Five Fists of Science - Nikola Tesla x Mark Twain
Fandom: The Five Fists of Science
Pairing: Nikola Tesla/Mark Twain
Theme set: epsilon
Title: America and Elsewhere
Rating: PG to R (number 45 only)
Warning[s]: none
Notes: Um, these just sort of happened? The first few, anyway.
01 - Motion
While Twain keeps talking animatedly, Tesla sits quietly and watches, motionless.
02 - Cool
Tesla is usually cool and collected in public, reserving his heat and passion for the privacy of his lab and (occasionally) a bedroom.
03 - Young
As long as he can feel this sort of love, Twain knows himself to still be a young man, with all of a young man's faults and many of his vices.
04 - Last
Neither of them ever pretend this new project they start on will be their last.
05 - Wrong
"There may have been a slight error in Tim's notations," is the closest Tesla comes to admitting he's wrong; Twain lets him get away with it happily enough, since it's a lot closer than he knows he ever gets himself.
06 - Gentle
Tesla is gentle, in his own way; he never wrongs a man or woman who has not wronged him first, but he's got a very thin skin and a rather quick temper - Twain sits by, listens, smiles when Tesla is deservedly cutting and soothes when Tesla is unintentionally rude.
07 - One
"Because I already built one," Tesla says, infuriatingly, when Twain proposes they build another giant metal man.
08 - Thousand
"Imagine what you could do with an army of these things," Tim says, shiny-eyed, while Tesla frowns and Twain grins, because he knows it will never happen.
09 - King
"But why not do away with kings and emperors entirely?" Tesla asks, while Bertha stares at him in astonishment and Twain guffaws.
10 - Learn
Tesla learns showmanship from Twain, and Twain learns patience from Tesla's inability to be rushed into anything not involving science.
11 - Blur
It's slightly unsettling how, when Twain starts talking, all other sounds and sights turn into a bit of a blur, less important, less attractive and less interesting.
12 - Wait
A lesser man, Twain thinks, might feel intimidated at finding out someone's been waiting to make your acuquaintance since they were twelve and read your books on their sickbed.
13 - Change
"Chemics is not my field," Tesla says seriously and a bit apologetically, when Twain kids about turning lead into gold.
14 - Command
Surprisingly, it's Marconi who figures out a way to make the metal man move without a human also moving in the suit - it's an astonishingly simple theory, Tesla tells Twain with a certain amount of chagrin, while Marconi modestly helps himself to another six cookies.
15 - Hold
For a man who dislikes being touched, being held holds little appeal - for Twain's sake, Tesla tries to put up with it, but then Twain tells him to stop being an idiot and so the next time they sleep in the same bed, Tesla simply pushes Twain to the side, falls asleep peacefully, and wakes up with his arms firmly around a rather amused Twain.
16 - Need
Tesla becomes a hero because the world needs him to; Twain becomes one because he needs to feel needed (or admired, at the very least).
17 - Vision
Projecting images is easy enough, but reversing the process, so that they can look at other places without being there, is a much trickier thing to figure out.
18 - Attention
It still annoys Tesla when Twain's attention wanders from what Tesla is saying to what Tesla is doing - he sees no reason to stop trying to explain Einstein's relativity theory (and its flaws) simply because they're both naked, but Twain, clearly, is of a different opinion.
19 - Soul
"My soul is in my books, and I hope they'll give a lot of people a good laugh long after I'm dead."
20 - Picture
Tesla carries a picture of Twain in his copy of Tom Sawyer; Twain carries a picture of Tesla in his mind, where it will always look exactly the same age as the real Tesla.
21 - Fool
Twain is hopeless with money, but quite good at getting it - Tesla is good at holding on to what he's got (provided he doesn't get sued by the City of New York) but rather poor at convincing people to give him any.
22 - Mad
"The difference between madness and genius is that the first is what people I don't like suffer from and the second is what people I do like (including, I should add, myself) revel in."
23 - Child
"My dear Bertha," Twain says, wounded, "I do think Mark is a very good name," to which she replies, "For a girl?"
24 - Now
Tesla is never not involved in some project, and Twain is hardly ever not thinking about his next book or article, but somehow, in between the looking and planning ahead, they snatch a few moments to enjoy the present.
25 - Shadow
It takes Twain a while to get Tim away from Tesla, get him to do the sort of stuff Twain feels boys Tim's age should get up to - Tesla complains about it, of course, but Twain knows a job that needs doing when he sees one.
26 - Goodbye
They shake hands in public, which to Tesla is the same as a full-body hug, so Twain boards his ship with a wide grin on his face and a lightness to his steps that carries him all the way to his (cold and lonely) cabin.
27 - Hide
When Tesla gets upset, he grabs a good book and goes to hide in a corner of his lab.
28 - Fortune
Twain sees money as money, while Tesla views money as a way of getting things one needs for science; it's annoying and a little bit unpleasant, but sadly something one needs to bother oneself with.
29 - Safe
Tesla's secrets and theories are safe with Twain, if only because Twain lacks the education that would have enabled him to understand them.
30 - Ghost
After a month of projecting the image of a woman in white wandering the house, Twain is amazed and more than a little disappointed to discover the rent for the place has doubled rather than halved, haunted laboratories being, apparently, much in demand by the madder sort of scientist.
31 - Book
Tesla has been sleeping with Twain's books for years now; sleeping with the man who wrote them doesn't seem like that big a change (it just becomes a bit harder to bookmark the pages so that he can read things back the next morning).
32 - Eye
When Twain finds himself doodling a silly bit of poetry about Tesla's eyes (among other things), he reckons it's time to review another one of those so-called literary classics.
33 - Never
Tesla knows some of his theories may never be proven in his lifetime, but he also knows that given enough time, they will all turn out to be true; unlike books, theories can afford to wait for their proper time to be celebrated as genius.
34 - Sing
Getting Tesla to have dinner with him is nothing compared to getting Tesla to join him for a few songs behind the piano, although both are equally rewarding.
35 - Sudden
The truth is that neither of them planned for that first kiss; the story they tell others, of course, is that they've plotted and schemed to bring it about for weeks, if not months, and with the other wholly oblivious of both plan and attraction.
36 - Stop
"Not now," Tesla says, not even looking up from his work and Twain keeps his hands to himself, sighs, and tells himself that 'not now' at least implies 'later'.
37 - Time
Twain generally measures time in days or even weeks; Tesla in seconds, minutes, and (rarely) hours.
38 - Wash
Eventually, Twain decides to save himself some time and simply joins Tesla when he's bathing or primping or making all sorts of efforts to look impeccable when they both know the effect will be undone in less than fifteen minutes.
39 - Torn
When Tesla comes close to tearing up his blueprints and notes in a fit of frustration-fueled rage, Tim runs off to get Twain to talk him out of it.
40 - History
Twain writes much and often; history, he hopes, will filter out his masterpieces from his lesser works, even if the present public seem utterly unable to know a good book by (the name on) its cover, much like they as often as not fail to differ between the genius of Tesla and the shenanigans of Edison.
41 - Power
Tesla knows how to harness the power of lightning, but when it comes to exerting any kind of influence over Twain, he finds himself at an utter loss (and this, he thinks, is why he's never loved before; the degree of control is simply too small to be comfortable with).
42 - Bother
"It's not a burden to be famous so long as one is also rich and well-liked," Twain declares, while Tesla scowls and glowers at his plate.
43 - God
Twain pictures Tesla's God as a giant machine that's merrily whirring away up in Heaven and lets people get on with doing whatever the want to do - there's worse things to worship or swear by, he supposes, even if he can't imagine clearing the air (and his mood) by tossing out a few 'great eternal dynamo!'s.
44 - Wall
Bertha's face is inscrutable at breakfast the next morning, which doesn't keep Tesla from blushing or Twain from cheerfully pretending nothing out of the ordinary has taken place in the hotel room next to hers on the night before.
45 - Naked
"Does the fact that you're measuring it with your eyes mean you'll be putting it in your mouth?" Twain asks, half-jokingly and half-hopeful.
46 - Drive
Twain reminds them both to sleep; Tesla makes sure they regularly eat a meal.
47 - Harm
Tesla earns himself a black eye getting into a fight with a literary critic; Twain jokes about the matter in public, and shows his appreciation in the form of a sack of ice in private.
48 - Precious
Tesla's most prized possession has always been a set of books he got as a child, even if by now, he owns at least six copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
49 - Hunger
It's good to have simpler desires than fame and riches, Twain thinks; there's nothing wrong with a bit of ambition, but every now and then, one likes to feel content with what life has brought already.
50 - Believe
"To believe yourself brave is to be brave, but to believe yourself a genius is to be arrogant - unless, of course, you're right, as would be the case for you and me."
Pairing: Nikola Tesla/Mark Twain
Theme set: epsilon
Title: America and Elsewhere
Rating: PG to R (number 45 only)
Warning[s]: none
Notes: Um, these just sort of happened? The first few, anyway.
01 - Motion
While Twain keeps talking animatedly, Tesla sits quietly and watches, motionless.
02 - Cool
Tesla is usually cool and collected in public, reserving his heat and passion for the privacy of his lab and (occasionally) a bedroom.
03 - Young
As long as he can feel this sort of love, Twain knows himself to still be a young man, with all of a young man's faults and many of his vices.
04 - Last
Neither of them ever pretend this new project they start on will be their last.
05 - Wrong
"There may have been a slight error in Tim's notations," is the closest Tesla comes to admitting he's wrong; Twain lets him get away with it happily enough, since it's a lot closer than he knows he ever gets himself.
06 - Gentle
Tesla is gentle, in his own way; he never wrongs a man or woman who has not wronged him first, but he's got a very thin skin and a rather quick temper - Twain sits by, listens, smiles when Tesla is deservedly cutting and soothes when Tesla is unintentionally rude.
07 - One
"Because I already built one," Tesla says, infuriatingly, when Twain proposes they build another giant metal man.
08 - Thousand
"Imagine what you could do with an army of these things," Tim says, shiny-eyed, while Tesla frowns and Twain grins, because he knows it will never happen.
09 - King
"But why not do away with kings and emperors entirely?" Tesla asks, while Bertha stares at him in astonishment and Twain guffaws.
10 - Learn
Tesla learns showmanship from Twain, and Twain learns patience from Tesla's inability to be rushed into anything not involving science.
11 - Blur
It's slightly unsettling how, when Twain starts talking, all other sounds and sights turn into a bit of a blur, less important, less attractive and less interesting.
12 - Wait
A lesser man, Twain thinks, might feel intimidated at finding out someone's been waiting to make your acuquaintance since they were twelve and read your books on their sickbed.
13 - Change
"Chemics is not my field," Tesla says seriously and a bit apologetically, when Twain kids about turning lead into gold.
14 - Command
Surprisingly, it's Marconi who figures out a way to make the metal man move without a human also moving in the suit - it's an astonishingly simple theory, Tesla tells Twain with a certain amount of chagrin, while Marconi modestly helps himself to another six cookies.
15 - Hold
For a man who dislikes being touched, being held holds little appeal - for Twain's sake, Tesla tries to put up with it, but then Twain tells him to stop being an idiot and so the next time they sleep in the same bed, Tesla simply pushes Twain to the side, falls asleep peacefully, and wakes up with his arms firmly around a rather amused Twain.
16 - Need
Tesla becomes a hero because the world needs him to; Twain becomes one because he needs to feel needed (or admired, at the very least).
17 - Vision
Projecting images is easy enough, but reversing the process, so that they can look at other places without being there, is a much trickier thing to figure out.
18 - Attention
It still annoys Tesla when Twain's attention wanders from what Tesla is saying to what Tesla is doing - he sees no reason to stop trying to explain Einstein's relativity theory (and its flaws) simply because they're both naked, but Twain, clearly, is of a different opinion.
19 - Soul
"My soul is in my books, and I hope they'll give a lot of people a good laugh long after I'm dead."
20 - Picture
Tesla carries a picture of Twain in his copy of Tom Sawyer; Twain carries a picture of Tesla in his mind, where it will always look exactly the same age as the real Tesla.
21 - Fool
Twain is hopeless with money, but quite good at getting it - Tesla is good at holding on to what he's got (provided he doesn't get sued by the City of New York) but rather poor at convincing people to give him any.
22 - Mad
"The difference between madness and genius is that the first is what people I don't like suffer from and the second is what people I do like (including, I should add, myself) revel in."
23 - Child
"My dear Bertha," Twain says, wounded, "I do think Mark is a very good name," to which she replies, "For a girl?"
24 - Now
Tesla is never not involved in some project, and Twain is hardly ever not thinking about his next book or article, but somehow, in between the looking and planning ahead, they snatch a few moments to enjoy the present.
25 - Shadow
It takes Twain a while to get Tim away from Tesla, get him to do the sort of stuff Twain feels boys Tim's age should get up to - Tesla complains about it, of course, but Twain knows a job that needs doing when he sees one.
26 - Goodbye
They shake hands in public, which to Tesla is the same as a full-body hug, so Twain boards his ship with a wide grin on his face and a lightness to his steps that carries him all the way to his (cold and lonely) cabin.
27 - Hide
When Tesla gets upset, he grabs a good book and goes to hide in a corner of his lab.
28 - Fortune
Twain sees money as money, while Tesla views money as a way of getting things one needs for science; it's annoying and a little bit unpleasant, but sadly something one needs to bother oneself with.
29 - Safe
Tesla's secrets and theories are safe with Twain, if only because Twain lacks the education that would have enabled him to understand them.
30 - Ghost
After a month of projecting the image of a woman in white wandering the house, Twain is amazed and more than a little disappointed to discover the rent for the place has doubled rather than halved, haunted laboratories being, apparently, much in demand by the madder sort of scientist.
31 - Book
Tesla has been sleeping with Twain's books for years now; sleeping with the man who wrote them doesn't seem like that big a change (it just becomes a bit harder to bookmark the pages so that he can read things back the next morning).
32 - Eye
When Twain finds himself doodling a silly bit of poetry about Tesla's eyes (among other things), he reckons it's time to review another one of those so-called literary classics.
33 - Never
Tesla knows some of his theories may never be proven in his lifetime, but he also knows that given enough time, they will all turn out to be true; unlike books, theories can afford to wait for their proper time to be celebrated as genius.
34 - Sing
Getting Tesla to have dinner with him is nothing compared to getting Tesla to join him for a few songs behind the piano, although both are equally rewarding.
35 - Sudden
The truth is that neither of them planned for that first kiss; the story they tell others, of course, is that they've plotted and schemed to bring it about for weeks, if not months, and with the other wholly oblivious of both plan and attraction.
36 - Stop
"Not now," Tesla says, not even looking up from his work and Twain keeps his hands to himself, sighs, and tells himself that 'not now' at least implies 'later'.
37 - Time
Twain generally measures time in days or even weeks; Tesla in seconds, minutes, and (rarely) hours.
38 - Wash
Eventually, Twain decides to save himself some time and simply joins Tesla when he's bathing or primping or making all sorts of efforts to look impeccable when they both know the effect will be undone in less than fifteen minutes.
39 - Torn
When Tesla comes close to tearing up his blueprints and notes in a fit of frustration-fueled rage, Tim runs off to get Twain to talk him out of it.
40 - History
Twain writes much and often; history, he hopes, will filter out his masterpieces from his lesser works, even if the present public seem utterly unable to know a good book by (the name on) its cover, much like they as often as not fail to differ between the genius of Tesla and the shenanigans of Edison.
41 - Power
Tesla knows how to harness the power of lightning, but when it comes to exerting any kind of influence over Twain, he finds himself at an utter loss (and this, he thinks, is why he's never loved before; the degree of control is simply too small to be comfortable with).
42 - Bother
"It's not a burden to be famous so long as one is also rich and well-liked," Twain declares, while Tesla scowls and glowers at his plate.
43 - God
Twain pictures Tesla's God as a giant machine that's merrily whirring away up in Heaven and lets people get on with doing whatever the want to do - there's worse things to worship or swear by, he supposes, even if he can't imagine clearing the air (and his mood) by tossing out a few 'great eternal dynamo!'s.
44 - Wall
Bertha's face is inscrutable at breakfast the next morning, which doesn't keep Tesla from blushing or Twain from cheerfully pretending nothing out of the ordinary has taken place in the hotel room next to hers on the night before.
45 - Naked
"Does the fact that you're measuring it with your eyes mean you'll be putting it in your mouth?" Twain asks, half-jokingly and half-hopeful.
46 - Drive
Twain reminds them both to sleep; Tesla makes sure they regularly eat a meal.
47 - Harm
Tesla earns himself a black eye getting into a fight with a literary critic; Twain jokes about the matter in public, and shows his appreciation in the form of a sack of ice in private.
48 - Precious
Tesla's most prized possession has always been a set of books he got as a child, even if by now, he owns at least six copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
49 - Hunger
It's good to have simpler desires than fame and riches, Twain thinks; there's nothing wrong with a bit of ambition, but every now and then, one likes to feel content with what life has brought already.
50 - Believe
"To believe yourself brave is to be brave, but to believe yourself a genius is to be arrogant - unless, of course, you're right, as would be the case for you and me."