Man From UNCLE: Napoleon/Illya: Retirement Home

[periwinkle27]

I have no idea what inspired it as it's terribly angsty. But having thought it all out in my head, I wrote it down.

Title: Promises
Author: Periwinkle
Word count: 666 (hmm...)
Fandom: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Genre: Slash
Prompt: Looking For Retirement Home
Rated: PG
Summary: Illya and Napoleon have a

Comments

[nakeisha]

This is getting daft. I am now on my third attempt to leave a comment - they keep getting eaten!

I see that today is a day for high angst and pain.

Powerful, painful and very believable (and a very fitting word count).

because the back of his neck was prickling, which usually meant he was being watched.

Could this be Illya?

[periwinkle27]

It was meant to signify that he was noticing something was wrong in the hall. Maybe I should reword it?

[nakeisha]

Ah. Oops, sorry.

For me it was the use of the word 'watched' that had me visualising Illya somewhere outside watching him.

Other people might not take it that way.

[periwinkle27]

I reworded it. The story wasn't beta'd.

[vysila]

OMG! Angst indeed, but all too believable. Napoleon does have a tendency to assume things will always work out as he wants, and Illya is a man of his word.

Just, wow. What a stunner of a vignette.

[periwinkle27]

High praise indeed coming from you.

I want to write a follow-up, but I intended to use Vanya, and realized they'd be past that time too. I'll think of something, I'm sure.

Right after I beta 200 pages, finish two stories for zines, print three more zines and move. Oh, and make a quilt. I suppose I should clean at some point too.

Promises

[elizabethhelena]

Ouch! You hurt Napoleon and Illya! You hurt me!

Powerful stuff, and unfortunately very believable with these two characters. However, because I'm a complete wuss these days, I hope that Illya will only torture Napoleon for a while. Please? Pretty please?

Re: Promises

[periwinkle27]

I do plan to write a sequel. I also have to write one for Lunch Salad and finish Madam Director, along with everything else on my plate.

[princessivye]

I usually side with Illya :), but... poor Napoleon! I can definitely see him, going through the house, throwing open doors and drawers, seeking confirmation after confirmation, his mind refusing to grasp that his Russian's gone (and it's his own fault)... painful indeed.
The-Moment-When-You-Realize-It's-Too-Late is one of my favourite subjects.
You know what? This could have been a wonderful answer to the Ultimatum challenge too: How Napoleon Disregarded The Unspoken Ultimatum.

[periwinkle27]

Ir's hard to know who to side with in the story I think. I feel sorry for Illya because Solo is definitely not listening to him, but I wrote it so that Solo is the sympathetic character.

I wrote it for a challenge on ths site in October so it predates ultimatum, but it would have been perfect. I'll have to do a humor one for the challenge

[odindvatre]

Poor Napoleon! And, I guess, poor Illya, too. But how was Napoleon to know that this time Illya was serious? And if Illya got all his stuff moved in just two days, he certainly didn't waste time worrying over the matter. Man, Illya is such a meanie! But I loved the story, and hope to see the sequel soon!

[periwinkle27]

That was partly why I put the line in about Napoleon promising many times before. I was trying to imply that Illya had been simmering and simmering, finally reaching a slow boil and Napoleon had just been oblivious to it -- not because he didn't love Illya, but because he was one of those "you have to hit them on the head with a baseball bat to get their attention" people. To be honest, my sympathies are with Illya. I can just picture him getting more and more upset as Napoleon blithely waves goodbye and walks out the door time after time. And also, for Illya to even have said anything in the first place should have warned Napoleon it was serious as Illya rarely speaks of what he is feeling.