FIC: I'll Be Leaving Soon (Tonight I'm Here) [FNL, Tim/Tyra + Jason, R]
14 Valentines: Reproductive Rights.
Title: I'll Be Leaving Soon (Tonight I'm Here)
Fandom: Friday Night Lights
Pairings: Tim Riggins/Tyra Collete + Jason Street
Rating: R
Spoilers: Through 1x13, "Little Girl, I Wanna Marry You".
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just fooling around.
Summary: in a western town, beneath the northern lights/where the pine trees pine for the fall of night/don't believe in me, did i make that clear? 1200 words.
Dillon was a small town, and so people gossiped. They gossiped, and if you played on the Panthers, or had a daddy who drank, or a sister who ran around with the offensive line, they gossiped about you. If you had a brother who played on the Panthers, and a daddy who disappeared, and a mama who really drank, and then you played on the Panthers and your best friend was paralyzed and you banged his girlfriend while he was still in the hospital, they really gossiped about you.
He'd lived there all his life, and Six had always said, "Geez, Riggs, stop listening to that crap," but they didn't gossip about Six like they gossiped about Tim, and Tim couldn't help it -- it bothered him.
But Street had said that before people had gossiped about how the crippled kid had lost his girlfriend to that Riggins trash, and before people had gossiped about how Street was suing the coach and the team and the school. Tim knew that it was only the coach and the team, because he and Six are trying to be friends again, except that it doesn't work.
That's the thing about gossip in this town -- even when it isn't true, sometimes it gets said and then it can't be taken back. Gossip greases the fucking wheels of Dillon, Texas, and Tim thinks that it's caused more of the trouble that's going on now than the truth ever did.
He ended up with Tyra for a lot of reasons. She was pretty, and she liked to fuck as much as he did, and she took no shit from the rally girls, and Tim liked that in a girl. And Tyra had always seemed like the only person in the whole goddamned town of Dillon, Texas, who didn't listen to a single piece of the gossip that spun out about her.
Tyra was the second person Tim fell in love with, because she took no shit and she spread no lies. What you saw with Tyra Collette was what you got, and in a town where nobody saw past the number on his chest or the patterns that he ran on Friday night, Tim didn't only like that in a girl, but he actually admired it, too.
Not that he ever told Tyra that, and maybe he should have, because now, he didn't hardly have Tyra, and he didn't have Six, and he didn't even have Lyla Garrity, with her expensive clothes and her soft skin. Street had her, because in a town like Dillon, the quarterback gets the girl and the happy ending -- even if it's not the happy ending everybody thought he should get.
The first person that Tim fell in love with was Jason Street, and they were both six years old. Tim wouldn't have a word for how he felt about Street until years later, after college, even, but it was the same way he felt with Tyra -- like all the shit that went with living in Dillon, good and bad alike, couldn't touch him when he was with Six.
Even when Street was six years old, he had big dreams, and he was the first person that Tim ever heard say, "I'm gonna get outta Dillon and do something." Maybe somebody, maybe some friend of his daddy's had said it in Tim's hearing before, probably drunk and definitely talking shit, because nobody Tim ever knew that gotten out of Dillon and done something.
People got outta Dillon, but they didn't do shit.
Tyra's going to get out -- Tim knew that from the first time he kissed her, twisted up underneath the bleachers after practice. She hadn't been waiting for him (everybody knew that Tyra Collette didn't have time for football players, and no matter how many times Tim smiled at her, the same slow smile that'd worked miracles on a million of Street's leftovers, she didn't budge) but she'd been sitting in the bleachers and watching. Tim didn't know many people in Dillon who watched as carefully as Tyra did, except for maybe him -- Tim didn't say much and people wrote his silence off as him being one of those Riggins boys. Really, though, he was watching, and Tim knew a lot more about people than anybody thought he did.
Just because he knew how people worked, how girls worked -- just because he knew the things that they wanted him to say -- didn't mean he was going to play that game or say those things.
Tyra ignored him that afternoon when he ran past after practice, and Tim went back to the locker room and showered and changed before he said anything to her. He didn't think that she'd be there, trigonometry book propped on her lap, gorgeous in the late afternoon sunshine, but she was, and she smiled at him when he leaned on the railing and said, "Hey, Collette."
He didn't have a follow-up, but it hadn't mattered that afternoon, because he'd smiled at her and she'd smiled back, and Tim knew enough to know what that meant.
When he kissed Tyra, Tim tasted freedom. He tasted something that people in Dillon couldn't -- wouldn't -- talk about (because that Riggins boy dating that Collette girl wasn't worth the time it would take most folks in Dillon to say their names), and he knew that Tyra was going to get out.
A girl like Tyra got out of Dillon and never came back, and she didn't take boys like Tim with her.
Guys like Street got out, too, and Tim knew that when Street took his scholarship and his pretty, polished girlfriend, he wasn't going to take Tim with him.
At six, Street was missing three teeth and always had dirt on his knees, and Tim thought he was the coolest kid in the world. Street was cooler than Billy, even, because when somebody knocked Tim down at football practice, Street always gave him a hand up. Billy was okay, for an older brother, but Street was Tim's best friend, and that counted more.
When Tim was six, Street said to him, "I'm gonna be the quarterback on the Panthers, and then I'm gonna go to UT, and then I'm gonna play in the NFL."
When Tim was six, he said, "Cool. Me too. Except I'm gonna be a running back."
Street said, "Cool."
And that was that.
Things were easier when Tim was six. When Tim was six, he still thought that he could get out of Dillon and do something. When Tim was six, the NFL was still something that could happen.
When Tim was 12, he figured out that the NFL wasn't ever gonna happen for him. When Tim was 16, it still looked like it might happen for Street.
When they were 17, the whole thing went to pieces.
Street was going to get out of Dillon, because kids like Street did. Lyla Garrity took him back, despite everything, and Street was going to get out.
Tyra was going to get out because Tyra knew she was going to get out, and nothing could stop that girl if she had her heart set on something.
Tim was going stay in Dillon, and people were going to whisper about that Riggins kid, used to be the Street boy's best friend, and he was going to try to pick up all the pieces, best he could, and not listen to everything they said.
Not listen to anything they said.
*
author's notes: title and summary from the old 97s, "curtain calls". i'm trying to stop myself from writing a million friday night lights stories with old 97s lyrics as titles, and so far it's a losing battle. ash answered my stupid football questions and lanas and j. did beta duty.
this one's for vi, belatedly, for her birthday. lots of love, sweetie. ♥
Title: I'll Be Leaving Soon (Tonight I'm Here)
Fandom: Friday Night Lights
Pairings: Tim Riggins/Tyra Collete + Jason Street
Rating: R
Spoilers: Through 1x13, "Little Girl, I Wanna Marry You".
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just fooling around.
Summary: in a western town, beneath the northern lights/where the pine trees pine for the fall of night/don't believe in me, did i make that clear? 1200 words.
Dillon was a small town, and so people gossiped. They gossiped, and if you played on the Panthers, or had a daddy who drank, or a sister who ran around with the offensive line, they gossiped about you. If you had a brother who played on the Panthers, and a daddy who disappeared, and a mama who really drank, and then you played on the Panthers and your best friend was paralyzed and you banged his girlfriend while he was still in the hospital, they really gossiped about you.
He'd lived there all his life, and Six had always said, "Geez, Riggs, stop listening to that crap," but they didn't gossip about Six like they gossiped about Tim, and Tim couldn't help it -- it bothered him.
But Street had said that before people had gossiped about how the crippled kid had lost his girlfriend to that Riggins trash, and before people had gossiped about how Street was suing the coach and the team and the school. Tim knew that it was only the coach and the team, because he and Six are trying to be friends again, except that it doesn't work.
That's the thing about gossip in this town -- even when it isn't true, sometimes it gets said and then it can't be taken back. Gossip greases the fucking wheels of Dillon, Texas, and Tim thinks that it's caused more of the trouble that's going on now than the truth ever did.
He ended up with Tyra for a lot of reasons. She was pretty, and she liked to fuck as much as he did, and she took no shit from the rally girls, and Tim liked that in a girl. And Tyra had always seemed like the only person in the whole goddamned town of Dillon, Texas, who didn't listen to a single piece of the gossip that spun out about her.
Tyra was the second person Tim fell in love with, because she took no shit and she spread no lies. What you saw with Tyra Collette was what you got, and in a town where nobody saw past the number on his chest or the patterns that he ran on Friday night, Tim didn't only like that in a girl, but he actually admired it, too.
Not that he ever told Tyra that, and maybe he should have, because now, he didn't hardly have Tyra, and he didn't have Six, and he didn't even have Lyla Garrity, with her expensive clothes and her soft skin. Street had her, because in a town like Dillon, the quarterback gets the girl and the happy ending -- even if it's not the happy ending everybody thought he should get.
The first person that Tim fell in love with was Jason Street, and they were both six years old. Tim wouldn't have a word for how he felt about Street until years later, after college, even, but it was the same way he felt with Tyra -- like all the shit that went with living in Dillon, good and bad alike, couldn't touch him when he was with Six.
Even when Street was six years old, he had big dreams, and he was the first person that Tim ever heard say, "I'm gonna get outta Dillon and do something." Maybe somebody, maybe some friend of his daddy's had said it in Tim's hearing before, probably drunk and definitely talking shit, because nobody Tim ever knew that gotten out of Dillon and done something.
People got outta Dillon, but they didn't do shit.
Tyra's going to get out -- Tim knew that from the first time he kissed her, twisted up underneath the bleachers after practice. She hadn't been waiting for him (everybody knew that Tyra Collette didn't have time for football players, and no matter how many times Tim smiled at her, the same slow smile that'd worked miracles on a million of Street's leftovers, she didn't budge) but she'd been sitting in the bleachers and watching. Tim didn't know many people in Dillon who watched as carefully as Tyra did, except for maybe him -- Tim didn't say much and people wrote his silence off as him being one of those Riggins boys. Really, though, he was watching, and Tim knew a lot more about people than anybody thought he did.
Just because he knew how people worked, how girls worked -- just because he knew the things that they wanted him to say -- didn't mean he was going to play that game or say those things.
Tyra ignored him that afternoon when he ran past after practice, and Tim went back to the locker room and showered and changed before he said anything to her. He didn't think that she'd be there, trigonometry book propped on her lap, gorgeous in the late afternoon sunshine, but she was, and she smiled at him when he leaned on the railing and said, "Hey, Collette."
He didn't have a follow-up, but it hadn't mattered that afternoon, because he'd smiled at her and she'd smiled back, and Tim knew enough to know what that meant.
When he kissed Tyra, Tim tasted freedom. He tasted something that people in Dillon couldn't -- wouldn't -- talk about (because that Riggins boy dating that Collette girl wasn't worth the time it would take most folks in Dillon to say their names), and he knew that Tyra was going to get out.
A girl like Tyra got out of Dillon and never came back, and she didn't take boys like Tim with her.
Guys like Street got out, too, and Tim knew that when Street took his scholarship and his pretty, polished girlfriend, he wasn't going to take Tim with him.
At six, Street was missing three teeth and always had dirt on his knees, and Tim thought he was the coolest kid in the world. Street was cooler than Billy, even, because when somebody knocked Tim down at football practice, Street always gave him a hand up. Billy was okay, for an older brother, but Street was Tim's best friend, and that counted more.
When Tim was six, Street said to him, "I'm gonna be the quarterback on the Panthers, and then I'm gonna go to UT, and then I'm gonna play in the NFL."
When Tim was six, he said, "Cool. Me too. Except I'm gonna be a running back."
Street said, "Cool."
And that was that.
Things were easier when Tim was six. When Tim was six, he still thought that he could get out of Dillon and do something. When Tim was six, the NFL was still something that could happen.
When Tim was 12, he figured out that the NFL wasn't ever gonna happen for him. When Tim was 16, it still looked like it might happen for Street.
When they were 17, the whole thing went to pieces.
Street was going to get out of Dillon, because kids like Street did. Lyla Garrity took him back, despite everything, and Street was going to get out.
Tyra was going to get out because Tyra knew she was going to get out, and nothing could stop that girl if she had her heart set on something.
Tim was going stay in Dillon, and people were going to whisper about that Riggins kid, used to be the Street boy's best friend, and he was going to try to pick up all the pieces, best he could, and not listen to everything they said.
Not listen to anything they said.
*
author's notes: title and summary from the old 97s, "curtain calls". i'm trying to stop myself from writing a million friday night lights stories with old 97s lyrics as titles, and so far it's a losing battle. ash answered my stupid football questions and lanas and j. did beta duty.
this one's for vi, belatedly, for her birthday. lots of love, sweetie. ♥