FIC: Leaves of Willow and of Adder's Tongue

[angevin2]

Title: Leaves of Willow and of Adder's Tongue
Author: angevin2
Play: Richard II
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Richard/Aumerle
Rating: R
Word Count: 2206
Warnings: Terribly-negotiated, bordering on dubious, consent.
Summary: Edward is buzzed. Richard is depressed. And then they done sex. With angst. And Keatsy undertones.
Notes: Dedicated to speak_me_fair, grande dame of

Comments

[speak_me_fair]

I love this. I love every little shard of it, from the Keats references to the communication failure to the fact that just sometimes Edward can get it right, through all the brittle strange humour and the endless ways in which they can break each other and be damaged without ever having to be near each other, and still, somehow, keep on living.

I see it all clearly and it's going to be my doom and I still don't care - because you're Richard and I love you and I will make that enough for me. God, you captured what's best in Edward and brought it to life here so vividly that it hurts!

I am absolutely honoured that this fic, which should have been so dodgy and comes closer to being a paean of all I love in Aumerle, gets a dedication to me!

[angevin2]

Thank you so much! I dedicated it to you because I don't think I'd have written it at all if it weren't for your lovely Aumerle fics causing me to reconceptualize how I saw him.

And also because you give terrifically awesome feedback. :D

[lareinenoire]

This is such a painful, evocative fic -- Edward's perspective is so clearly delineated and so at odds with Richard's own perception of himself. They keep missing each other just barely, even when Edward is actually getting it right!

Love all the Keats references, and Dante, and by the way have I mentioned how hot this is, because, well, there you go. :)

[angevin2]

and so at odds with Richard's own perception of himself.

It really is, isn't it? Writing this helped to clarify that a great deal. (Now I am going to have to write Richard/Aumerle from Richard's POV, sometime.)

Also I am glad it is hot. This is the most explicit sex I've written and I worried constantly it wouldn't work.

[gileonnen]

I think you can throw that worry straight out the window.

[angevin2]

EXCELLENT. :D

[gileonnen]

Despite the poor negotiation during--I can't help but think that they made up for it with surprisingly honest negotiation afterward. The terms of their relationship have been set and agreed upon, and if they're unequal, at least they're mutual.

[angevin2]

You can ask speak_me_fair about this -- when I was writing the ending I did a lot of "OMG HAS IT GOTTEN TOO SAPPY" wibbling, and she assured me, no, it is fine, it is all mediated by the bleakness.

But, yeah. It is a terribly fucked-up relationship, but they are terribly fucked-up people and know it.