ. The prompt was in the end.
Richard is tired all the time. Immortality pays it's price on a human.
Jacob was never human so it's something he can't understand. He never measured time in suns and moons, but he finds it endearing how the people on this island seem intent on fitting everything they do into little blocks they call periods.
Richard moves throughout them, dying a little each time one ends. Jacob still stands by his theory that all of it is progress, but sometimes when he watches Richard closely he thinks that he's wrong. Progress should not regress. That's an oxymoron.
Richard should be feeling better with each new beginning. But instead they weigh on him like a burden Jacob never wanted him to feel.
"I should let you rest," Jacob says each time they start again. Richard smiles at the offer buried under that archaic wording and nods.
But Richard will not let him go, and Jacob is too weak to do what's best for him anyway. So they'll both linger on - Richard in pain and Jacob feeling that hurt through him.
In the end, everything ends - whether it wants to or not.
Jacob's counting on that.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): harry/hermione
Word Count: 630
Summary: Saving the world has put his life into perspective...or turned him into a short sighted bastard
A/N: Written for the Impromptu (im)Prompt-a-thon over at crickets' LJ. The prompt was travel.
It happens in Málaga.
Three months, one week, two days, thirty-two hours after the war is over.
This was supposed to be a vacation for all three of them, but only Hermione and Harry were here. Ron had canceled citing work. He had been helping George since Fred had passed. Hermione claimed this made him a good man.
Which was never a good sign, because Harry was learning that nice guys finished last. Or dead. He wasn't sure which was more upsetting these days. There was something about surviving death twice that made a person less inclined to see it as punishment.
So he tells himself it doesn't look good for Ron because it assuages his guilt. He's spent the whole trip burning a whole through Hermione, who looks different now that the worry no longer drags her down. She looks less like his best friend and more like something else he cannot name.
It's on day two of their vacation. He's drowning himself in sweet wine, while Hermione is droning on and on about the culture significance of everything that is Feria de Málaga. He's not really listening but rather watching the way her lips pull upward everytime she drops a tiny fact no one would know. It's her pride that reminds him she is human, not perfect and that it's okay to slip sometimes.
He stands up, because it's too much, and if he doesn't leave now he's going to do something that will no longer label him as a good guy when he loses his balance - too much sweet wine. Hermione grips at his arm and hauls him against her. So much for an abrupt and unnoticed exit.
"And where do you think you're going?" she asks, and she has to whisper it in his ear to be heard over the music which is increasing in volume as the band playing in the street moves closer. He feels her breath on the side of his neck and gets goosebumps. It's the hottest month of the year in Spain and she has him shivering.
These are the excuses he lines up for what happens next. He's not drunk, but he is tipsy enough where is judgment is lacking. He is grieving a whole boatload of people so he's obviously clinging on to the live ones he's still got. He just sacrificed himself for the whole world so he's allowed a few really bad moves. Hermione looks really beautiful when the sun sets in this place and he doesn't think he can ignore that.
He turns his head and kisses her. Because of all those excuses and a few more he'll think up the next morning. At first, it's one of those sloppy kisses that misses the mark, and lips land somewhere in the vicinty of the the top corner of her lip, but then Hermione surprises him (like she always does) and turns so that they're lips actually meet. And she even lets his tongue dart out and taste the rum on her lips before she pulls back with a tiny gasp.
"You're going crazy," she says, eyes half sad and half amused all at once.
He quirks an eyebrow. "Yes, but what's your excuse?"
He gets a odd satisfaction from the way she bites her lips and doesn't answer. She's smiling now and he doesn't know why, but he finds he doesn't care.
Saving the world has put his life into perspective...or turned him into a short sighted bastard. Either way, as he takes her by the hand back to their hotel room, he finds himself genuinely happy and guilt free at the same time for the first time in years.
Everyone gets to take a vacation from playing the paragon of good once and awhile.
---
Title: immortality weighs on you
Character(s)/Pairing(s): jacob/richard
Word Count: 200
Summary: In the end, everything ends - whether it wants to or not.
A/N: Written for the Impromptu (im)Prompt-a-thon over at crickets' LJ. The prompt was in the end.
Richard is tired all the time. Immortality pays it's price on a human.
Jacob was never human so it's something he can't understand. He never measured time in suns and moons, but he finds it endearing how the people on this island seem intent on fitting everything they do into little blocks they call periods.
Richard moves throughout them, dying a little each time one ends. Jacob still stands by his theory that all of it is progress, but sometimes when he watches Richard closely he thinks that he's wrong. Progress should not regress. That's an oxymoron.
Richard should be feeling better with each new beginning. But instead they weigh on him like a burden Jacob never wanted him to feel.
"I should let you rest," Jacob says each time they start again. Richard smiles at the offer buried under that archaic wording and nods.
But Richard will not let him go, and Jacob is too weak to do what's best for him anyway. So they'll both linger on - Richard in pain and Jacob feeling that hurt through him.
In the end, everything ends - whether it wants to or not.
Jacob's counting on that.