Torchwood ficlet: Open Water
Title: Open Water
Author: rustydog
Characters: Owen, Diane
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 1x10 Out of Time
Words: 200
Summary: Love is a sink-or-swim proposition.
Owen did not set foot in the waters of love. Some might call what he did "wading," but whether the water was shallow or he stayed on shore, he could see his feet at all times. Sex was a series of steps calculated to yield him (and, ideally, his partner) a number of benefits: pleasure, distraction, a challenge, sometimes pain-momentary swells in the doldrums of existence. And it all took place firmly, safely on the ground.
But not with Diane. With Diane, it hadn't even been about sex. Well-no, that would be a lie, but when he had looked at her, he had seen the whole world, of which sex happened to be an extremely nice part. For Diane, he had dived in to deep water without a thought. And when he surfaced and opened his eyes, there he was with nothing to stand on, nothing to grasp. No control. Just treading open water and reaching for her. This kind of fear was new.
She had said good sex was like flying. As he watched her plane disappear into the first cloud, he knew that love-love was like drowning. He let himself go and began to sink.
Author: rustydog
Characters: Owen, Diane
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 1x10 Out of Time
Words: 200
Summary: Love is a sink-or-swim proposition.
Owen did not set foot in the waters of love. Some might call what he did "wading," but whether the water was shallow or he stayed on shore, he could see his feet at all times. Sex was a series of steps calculated to yield him (and, ideally, his partner) a number of benefits: pleasure, distraction, a challenge, sometimes pain-momentary swells in the doldrums of existence. And it all took place firmly, safely on the ground.
But not with Diane. With Diane, it hadn't even been about sex. Well-no, that would be a lie, but when he had looked at her, he had seen the whole world, of which sex happened to be an extremely nice part. For Diane, he had dived in to deep water without a thought. And when he surfaced and opened his eyes, there he was with nothing to stand on, nothing to grasp. No control. Just treading open water and reaching for her. This kind of fear was new.
She had said good sex was like flying. As he watched her plane disappear into the first cloud, he knew that love-love was like drowning. He let himself go and began to sink.