Post by infinite on Apr 26, 2011 12:19:59 GMT 10
Title: Nothing Takes the Place of You (Part Two)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 299
Pairing: Gary/Raoul – Team Moustache Curtains
Round/Fight: 2/C
Summary: Raoul is at war, Gary is at home.
Author’s Note: This fic was prompted by this song of the same name, by Toussaint McCall.
Raoul is grateful that Gary isn’t here. That he’s at home, happy and safe. Raoul never worries about Gary being hurt or killed, and the knowledge that he has to see Gary again keeps Raoul from being hurt or killed. Raoul reads the letters, though delivery days are few and far between, and he’s sure he’s missing some. He keeps them in his pack, hidden between his spare uniforms. Averse to sharing even the sight of the envelopes with anyone else, he reads them in the few private moments he can wrangle. Gary tells Raoul about Jon, Cythera, his children, his life. Raoul tells Gary about his men: who shows promise, who’s wounded, who he found crying behind the barracks last week. He transposes his own correspondence for that of his soldiers, unwilling to burden Gary with his own experience; unwilling to burden himself with that responsibility. Gary is a small part of his life, now. Out here, the comfort and delicacy of the court seems illusory, almost mythical; a mockery and a paradise. A totem for contempt and longing. Raoul is more alone than Gary is. His men have become his family, but he misses physical intimacy and the familiarity of long communion. He talks to Alanna when he sees her, but she’s too like him: tainted by violence. They laugh and trade war stories, but they have too much in common. Gary is a point of departure, a place of refuge. Raoul dictates reports, knowing Gary will read some of them. He wonders whether the cool, matter-of-fact descriptions; numbers; estimates; annotations; colour-coded arrows; death tolls; logistical figures, ever communicate the truth of his experience. Out here, he’s shrouded; by distance of space and perception, by purposeful obfuscation. But when Raoul returns to Gary, there are no hiding places.
QC by: journeycat
Rating: PG
Word Count: 299
Pairing: Gary/Raoul – Team Moustache Curtains
Round/Fight: 2/C
Summary: Raoul is at war, Gary is at home.
Author’s Note: This fic was prompted by this song of the same name, by Toussaint McCall.
Raoul is grateful that Gary isn’t here. That he’s at home, happy and safe. Raoul never worries about Gary being hurt or killed, and the knowledge that he has to see Gary again keeps Raoul from being hurt or killed. Raoul reads the letters, though delivery days are few and far between, and he’s sure he’s missing some. He keeps them in his pack, hidden between his spare uniforms. Averse to sharing even the sight of the envelopes with anyone else, he reads them in the few private moments he can wrangle. Gary tells Raoul about Jon, Cythera, his children, his life. Raoul tells Gary about his men: who shows promise, who’s wounded, who he found crying behind the barracks last week. He transposes his own correspondence for that of his soldiers, unwilling to burden Gary with his own experience; unwilling to burden himself with that responsibility. Gary is a small part of his life, now. Out here, the comfort and delicacy of the court seems illusory, almost mythical; a mockery and a paradise. A totem for contempt and longing. Raoul is more alone than Gary is. His men have become his family, but he misses physical intimacy and the familiarity of long communion. He talks to Alanna when he sees her, but she’s too like him: tainted by violence. They laugh and trade war stories, but they have too much in common. Gary is a point of departure, a place of refuge. Raoul dictates reports, knowing Gary will read some of them. He wonders whether the cool, matter-of-fact descriptions; numbers; estimates; annotations; colour-coded arrows; death tolls; logistical figures, ever communicate the truth of his experience. Out here, he’s shrouded; by distance of space and perception, by purposeful obfuscation. But when Raoul returns to Gary, there are no hiding places.
QC by: journeycat