But first: THANK YOU, WMP, FOR PLAYING CON TE PATIRO AND THEN ONE OF MY FAVORITE MUSE SONGS.
But anyway. I was poking at
1sentence and silently whining to myself about how I can't write anything any more, and randomly got inspiration to write--get this--a set involving characters from The City of Experiments. Because it makes so much sense to write what amounts to fanfiction for a novel I've never written.
So anyway. I did it. And it's pretty awful. But I'm posting it! Because I can.
Tyler Richardson/ Dante Von Brandt
(Notes for those who don't remember: Dante is a soldier, who I've recently decided had a part in the facility for the experiments. Tyler is one of the humans that were experimented on, and is pyro- and tele- kinetic. Beatrice is likewise an experiment, and is a precog, and can read minds. Also Tyler is 21 and Dante is 42? lol. Aaaand the characters herein are actual darker than I originally imagined them to be, but I think I like them better this way. Dante is an anti-hero!)
01. Motion - Tyler in motion is strangely hypnotizing; Dante knows he should look away, but can't.
02. Cool - He'll never admit it out loud--mostly because he would kill himself before uttering any such sentence--but he thinks Tyler's pyrokinetic abilities are pretty cool.
03. Young - Dante isn't so much concerned by Tyler's youth as he is concerned about his own age and inability to keep up.
04. Last - "This could be our last moment together," Dante says; Tyler smiles as if he doesn't believe that could be true, but says: "I love you."
05. Wrong - Dante gazes at his young lover and consoles himself with the thought that he'd never been one for morals, anyway.
06. Gentle - The first time Tyler comes to him, still shaking from his near death, Dante quiets the boy's uncharacteristic hesistance with a soft kiss and gentle hands.
07. One - "You're the only one I've ever loved," Dante assures Tyler quietly.
08. Thousand - "I tried to find love in a thousand people before you," Tyler responded.
09. King - "I've always hated this game," Dante mutters as he kings yet another one of Tyler's pieces.
10. Learn - "It's not a matter of learning," Tyler tells him one day, "it's a matter of knowing."
11. Blur - His memory of the first night is a blur, but Tyler's not sure he wants to remember it anyway.
12. Wait - The moments they have together are few and far between, but the waits make each time more precious.
13. Change - Neither of them will ever change for anybody, which is perfect because they like each other just the way they are.
14. Command - Tyler doesn't ever listen to him, and that's what Dante loves best.
15. Hold - After everything's over, he pulls the kid into his arms, and never lets go.
16. Need - Dante is like an addiction: Tyler knows he shouldn't go to the man, but he feels like he can't live without him.
17. Vision - He can't see in the dark, obviously, but he's always been able to find Tyler anyway.
18. Attention - Dante had caught Tyler's eye from the beginning.
19. Soul - "When your lives restart, you'll find each other again," Beatrice says to them one night, and Dante wants to laugh, but the girl has never been wrong.
20. Picture - Tyler is beautiful in the early morning light, and Dante has never been more thankful for his photographic memory.
21. Fool - "It's so easy to get your guard down," a feminine voice says from Tyler's face, and Dante is ashamed to have been fooled so easily.
22. Mad - "They tried to kill you," Tyler snarls, eyes still burning with the fire that he had called up to destroy everything in his way, and this is when Dante falls in love.
23. Child - He tries to think of Tyler as a child, but it never works.
24. Now - When they're in bed together, it feels like the only moment that's ever existed.
25. Shadow - "You ever notice that if we stand next to each other at the right angle to the sun, our shadows merge?"
26. Goodbye - "Please--" Tyler whispers brokenly, his grip on Dante's hand barely registering in the dying man's pain-filled mind, and Dante doesn't hear the rest of it because he's already gone.
27. Hide - "I'm not hiding from you," Tyler says defensively after that first night, "I'm just trying to avoid you!"
28. Fortune - He's never felt richer.
29. Safe - Tyler knows that the places they stay are safe, because Beatrice always picks them out, but he'd never felt like they were until Dante had joined them.
30. Ghost - His past will always haunt him, and he will never forgive himself.
31. Book - Every time he looks over the edge of the book he's reading, Tyler is staring right back at him.
32. Eye - "Your left eye is greener," Tyler announces after staring at his face for the better part of an hour.
33. Never - Dante'd always thought love was something that happened to other people, but he was pleased to have been proven wrong.
34. Sing - Tyler drags them all to a karaoke one night (how he found it in this wasteland would always be a mystery), and Dante, struck by some ridiculous urge, sings the sappiest love song he can find.
35. Sudden - "I feel like I just woke up one day and was suddenly in love," Tyler admits to Beatrice late one night, watching Dante drinking from across the room.
36. Stop - Sometimes the only way to stop Tyler is to kiss him.
37. Time - "It won't be like this forever," Dante says quietly on his birthday one year, and Tyler does not respond.
38. Wash - They haven't bathed in days, but they're less concerned about getting clean than they are with taking advantage of the time alone.
39. Torn - "So I take it you missed me?" Tyler asks, laughing as he holds up his torn shirt so Dante can see it; Dante just shrugs.
40. History - They will be written down in history as two men brought together through unforseen circumstances, barely ever knowing each other, but in their hearts they will always know the truth.
41. Power - Dante has all the physical strength, but that doesn't help any when Tyler cheats and pushes at him with his mind.
42. Bother - "Would you cut that out?" Dante finally snarls, pushing Tyler away as the blond leans in to poke at him again.
43. God - "That's what they were trying to create," Tyler says quietly when Dante asks if he belives in God.
44. Wall - "I'm holding the wall up," Tyler replies with an impish grin.
45. Naked - The first time Tyler has enough control of himself when he comes to Dante in the night, he spends hours running his callused hands over the man's body and imprinting every image in his mind for future viewing.
46. Drive - It seems ridiculous to be teaching the kid how to drive when cars--and gas--are few and far between, but he does it anyway for the blinding smiles it earns him.
47. Harm - "Shit!" Tyler hisses, pulling away from Dante and glaring at the headboard until the flames go down: "How many times have I told you not to surprise me?"
48. Precious - "Every moment I'm alive needs to be remembered," Tyler whispers to him that first night, voice shaking, "I never know when it'll be the last."
49. Hunger - Dante is sleeping peacefully when Tyler pokes at him early in the morning and demands to be fed; Dante just throws a pillow at the brat before turning and burying his face in the sheets.
50. Believe - Dante had never been able to belive in the future until Tyler came to him one night, hesitant and beautiful and more than Dante thought he'd ever deserved.