Claim: Press Gang (Kenny Phillips) - #01 Black & White, Table 5
Title: Don’t Say Goodbye
Author: lost_spook
Claim: Kenny Phillips
Prompt: #01 Black and white
Fandom: Press Gang
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 585
Summary: Leaving is always a betrayal in Lynda’s world.
Notes/Warnings: Minor spoilers for end of S3/beginning of S4.
***
Lynda: "You know, you're the one thing in my life I can always rely on. Whatever happens you're always there. There are never any surprises with you, Kenny.” (S2, Rock Solid)
*
To the rest of the world it’s simple: black and white, like a newspaper, but the colours are different in Lynda’s world, and it’s red all over, like a newspaper, too.
His Dad has been offered a secondment to Australia and so the family are going, and Kenny’s going too. Perfectly understandable, isn’t it?
“How long are you going to keep up the not-talking?” he asks, at the airport. He knows why. He doesn’t blame her. She’s lost Spike and now isn’t the greatest time for her oldest friend to take his leave and fly to the other side of the world. “I’m going to be getting expensive, silent phone calls, aren’t I?”
She glares back at him. “All right, then.” (She isn’t good at not saying things; never has been. Mind you, in many ways, she isn’t good at saying things, either.) “I’ve got plenty of words for you, Kenny: Traitor. Judas. Backstabber. Backstabbing Judas of a traitor!”
“It’s not forever,” he reminds her. “I’ll be back. You can be as mean as you like to make up for it then.”
Of course, partly she’s mad because he didn’t give her much warning. The trouble is if he’d given her the warning she deserved, chances are he wouldn’t be standing in the airport right now. He might not even be standing, because it wouldn’t be the first time Lynda’s been responsible for breaking a limb. But then again, it’s Lynda, and maybe she’d come through, like she does, in the end, and he hasn’t given her the chance to show her better nature, either. The trouble with Lynda is, even after all this time, it’s hard to be sure about that one.
“Believe me, I will!”
He perseveres. “You won’t even notice I’m not there. You could get a parrot and teach it to say ‘Yes, Lynda’, ‘No, Lynda’ and who’d know the difference?”
“I probably will,” she says, putting on a brave face, and even smiling. His heart sinks a little, because this is one of her dangerous, misleading smiles. “I’m expecting a regular column sent through weekly. 500 words a time, exactly.”
“Absolutely, boss.”
She makes a face and then hugs him. He hugs her back, and then frowns, pushing her away, but keeping a hand on her arm in case she tries to make a run for it.
“Lynda, give me back my boarding pass!”
“You’ve lost it?” Her eyes widen in innocence.
He hangs on. “No. You just took it out of my front pocket, Lynda.”
She looks innocent. “Kenny, how could you think I’d do something like that?”
“How long have we known each other? Do you really have to ask?”
Lynda sighs and hands it over. Spike she can fool with that sort of thing, but not Kenny, not after all these years. “Well, I’m glad you’re going. Don’t hurry back on my account.”
“Yeah,” he says, with a grin. “I’ll miss you, too. Can’t think what I’m going to do without you phoning me at four in the morning.”
There’s another smile, even sweeter than the first. “Who says I’m not going to be phoning you at four in the morning?”
“Well, it is going to cost you a bit more than it used to.” It’s nearly time to go, and he knows Lynda about as well as he knows anyone, but he can’t tell until it’s too late if he’s finally broken something fundamental this time.
It’s simple: black and white, but it’s red all over.
***
Author: lost_spook
Claim: Kenny Phillips
Prompt: #01 Black and white
Fandom: Press Gang
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 585
Summary: Leaving is always a betrayal in Lynda’s world.
Notes/Warnings: Minor spoilers for end of S3/beginning of S4.
***
Lynda: "You know, you're the one thing in my life I can always rely on. Whatever happens you're always there. There are never any surprises with you, Kenny.” (S2, Rock Solid)
*
To the rest of the world it’s simple: black and white, like a newspaper, but the colours are different in Lynda’s world, and it’s red all over, like a newspaper, too.
His Dad has been offered a secondment to Australia and so the family are going, and Kenny’s going too. Perfectly understandable, isn’t it?
“How long are you going to keep up the not-talking?” he asks, at the airport. He knows why. He doesn’t blame her. She’s lost Spike and now isn’t the greatest time for her oldest friend to take his leave and fly to the other side of the world. “I’m going to be getting expensive, silent phone calls, aren’t I?”
She glares back at him. “All right, then.” (She isn’t good at not saying things; never has been. Mind you, in many ways, she isn’t good at saying things, either.) “I’ve got plenty of words for you, Kenny: Traitor. Judas. Backstabber. Backstabbing Judas of a traitor!”
“It’s not forever,” he reminds her. “I’ll be back. You can be as mean as you like to make up for it then.”
Of course, partly she’s mad because he didn’t give her much warning. The trouble is if he’d given her the warning she deserved, chances are he wouldn’t be standing in the airport right now. He might not even be standing, because it wouldn’t be the first time Lynda’s been responsible for breaking a limb. But then again, it’s Lynda, and maybe she’d come through, like she does, in the end, and he hasn’t given her the chance to show her better nature, either. The trouble with Lynda is, even after all this time, it’s hard to be sure about that one.
“Believe me, I will!”
He perseveres. “You won’t even notice I’m not there. You could get a parrot and teach it to say ‘Yes, Lynda’, ‘No, Lynda’ and who’d know the difference?”
“I probably will,” she says, putting on a brave face, and even smiling. His heart sinks a little, because this is one of her dangerous, misleading smiles. “I’m expecting a regular column sent through weekly. 500 words a time, exactly.”
“Absolutely, boss.”
She makes a face and then hugs him. He hugs her back, and then frowns, pushing her away, but keeping a hand on her arm in case she tries to make a run for it.
“Lynda, give me back my boarding pass!”
“You’ve lost it?” Her eyes widen in innocence.
He hangs on. “No. You just took it out of my front pocket, Lynda.”
She looks innocent. “Kenny, how could you think I’d do something like that?”
“How long have we known each other? Do you really have to ask?”
Lynda sighs and hands it over. Spike she can fool with that sort of thing, but not Kenny, not after all these years. “Well, I’m glad you’re going. Don’t hurry back on my account.”
“Yeah,” he says, with a grin. “I’ll miss you, too. Can’t think what I’m going to do without you phoning me at four in the morning.”
There’s another smile, even sweeter than the first. “Who says I’m not going to be phoning you at four in the morning?”
“Well, it is going to cost you a bit more than it used to.” It’s nearly time to go, and he knows Lynda about as well as he knows anyone, but he can’t tell until it’s too late if he’s finally broken something fundamental this time.
It’s simple: black and white, but it’s red all over.
***