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edenfallingI've been having fun working on these ficlets. I decided to be organized about this round, instead of pulling a structure out of thin air halfway through like I did with "Fixation, and Other Stories," so all the pieces of "The Transient and the Eternal" do fit together in a single timeline. (That is, in fact, more or less the point.) I have 10 pieces finished, 4 partially written, and all the rest at least sketched in vague outline.
Considering most of the pieces are over 1,000 words long, this is fast work for me! I think it's new fandom rush, and I'm riding it as long as I can.
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Theme: #17 - Fever
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: Pre-manga, shortly after Setsuna and Sara's parents got divorced.
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The Transient and the Eternal: Fever
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Setsuna couldn't remember ever seeing Kira drunk, no matter how many shots or beers he put away. His sempai got a little more careful about his movements, a little more precise in his speech, but he never lost control of his body or his tongue, and he could go from mellow to stone cold sober in half a second. He'd won a lot of fights with that trick.
"Th' hell're you starin' at, 'tsuna?"
"You," Setsuna said, giving up and letting Kira into the house before his sempai either fell down or got back onto his motorcycle -- it was a miracle he'd driven here without crashing and killing someone.
"Never seen a drunk man?" Kira asked, pushing into the kitchen and dropping into a chair at the breakfast table. "Swear I taught you better 'n that."
"I've seen more drunk people than I ever wanted to see. I've just never seen you drunk." Setsuna pulled the bottle of vodka out of his sempai's jacket pocket, hiding it in a cupboard before Kira could remember it. He stole Kira's lighter too, for good measure, and then sat down across the table. "Are you okay? Did your father die or something?"
"Nah, th' ol' man's fine, 's always fine," Kira said, waving his hand expansively. "I jus'... 's about def'nitions, see? 'S what you tell your body. I never get sick, you know? Guess gettin' drunk's like gettin' sick, messes shit up, all th' chemicals go sloshin' around. Can't get more 'n mellow -- never get hangovers, either, so it works out, yeah? But I said, I told myself, drunk ain't sick. Don't mess wi' th' liquor. Let it burn."
"Right," Setsuna agreed. He knew how strong Kira was, and he'd seen hints of cold, vicious anger lurking behind his friend's eyes now and then. He didn't want to risk tipping a chatty drunk into a mean one.
"Knew you'd understand, 'tsuna. Wouldn't tell this t' anyone but you, an' maybe Sara. But she'd get mad, kick me out, and your mom's a fuckin' bitch, never even lets me leave a message on th' phone. You always get fuckin' awful lives, but sometimes your parents're okay. Guess this time around your mom's compensatin' for Sara or somethin'."
"Sure, Kira-sempai. Would you like some water, or something to eat?" Anything but more alcohol. As it was, Setsuna had a sinking certainty that Kira would end up crashing on the couch, and he'd have to explain things to his father in the morning. Dad wasn't as bad as Mom, but neither of them thought he should associate with Kira -- "He's a thug," Dad had said once, "and he'll only drag you down with him." For once Mom had agreed with him completely. They didn't even care that Kira's help was the only thing keeping him in the top tenth of his class.
"Not water. Fire," Kira said, leaning forward and slamming a hand on the table for emphasis. "'S about control. Or free association, something like that. There's shit I wanna remember, an' I can't get at it when I'm in control." His hand flashed forward, too fast for Setsuna to react, and rested on Setsuna's head. Kira's fingers felt like steel bars against Setsuna's scalp... and then they slid away, ruffling his hair.
"You believe in past lives, Setsuna?"
Setsuna shrugged. "Yeah, more or less. Why?"
Kira grinned. "Your mom must hate that -- you suck as a Christian. I have a past life I wanna remember -- I can feel it, tip 'f my tongue -- but I can't get at it. There's a wall in the way, and I can't break it down. I wanted t' see if I could get around it. But it's no good. All I got was fire."
"If you were drinking straight vodka, I'm not surprised you thought you were burning," Setsuna said, making a face. "And you call me an idiot -- if you want to find a past life, I'd try hypnotism. It's safer."
"Hypnotism's a pile 'f shit, and that's not what I meant by fire," Kira said, pulling out a cigarette. He patted his other pockets, searching for his lighter. "Damn, where'd I put it?"
Setsuna tried to gague Kira's intoxication. He already sounded better than when he'd arrived -- that eerie instant sobriety effect -- and his movements were edging toward control instead of that unnerving looseness. Well, if the house burned down and killed them both, at least his own desires wouldn't put Sara at risk anymore.
"Here," Setsuna said, flicking the lighter open and holding it up.
Kira reached forward with his cigarette, and then stopped, staring at the tiny flame. "Damn. Fire. What am I not remembering? It's fuckin' important, has to be, or it wouldn't bother me this much. Fire an' water an' earth an' air, and a long time falling..."
"Kira-sempai?" Setsuna lifted his thumb, cutting off the flame. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Kira blinked and seemed to come back to himself. "Maybe not. I dunno. I saw a house fire this afternoon, watched the whole building collapse in on itself, and I thought 'That ought to mean something,' only I couldn't remember what it was supposed to mean. An' everyone's off on vacation this week, except Kato, but he's stoned out of what passes for his mind and won't talk to me, and I didn't want to bother you..."
"So you decided to give yourself alcohol poisoning instead?" Setsuna finished. "People die drinking what it takes to make you tipsy -- I don't even want to know how much you had to drink to get smashed." He threw the lighter at Kira, who caught it one-handed. "You can always come to me. That's what friends are for."
Kira shrugged and lit his cigarette. "Yeah, in retrospect, it was stupid. But you've been sulking like a damp cat all week, so I didn't think you'd be in the mood to listen. Did things go sour again with Sara and your mom?"
"When are they not sour?" Setsuna asked, resting his elbows on the table and digging his hands into his hair. "Mom hates me, and sometimes I think Sara agrees with her. All she does since the divorce is yell at me."
"That's because she's a teenage girl," Kira said with the air of a sage dispensing heavenly wisdom. "They're always angry about little things, and they want you to read their minds to figure out what you did wrong. Just apologize and she'll be happy."
Setsuna glared at his sempai. "Sara's my sister, not my girlfriend!" No matter how much he wished it were the other way around.
Kira rolled his eyes. "Same difference. Girls never explain anything; your relationship to them has nothing to do with it. Look, I know you agreed to meet her only once a month -- have I mentioned lately that your mother's a bitch? -- but we'll cut the last couple classes tomorrow and catch her as she leaves school. It'll be good for you both."
"We're not going out drinking," Setsuna said, but the act of setting conditions meant he'd already agreed.
Kira smiled, accepting the capitulation with regal grace. Then he patted his jacket pockets again. "I swear I had some more liquor I hadn't drunk yet. You're probably right that I should lay off for the rest of the night, but you could use some relaxation..."
Setsuna buried his face in his hands and moaned.
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End
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Cross-posted here on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
thirtyforthree.
Considering most of the pieces are over 1,000 words long, this is fast work for me! I think it's new fandom rush, and I'm riding it as long as I can.
---------------------------------------------
Theme: #17 - Fever
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: Pre-manga, shortly after Setsuna and Sara's parents got divorced.
---------------------------------------------
The Transient and the Eternal: Fever
---------------------------------------------
Setsuna couldn't remember ever seeing Kira drunk, no matter how many shots or beers he put away. His sempai got a little more careful about his movements, a little more precise in his speech, but he never lost control of his body or his tongue, and he could go from mellow to stone cold sober in half a second. He'd won a lot of fights with that trick.
"Th' hell're you starin' at, 'tsuna?"
"You," Setsuna said, giving up and letting Kira into the house before his sempai either fell down or got back onto his motorcycle -- it was a miracle he'd driven here without crashing and killing someone.
"Never seen a drunk man?" Kira asked, pushing into the kitchen and dropping into a chair at the breakfast table. "Swear I taught you better 'n that."
"I've seen more drunk people than I ever wanted to see. I've just never seen you drunk." Setsuna pulled the bottle of vodka out of his sempai's jacket pocket, hiding it in a cupboard before Kira could remember it. He stole Kira's lighter too, for good measure, and then sat down across the table. "Are you okay? Did your father die or something?"
"Nah, th' ol' man's fine, 's always fine," Kira said, waving his hand expansively. "I jus'... 's about def'nitions, see? 'S what you tell your body. I never get sick, you know? Guess gettin' drunk's like gettin' sick, messes shit up, all th' chemicals go sloshin' around. Can't get more 'n mellow -- never get hangovers, either, so it works out, yeah? But I said, I told myself, drunk ain't sick. Don't mess wi' th' liquor. Let it burn."
"Right," Setsuna agreed. He knew how strong Kira was, and he'd seen hints of cold, vicious anger lurking behind his friend's eyes now and then. He didn't want to risk tipping a chatty drunk into a mean one.
"Knew you'd understand, 'tsuna. Wouldn't tell this t' anyone but you, an' maybe Sara. But she'd get mad, kick me out, and your mom's a fuckin' bitch, never even lets me leave a message on th' phone. You always get fuckin' awful lives, but sometimes your parents're okay. Guess this time around your mom's compensatin' for Sara or somethin'."
"Sure, Kira-sempai. Would you like some water, or something to eat?" Anything but more alcohol. As it was, Setsuna had a sinking certainty that Kira would end up crashing on the couch, and he'd have to explain things to his father in the morning. Dad wasn't as bad as Mom, but neither of them thought he should associate with Kira -- "He's a thug," Dad had said once, "and he'll only drag you down with him." For once Mom had agreed with him completely. They didn't even care that Kira's help was the only thing keeping him in the top tenth of his class.
"Not water. Fire," Kira said, leaning forward and slamming a hand on the table for emphasis. "'S about control. Or free association, something like that. There's shit I wanna remember, an' I can't get at it when I'm in control." His hand flashed forward, too fast for Setsuna to react, and rested on Setsuna's head. Kira's fingers felt like steel bars against Setsuna's scalp... and then they slid away, ruffling his hair.
"You believe in past lives, Setsuna?"
Setsuna shrugged. "Yeah, more or less. Why?"
Kira grinned. "Your mom must hate that -- you suck as a Christian. I have a past life I wanna remember -- I can feel it, tip 'f my tongue -- but I can't get at it. There's a wall in the way, and I can't break it down. I wanted t' see if I could get around it. But it's no good. All I got was fire."
"If you were drinking straight vodka, I'm not surprised you thought you were burning," Setsuna said, making a face. "And you call me an idiot -- if you want to find a past life, I'd try hypnotism. It's safer."
"Hypnotism's a pile 'f shit, and that's not what I meant by fire," Kira said, pulling out a cigarette. He patted his other pockets, searching for his lighter. "Damn, where'd I put it?"
Setsuna tried to gague Kira's intoxication. He already sounded better than when he'd arrived -- that eerie instant sobriety effect -- and his movements were edging toward control instead of that unnerving looseness. Well, if the house burned down and killed them both, at least his own desires wouldn't put Sara at risk anymore.
"Here," Setsuna said, flicking the lighter open and holding it up.
Kira reached forward with his cigarette, and then stopped, staring at the tiny flame. "Damn. Fire. What am I not remembering? It's fuckin' important, has to be, or it wouldn't bother me this much. Fire an' water an' earth an' air, and a long time falling..."
"Kira-sempai?" Setsuna lifted his thumb, cutting off the flame. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Kira blinked and seemed to come back to himself. "Maybe not. I dunno. I saw a house fire this afternoon, watched the whole building collapse in on itself, and I thought 'That ought to mean something,' only I couldn't remember what it was supposed to mean. An' everyone's off on vacation this week, except Kato, but he's stoned out of what passes for his mind and won't talk to me, and I didn't want to bother you..."
"So you decided to give yourself alcohol poisoning instead?" Setsuna finished. "People die drinking what it takes to make you tipsy -- I don't even want to know how much you had to drink to get smashed." He threw the lighter at Kira, who caught it one-handed. "You can always come to me. That's what friends are for."
Kira shrugged and lit his cigarette. "Yeah, in retrospect, it was stupid. But you've been sulking like a damp cat all week, so I didn't think you'd be in the mood to listen. Did things go sour again with Sara and your mom?"
"When are they not sour?" Setsuna asked, resting his elbows on the table and digging his hands into his hair. "Mom hates me, and sometimes I think Sara agrees with her. All she does since the divorce is yell at me."
"That's because she's a teenage girl," Kira said with the air of a sage dispensing heavenly wisdom. "They're always angry about little things, and they want you to read their minds to figure out what you did wrong. Just apologize and she'll be happy."
Setsuna glared at his sempai. "Sara's my sister, not my girlfriend!" No matter how much he wished it were the other way around.
Kira rolled his eyes. "Same difference. Girls never explain anything; your relationship to them has nothing to do with it. Look, I know you agreed to meet her only once a month -- have I mentioned lately that your mother's a bitch? -- but we'll cut the last couple classes tomorrow and catch her as she leaves school. It'll be good for you both."
"We're not going out drinking," Setsuna said, but the act of setting conditions meant he'd already agreed.
Kira smiled, accepting the capitulation with regal grace. Then he patted his jacket pockets again. "I swear I had some more liquor I hadn't drunk yet. You're probably right that I should lay off for the rest of the night, but you could use some relaxation..."
Setsuna buried his face in his hands and moaned.
---------------------------------------------
End
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Cross-posted here on
thirtyforthree.