fic: instead of talking (bingo prompt "distress")
title: instead of talking
bingo prompt: distress (and rescue)
notes: i am going to attempt origfic_bingo with the boys with the big house. also, they're fourteen here and i have a timeline. woot. now i just need a more wieldy 'verse name.
After his father's funeral, Harley stops talking for two weeks. He doesn't want to answer anyone's questions about his feelings, his plans, his needs. Well-meaning people, but all he wants to tell them is that they're asking stupid fucking questions.
And he can't say that. So he stops saying anything.
He sits in the vice-principal's office listening to Mr Holden express sympathy and understanding and "Don't you think talking will make you feel better?"
Harley shrugs. He can't talk to Corbin, who's been his best friend since they were four, and he can't talk to Corbin's Grandma Ida, who took him in - who does Mr Holden think he's going to talk to?
After nine days of silence, Grandma Ida suggests that maybe Harley could write down what he's thinking, if he doesn't want to tell anyone. He could write to his dad. So after dinner he sits on the back step outside the kitchen door with his notebook and a pen, and writes his dad a letter. He can hear Grandma Ida through the door, telling Corbin to leave him alone.
He writes four lines:
Dad,
They gave me your dog tags.
I'm never going to take them off.
I miss you.
Sometimes I still think you're coming home.
And then he can't see to write any more.
The door cracks open and Corbin comes outside. He sits on the step next to Harley without a word. Harley rubs at his eyes and his nose with his sleeve. He doesn't want Corbin to see what he's writing, but he doesn't mind that Corbin is sitting there.
Corbin and Grandma Ida took me.
I like it here ok but they're not you.
Corbin nonchalantly passes Harley a box of matches and says "Grandma says burn it over the grill when you're done. She says the smoke will reach your dad in Heaven and he'll know what you wrote." Harley takes the matches, surprised that Grandma Ida trusts him with them. "I saved you some pie."
But they love me.
bingo prompt: distress (and rescue)
notes: i am going to attempt origfic_bingo with the boys with the big house. also, they're fourteen here and i have a timeline. woot. now i just need a more wieldy 'verse name.
After his father's funeral, Harley stops talking for two weeks. He doesn't want to answer anyone's questions about his feelings, his plans, his needs. Well-meaning people, but all he wants to tell them is that they're asking stupid fucking questions.
And he can't say that. So he stops saying anything.
He sits in the vice-principal's office listening to Mr Holden express sympathy and understanding and "Don't you think talking will make you feel better?"
Harley shrugs. He can't talk to Corbin, who's been his best friend since they were four, and he can't talk to Corbin's Grandma Ida, who took him in - who does Mr Holden think he's going to talk to?
After nine days of silence, Grandma Ida suggests that maybe Harley could write down what he's thinking, if he doesn't want to tell anyone. He could write to his dad. So after dinner he sits on the back step outside the kitchen door with his notebook and a pen, and writes his dad a letter. He can hear Grandma Ida through the door, telling Corbin to leave him alone.
He writes four lines:
Dad,
They gave me your dog tags.
I'm never going to take them off.
I miss you.
Sometimes I still think you're coming home.
And then he can't see to write any more.
The door cracks open and Corbin comes outside. He sits on the step next to Harley without a word. Harley rubs at his eyes and his nose with his sleeve. He doesn't want Corbin to see what he's writing, but he doesn't mind that Corbin is sitting there.
Corbin and Grandma Ida took me.
I like it here ok but they're not you.
Corbin nonchalantly passes Harley a box of matches and says "Grandma says burn it over the grill when you're done. She says the smoke will reach your dad in Heaven and he'll know what you wrote." Harley takes the matches, surprised that Grandma Ida trusts him with them. "I saved you some pie."
But they love me.