otherwise, Elijah/Bean, AU
otherwise
Sean dreams of arched whalebone ceilings and so many windows.
Elijah/Bean, David
AU
PG-13
I claim naught and not.
For trianne, in the 2006 Slashy Valentine Exchange. Infinite thanks to azrhiaz.
Sean dreams of a white building with arched whalebone ceilings and so many windows. He dreams of people pressing together as they pass through, from the real world on one side to the trains on the other, purposefully shuffling towards final destinations. The light comes in golden and clean and he looks down and Elijah is -
Elijah is gone -
and he runs, hands cupping shoulders and shoving people out of the way, and the world outside is on fire, and Elijah climbs onto a train as the flames rush in and everything
goes
flat
then noise like a thunderstorm and Sean sits bolt upright, blinking against the dark. He can hear Elijah banging around in the kitchen, someone stomping around upstairs, a train rumbling by outside. Shoving the blankets to the side, he creaks to his feet and stretches, stealing a sweater off the dresser as he heads into Elijah’s ruckus.
“They’re getting worse,” Elijah says, watching the toast intently. “Aren’t they.”
Sean nods and scrubs a hand through his hair. “They’re louder.”
“Can I see?”
“Yeah.” Sean sits in one of the ancient kitchen chairs and lights a cigarette from the pack on the table. This is always uncomfortable. Elijah is good - he was trained to take visions, but still.
He passes the fag to Elijah and Elijah takes his hand. “Ready?”
“Sure,” Sean says, leaning back.
They both close their eyes and the station is high and beautiful and open, and Elijah steps towards the train while Sean fights through the crowd. Elijah turns and his mouth moves and no sound can make it over the bellow of flame coming, rushing in.
The noise is incredible as the train rocks past outside and Sean wakes to the bright kitchen and Elijah calmly smoking. “Interesting,” he says, and goes to get the toast.
--
They didn’t ever meet, really, there was no courtship or making acquaintances. There was Elijah, heroic with his little band of traitors, stealing Prescients from a Company building.
The visions could be focussed just towards the future, turned like telescopes, the Company had discovered. Used to reveal secrets and spies. Prescients were asked to contribute their time and services and minds. An act of goodwill, like giving blood. Until you realized you couldn’t leave, and the drugs that induced visions made your eyes swell shut.
Sean knows almost nothing about who else escaped from the Company that day, or even how they did it. He’s pretty sure that’s to keep him safe. If he doesn’t know, there isn’t anything to read from him. If the Company ever finds them, they’ll leave him alone.
Elijah and his accomplices were Empaths, hired to retrieve and interpret the visions. But they couldn’t get the visions without the pain and the exhaustion and the wanting. So the plan was invented, out of compassion and inevitable insanity: smuggle them out, get on a boat to New Colony.
They stole visitor passes and sold everything to pay for tickets. It was perfectly planned.
And after spending two weeks together in a one-person bunk, it was easier to not go separate ways. It was easier for Elijah and Sean to stick together, and share a flat, and it was easier to fall in love with Elijah than anything else had ever been.
--
It is quieter, now, the flames rushing in. He can hear what Elijah says, as he steps onto the train.
“David,” he says,
“Come on! Sean, come on, wake up.” Elijah is poking him in the ribs and laughing. “God, you snore.”
“And you slobber all over.”
“And you’re obnoxious.”
“And it’s too early in the morning for this.”
“Not that early,” Elijah says, rolling over on top of him. “Kind of - mm.” Sean grinds up and runs his hands down Elijah’s back.
“I like you better when you’re not talking,” Sean says, sliding his palm down Elijah’s shorts.
“So do something about it.” Elijah rocks his hips into Sean’s palm.
“I might.” Sean fists his hand in Elijah’s hair and pulls him in, and Elijah smiles against his mouth.
--
Elijah was born in a Government territory, but emigrated to the main Company sector the same time Sean came down from the Northern sectors. It’s not inconceivable that they would have met under different circumstances, and sometimes Sean likes to think about what would have happened if they were born Normal. If they ran into each other in a bookstore or a restaurant. Sean likes to think about Elijah smiling at him, suddenly, eyes bright and hands saying come here. Sean imagines a quiet, more fragile, more frightened version of them, bringing flowers and fighting over who buys dinner.
Sean thinks about these things, and sometimes he mourns for them, but mostly he is happy. Mostly he feels lucky, and tries to imagine this is the best of all possible worlds.
--
“Who is David?” Sean asks, when they are washing dishes.
“David who?” Elijah sounds skeptical, but he sets down the glass he was drying and stares out the window.
“I’m not sure.”
“I only know one David,” Elijah says. “He got Orlando out.”
“What happened to him?”
“He betrayed us.”
“Where is he?”
“Not here,” Elijah says shortly, and starts wiping out a pot.
--
The death of David Wenham is at the New Colony Records Hall, Sean will find. It’s in a Company newsfeed from the week of the escape.
He was in a station (the one where seven fugitives from the Company had just boarded a train headed to the port) when a matchbook in his pocket sparked next to his illegal firearm.
Sean will know this is a lie. Sean will close his eyes, and the flames will spread more slowly this time, and Sean will see Elijah’s eyes, wide and betrayed as the train moves away from the station, and Sean will look down at his hands and find them unfamiliar and holding a detonator. Sean will know that the chaos David created let them all get away, and Sean will not tell Elijah this, because it would be too hard to explain, and too much to risk. Sean will be silent and Elijah will love him and it will be enough.
It will be enough.
Sean dreams of arched whalebone ceilings and so many windows.
Elijah/Bean, David
AU
PG-13
I claim naught and not.
For trianne, in the 2006 Slashy Valentine Exchange. Infinite thanks to azrhiaz.
Sean dreams of a white building with arched whalebone ceilings and so many windows. He dreams of people pressing together as they pass through, from the real world on one side to the trains on the other, purposefully shuffling towards final destinations. The light comes in golden and clean and he looks down and Elijah is -
Elijah is gone -
and he runs, hands cupping shoulders and shoving people out of the way, and the world outside is on fire, and Elijah climbs onto a train as the flames rush in and everything
goes
flat
then noise like a thunderstorm and Sean sits bolt upright, blinking against the dark. He can hear Elijah banging around in the kitchen, someone stomping around upstairs, a train rumbling by outside. Shoving the blankets to the side, he creaks to his feet and stretches, stealing a sweater off the dresser as he heads into Elijah’s ruckus.
“They’re getting worse,” Elijah says, watching the toast intently. “Aren’t they.”
Sean nods and scrubs a hand through his hair. “They’re louder.”
“Can I see?”
“Yeah.” Sean sits in one of the ancient kitchen chairs and lights a cigarette from the pack on the table. This is always uncomfortable. Elijah is good - he was trained to take visions, but still.
He passes the fag to Elijah and Elijah takes his hand. “Ready?”
“Sure,” Sean says, leaning back.
They both close their eyes and the station is high and beautiful and open, and Elijah steps towards the train while Sean fights through the crowd. Elijah turns and his mouth moves and no sound can make it over the bellow of flame coming, rushing in.
The noise is incredible as the train rocks past outside and Sean wakes to the bright kitchen and Elijah calmly smoking. “Interesting,” he says, and goes to get the toast.
--
They didn’t ever meet, really, there was no courtship or making acquaintances. There was Elijah, heroic with his little band of traitors, stealing Prescients from a Company building.
The visions could be focussed just towards the future, turned like telescopes, the Company had discovered. Used to reveal secrets and spies. Prescients were asked to contribute their time and services and minds. An act of goodwill, like giving blood. Until you realized you couldn’t leave, and the drugs that induced visions made your eyes swell shut.
Sean knows almost nothing about who else escaped from the Company that day, or even how they did it. He’s pretty sure that’s to keep him safe. If he doesn’t know, there isn’t anything to read from him. If the Company ever finds them, they’ll leave him alone.
Elijah and his accomplices were Empaths, hired to retrieve and interpret the visions. But they couldn’t get the visions without the pain and the exhaustion and the wanting. So the plan was invented, out of compassion and inevitable insanity: smuggle them out, get on a boat to New Colony.
They stole visitor passes and sold everything to pay for tickets. It was perfectly planned.
And after spending two weeks together in a one-person bunk, it was easier to not go separate ways. It was easier for Elijah and Sean to stick together, and share a flat, and it was easier to fall in love with Elijah than anything else had ever been.
--
It is quieter, now, the flames rushing in. He can hear what Elijah says, as he steps onto the train.
“David,” he says,
“Come on! Sean, come on, wake up.” Elijah is poking him in the ribs and laughing. “God, you snore.”
“And you slobber all over.”
“And you’re obnoxious.”
“And it’s too early in the morning for this.”
“Not that early,” Elijah says, rolling over on top of him. “Kind of - mm.” Sean grinds up and runs his hands down Elijah’s back.
“I like you better when you’re not talking,” Sean says, sliding his palm down Elijah’s shorts.
“So do something about it.” Elijah rocks his hips into Sean’s palm.
“I might.” Sean fists his hand in Elijah’s hair and pulls him in, and Elijah smiles against his mouth.
--
Elijah was born in a Government territory, but emigrated to the main Company sector the same time Sean came down from the Northern sectors. It’s not inconceivable that they would have met under different circumstances, and sometimes Sean likes to think about what would have happened if they were born Normal. If they ran into each other in a bookstore or a restaurant. Sean likes to think about Elijah smiling at him, suddenly, eyes bright and hands saying come here. Sean imagines a quiet, more fragile, more frightened version of them, bringing flowers and fighting over who buys dinner.
Sean thinks about these things, and sometimes he mourns for them, but mostly he is happy. Mostly he feels lucky, and tries to imagine this is the best of all possible worlds.
--
“Who is David?” Sean asks, when they are washing dishes.
“David who?” Elijah sounds skeptical, but he sets down the glass he was drying and stares out the window.
“I’m not sure.”
“I only know one David,” Elijah says. “He got Orlando out.”
“What happened to him?”
“He betrayed us.”
“Where is he?”
“Not here,” Elijah says shortly, and starts wiping out a pot.
--
The death of David Wenham is at the New Colony Records Hall, Sean will find. It’s in a Company newsfeed from the week of the escape.
He was in a station (the one where seven fugitives from the Company had just boarded a train headed to the port) when a matchbook in his pocket sparked next to his illegal firearm.
Sean will know this is a lie. Sean will close his eyes, and the flames will spread more slowly this time, and Sean will see Elijah’s eyes, wide and betrayed as the train moves away from the station, and Sean will look down at his hands and find them unfamiliar and holding a detonator. Sean will know that the chaos David created let them all get away, and Sean will not tell Elijah this, because it would be too hard to explain, and too much to risk. Sean will be silent and Elijah will love him and it will be enough.
It will be enough.