Now when I look at the clouds across the moon...

[creator_man]

WHO: Flynn and legacyguardian
WHEN: Very shortly after this thread (yes, backdated)
WHAT: Reunion
WHERE: The Grid copy of Flynn's Arcade
WARNINGS: There shouldn't be any. Other than some ouch veering towards angst.

Comments

[legacyguardian]

Alan jerked upright, first at the sound of another voice in the echoingly empty space, then at the realization of whose voice it was. A voice he hadn't heard, live, in... twenty years. A voice some part of him never expected to hear again, and now that he heard it he couldn't believe it was real. Not completely.

Not till he turned around slow and careful in case it really was a dream and this brought him to wake up, or turned it into a nightmare. Everything about this was surreal enough that it could have been. Discovering Flynn's hidden laboratory (why hadn't he found it all those years ago? Why hadn't he looked harder?) Discovering all the work Flynn had put into this world (why hadn't he asked or pressed harder?) and what it looked like on the inside. Coping with the implications of Flynn's research and what he'd discovered, never mind what Flynn had been talking about at the end, because this couldn't have been that mystery he'd cracked, not when he'd built all this up over time

[creator_man]

That... he... Flynn had to blink and swallow for a moment - even as he was moving closer to his friend, eyes drinking in the changes that time had brought in him.

Not that much in face. Plenty of silver in his hair - it looked more silvery-white than anything else. More stylish glasses, he'd probably tease him about them some day. A very slight hunch to his frame, more growing-delicate of bones under the clothing than anything else.

The same tremble in the dry voice that Flynn had felt in his own. "Alan." It was barely more than a breath out, by now, all he could muster, but then he was close enough, he was hugging his friend, for the first time after so, so very long, and louder wasn't really necessary, right?

[legacyguardian]

Whatever fears he might have had about this being a dream were dispelled by the rib-crushing hug he got from the other man. Who was still his friend, yes, he sounded like him if older, more deep-voiced, more gravel and emotion. Looked like him, except for the beard and the gray, the long gray locks that still had some color to them. Just a bit.

"Kevin..." He wanted to ask so, so many things. Or say some other things. And nothing came out, because where did he even begin? Where had he been was kind of obvious, why hadn't he come back? Something must have happened, so, what happened? Had he seen Sam? Was this why Sam was all of a sudden so driven? What about that page? It didn't matter, none of it mattered. His fingers curled in Flynn's shirt and held tight. Alan hadn't realized how much he'd missed him, had only thought he knew how much he'd missed him, how much it hurt that he didn't expect to see him again until... he was here.

[creator_man]

All right, yes, talking could wait for a bit, since feeling Alan's grip into his shirt just reinforced Flynn's own unwillingness to let go for a while. And by the time he did, he was blinking too quickly, his hands coming up to his friend's shoulders, gripping tightly.

"I..." Of course, his next sentence started with I. Naturally. "I talked with... Tron." Flicker of a twitch at the corners of his mouth. What with the nickname and all, it had been so, so very long ago, and his breath was shaking as he took it in. "Oh, man, it's been way too long!"