yes brain, you can has (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astro_noms) wrote2010-11-17 10:11 pm
astro_noms) wrote2010-11-17 10:11 pm
whoever I was is now lost
So I basically have no willpower, so I downloaded the Danger Days leak, and have been listening to it since last night. Before that, I listened to Marilyn Manson's High End of Low, which is kind of my default for apocalypse-y stuff. And since I'm writing Atomic Vaudeville this month, both canon and AUs, both of those, along with Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns, are the perfect soundtrack. Throw in some Kills, Dead Weather, Black Angels, and Tom McRae, among others, and you've got my current writing playlist.
Anyway, I've been writing the Dustverse AU, and there hasn't been much progression, time-wise, since it's basically the morning after the scene in the previous snippet, but at least I got them both naked and there's actual sexytiems type stuff happening. The whole thing is basically PWP, so there's not much. And then this morning, after Marilyn Manson's "Into the Fire" started playing on the iPod, my brain demanded that I go back to the Batman AU and write some of that. So, this was gonna be a snippet, but, uh, whoops?
Title: "Into the Fire"
Word count: 1,914
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Titus/Oliver
Warnings: people doing stupid things in the name of love
Summary: Batman AU. Alex is Batwoman. Dave is Alfred. David is Lucius Fox. The Daves are totally boyfriends. Oliver is a cross between Batgirl and Lucius Fox. He got shot by this universe's Joker (Henry) a while back, and Alex used a Lazarus Pit to heal him. Titus is basically Jason Todd. He had a run-in with Henry and his crowbar just prior to this, only he didn't die, just ended up in a coma. Just... roll with it.
Into the Fire
The beeping of the monitors is slowly driving Oliver crazy, so he reaches up and flips the switch to silence them. Dave gives him a curious glance, and Oliver shrugs as he sinks back into his chair.
"Are you going to be all right?" Dave asks quietly, straightening up from fixing Titus' pillow. "I could stay, if you need company."
"No," Oliver shakes his head. "You've been here for days, you need a break. Go on, we'll be fine." He tries to arrange his face into something he hopes Dave will interpret as reassuring, and judging by the strange look on Dave's face, he's failing miserably. "Seriously, Dave," he says, sitting up from his slouch. "I'll call if I need you."
Dave looks at him for a long while, then nods. "All right," he says. "But if I find out you needed me and didn't call..."
"I promise, I will," Oliver holds up a hand, boy scout oath-style. "Now go. David's waiting."
Dave smiles a sudden and spontaneous smile, and doesn't bother to repress it. "Have a good night, Oliver."
"You too," Dave is already on his way out of the room, and then Oliver is alone in the room, with only the hiss of the respirator and the various other machine noises. He spends a while listening to the machine, regular and unchanging, and gets up out of his chair to walk over to the bed and sits on the edge, taking Titus' hand.
"The doctors say that you can hear everything we say," he says quietly. "Which makes me wonder why you haven't woken up yet, since I've been asking you to for the last two weeks." He squeezes Titus' hand and sighs. "Please, Titus. Come back to me. I miss you."
The machines start beeping suddenly, a shrill and unpleasant sound, and Oliver looks up, startled. The monitors are flashing in alarm, and Oliver looks from one to another, not quite sure what to do. Titus goes into convulsions and Oliver shoots to his feet, lunging across the room for the phone. He'd sent the nurse home, despite Dave's protests, because the doctors had said Titus was improving, and Oliver wanted to give her a night off. It's up to him to get Titus some help.
Hands shaking, Oliver drops the phone and it goes sliding across the floor. He swears and gets to his knees to find the phone. When he gets up and starts dialing, it takes him five digits into the number to realize that the alarms have ceased and the only sound is the piercing unbroken sound of a heart rate monitor showing a flatline. He stands there, staring at the scene in front of him, phone forgotten in his hand. Titus' chest is still moving as the respirator breathes for him, but there is no other activity on any of the monitors.
The phone falls to the floor as Oliver's hand goes limp, and he staggers to the bed, grabbing onto Titus' hand, shaking him.
"Titus! Wake up!" He shakes Titus so hard the tape holding the tubes to Titus' face comes loose with a tearing sound. "Don't do this to me, Titus. Please." His voice trails off on the last word, and he slides to the floor, leaning his forehead against Titus' hand. "Please..."
He's not sure how much time passes before he looks up, suddenly aware of the shrill sound of the heart rate monitor. He gets to his feet and turns off the machines one by one, leaving the respirator for the last. Once that's done, he turns to Titus, and slowly unhooks all the tubes and machines. It take a bit of an effort to remove the breathing tube, and Oliver winces at the horrible sucking sound it makes as it slides out of Titus' throat. Gently, he cleans the traces of adhesive from Titus' face, then pulls the covers back.
Titus is thin, unhealthily so, and he weighs less than Oliver expects, so picking him up out of the bed is easy. Oliver cradles Titus as best as he can and carries him out of the bedroom, heading for the library at the end of the hallway and the elevator hidden behind the bookshelf. The fluorescent light in the elevator makes the contrast between Titus' dark hair and unhealthy pallor even greater. Titus' head lolls against Oliver's shoulder and Oliver closes his eyes and leans his head against the wall. What he's about to do is drastic, and dangerous, and foolhardy, and he knows that if Alex or Dave or anyone else were around, they'd try to stop him.
The elevator doors slide open, and Oliver straightens up, lips pressed together in a tight line. Alex did for him what he's about to do to Titus, and he turned out all right, so there's no reason to think it won't be the same with Titus, he tells himself. He forces the niggling doubts to the back of his mind and steps out of the elevator.
The pit is all the way at the back of the cave, colors playing across its surface like an oilslick. Oliver lays Titus on the floor at the edge of it, and kneels beside him.
"I don't know if you'll be glad I did this, or if you'll hate me for it," he says, brushing Titus' hair from his forehead. "But I can't just let you go. Not like this. We've got unfinished business, you and I, and I'm gonna make sure you're here to see it through."
The setup Alex used to lower him in is still there, hanging above the pit, and Oliver grabs the control remote for the winch the plank is attached to. It lands beside him with a clatter and he moves Titus to it. Leaning down to press a kiss to Titus' lips, he forces himself not to think about how cold Titus' skin is.
"I'll see you in a bit, OK? Please?" He gets to his feet and starts to raise the plank. The chains rattle as the mechanism pulls the platform up and out over the pit. There's a screeching noise as the winch shudders to a stop, too close to the edge for Oliver to be able to lower Titus in. Oliver curses, hitting the reverse button on the remote. The winch is stuck, metal grinds against metal as the motor tries to make it move, and Oliver stops it before it burns out. There's a catwalk high above the pit, just above the rail the winch runs on, with a ladder running up to it. Oliver glances up at the swinging platform with Titus on it, and starts the climb up the ladder.
The catwalk is narrow and rickety, and Oliver moves slowly. He makes it to the winch and ends up lying on the catwalk, hanging half off it to reach the motor. There's a slipped belt that takes a little doing to slip back into place, but once it's done, he's pretty sure he can get it to run. He takes out the remote control and starts the motor up again at half speed, just in case. It runs smoothly, taking Titus down, and Oliver heads for the ladder.
He's halfway down when he glances back at the platform and sees it's almost at the surface of the pit. He's got a moment of doubt, and starts to reach for the remote in his pocket, but pulls his hand back at the last minute. There's nothing else he can do, not unless he's willing to give Titus up entirely. Which he's definitely not willing to do. He reaches the ground just as the platform is sinking below the surface, and he slides to his knees at the edge of pit, watching and waiting.
It's not long before pit starts to bubble, and Oliver's attention is focused entirely on where the chain disappears below the surface. He's seen the tapes from when Alex used the pit to heal him, but he's got no reason to expect that this time will be the same. Whatever happens, he hopes it will give Titus back to him.
The whole pit is bubbling now, and when a few drops hit Oliver's skin, they're hot enough to scald. When Oliver yanks his hand back, it's just in time, because the moment he does, the surface of the pit bursts into flames.
"Titus!" Oliver tries to get closer to the edge of the pit, but the heat is so intense he has no choice but to back away. He's looking around for a fire extinguisher when Titus surfaces, gasping for air and flailing wildly. Oliver stares, wide-eyed, as Titus walks out of the pit, his clothes untouched by the flames all around him. As he gets closer, Oliver can feel the heat from the fire getting more intense as well, and he scrabbles away from Titus, holding up a hand to shield his face. Titus keeps coming, and Oliver can feel his hand blistering, the heat spreading all over his body in a way that doesn't feel even remotely pleasant.
"Titus, stop, please," he manages to get out between gritted teeth, and Titus pauses, looking around, then down at Oliver. His eyes widen and he reaches out to Oliver, and the flames around him spread out and grow higher. Oliver flinches back from the flames and Titus pulls his hand back.
He opens his mouth, silently mouthing Oliver's name, then looks around, frowning at the flames all around them. When he reaches out to Oliver again, the flames recede, and Oliver breathes a little easier.
"Titus? Are you—" he trails off, because really, what can he ask that won't sound utterly ridiculous? Clearly, Titus isn't all right. And it's all his fault. "Hey," Oliver reaches out to Titus with his uninjured hand. "Come here," he says, and Titus takes a shaky step toward him. The flames immediately around him die down almost completely, but the ones further out spread, engulfing most of the cave, including the path to the elevator and to the stairs. As far as Oliver can see, they're trapped.
Titus staggers toward Oliver, reaching out for Oliver's hand, but he collapses to his knees before their fingers touch. Oliver slides toward him and pulls Titus close, ignoring the pain in his burned hand, and Titus goes willingly, clinging to him.
"Oliver?" Titus asks, and Oliver nearly cries with relief. Even as the flames around them spread out over the cave, billowing up in large pillars of fire and smoke, Oliver can't bring himself to care. Right in this very moment, he's got Titus back, and that all that matters. And when Titus moves forward and kisses him, making him feel like the flames are consuming him as well, Oliver closes his eyes and leans into the kiss.
He feels Titus' hand slide up his back underneath his shirt and looks up over Titus' shoulder just in time to see a tuxedo-clad David wielding a fire extinguisher, and then he gets a face full of the foam. As he doubles over coughing, he sees Titus going down under an assault by Dave, also wearing a tuxedo, delivering a blast of foam from an extinguisher of his own. When he's cleared his face enough to straighten up, he's met with two matching furious expressions being delivered full force from both the Daves.
"What the fuck did you do, Oliver?"
So, uh, that happened.
Anyway, I've been writing the Dustverse AU, and there hasn't been much progression, time-wise, since it's basically the morning after the scene in the previous snippet, but at least I got them both naked and there's actual sexytiems type stuff happening. The whole thing is basically PWP, so there's not much. And then this morning, after Marilyn Manson's "Into the Fire" started playing on the iPod, my brain demanded that I go back to the Batman AU and write some of that. So, this was gonna be a snippet, but, uh, whoops?
Title: "Into the Fire"
Word count: 1,914
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Titus/Oliver
Warnings: people doing stupid things in the name of love
Summary: Batman AU. Alex is Batwoman. Dave is Alfred. David is Lucius Fox. The Daves are totally boyfriends. Oliver is a cross between Batgirl and Lucius Fox. He got shot by this universe's Joker (Henry) a while back, and Alex used a Lazarus Pit to heal him. Titus is basically Jason Todd. He had a run-in with Henry and his crowbar just prior to this, only he didn't die, just ended up in a coma. Just... roll with it.
Into the Fire
The beeping of the monitors is slowly driving Oliver crazy, so he reaches up and flips the switch to silence them. Dave gives him a curious glance, and Oliver shrugs as he sinks back into his chair.
"Are you going to be all right?" Dave asks quietly, straightening up from fixing Titus' pillow. "I could stay, if you need company."
"No," Oliver shakes his head. "You've been here for days, you need a break. Go on, we'll be fine." He tries to arrange his face into something he hopes Dave will interpret as reassuring, and judging by the strange look on Dave's face, he's failing miserably. "Seriously, Dave," he says, sitting up from his slouch. "I'll call if I need you."
Dave looks at him for a long while, then nods. "All right," he says. "But if I find out you needed me and didn't call..."
"I promise, I will," Oliver holds up a hand, boy scout oath-style. "Now go. David's waiting."
Dave smiles a sudden and spontaneous smile, and doesn't bother to repress it. "Have a good night, Oliver."
"You too," Dave is already on his way out of the room, and then Oliver is alone in the room, with only the hiss of the respirator and the various other machine noises. He spends a while listening to the machine, regular and unchanging, and gets up out of his chair to walk over to the bed and sits on the edge, taking Titus' hand.
"The doctors say that you can hear everything we say," he says quietly. "Which makes me wonder why you haven't woken up yet, since I've been asking you to for the last two weeks." He squeezes Titus' hand and sighs. "Please, Titus. Come back to me. I miss you."
The machines start beeping suddenly, a shrill and unpleasant sound, and Oliver looks up, startled. The monitors are flashing in alarm, and Oliver looks from one to another, not quite sure what to do. Titus goes into convulsions and Oliver shoots to his feet, lunging across the room for the phone. He'd sent the nurse home, despite Dave's protests, because the doctors had said Titus was improving, and Oliver wanted to give her a night off. It's up to him to get Titus some help.
Hands shaking, Oliver drops the phone and it goes sliding across the floor. He swears and gets to his knees to find the phone. When he gets up and starts dialing, it takes him five digits into the number to realize that the alarms have ceased and the only sound is the piercing unbroken sound of a heart rate monitor showing a flatline. He stands there, staring at the scene in front of him, phone forgotten in his hand. Titus' chest is still moving as the respirator breathes for him, but there is no other activity on any of the monitors.
The phone falls to the floor as Oliver's hand goes limp, and he staggers to the bed, grabbing onto Titus' hand, shaking him.
"Titus! Wake up!" He shakes Titus so hard the tape holding the tubes to Titus' face comes loose with a tearing sound. "Don't do this to me, Titus. Please." His voice trails off on the last word, and he slides to the floor, leaning his forehead against Titus' hand. "Please..."
He's not sure how much time passes before he looks up, suddenly aware of the shrill sound of the heart rate monitor. He gets to his feet and turns off the machines one by one, leaving the respirator for the last. Once that's done, he turns to Titus, and slowly unhooks all the tubes and machines. It take a bit of an effort to remove the breathing tube, and Oliver winces at the horrible sucking sound it makes as it slides out of Titus' throat. Gently, he cleans the traces of adhesive from Titus' face, then pulls the covers back.
Titus is thin, unhealthily so, and he weighs less than Oliver expects, so picking him up out of the bed is easy. Oliver cradles Titus as best as he can and carries him out of the bedroom, heading for the library at the end of the hallway and the elevator hidden behind the bookshelf. The fluorescent light in the elevator makes the contrast between Titus' dark hair and unhealthy pallor even greater. Titus' head lolls against Oliver's shoulder and Oliver closes his eyes and leans his head against the wall. What he's about to do is drastic, and dangerous, and foolhardy, and he knows that if Alex or Dave or anyone else were around, they'd try to stop him.
The elevator doors slide open, and Oliver straightens up, lips pressed together in a tight line. Alex did for him what he's about to do to Titus, and he turned out all right, so there's no reason to think it won't be the same with Titus, he tells himself. He forces the niggling doubts to the back of his mind and steps out of the elevator.
The pit is all the way at the back of the cave, colors playing across its surface like an oilslick. Oliver lays Titus on the floor at the edge of it, and kneels beside him.
"I don't know if you'll be glad I did this, or if you'll hate me for it," he says, brushing Titus' hair from his forehead. "But I can't just let you go. Not like this. We've got unfinished business, you and I, and I'm gonna make sure you're here to see it through."
The setup Alex used to lower him in is still there, hanging above the pit, and Oliver grabs the control remote for the winch the plank is attached to. It lands beside him with a clatter and he moves Titus to it. Leaning down to press a kiss to Titus' lips, he forces himself not to think about how cold Titus' skin is.
"I'll see you in a bit, OK? Please?" He gets to his feet and starts to raise the plank. The chains rattle as the mechanism pulls the platform up and out over the pit. There's a screeching noise as the winch shudders to a stop, too close to the edge for Oliver to be able to lower Titus in. Oliver curses, hitting the reverse button on the remote. The winch is stuck, metal grinds against metal as the motor tries to make it move, and Oliver stops it before it burns out. There's a catwalk high above the pit, just above the rail the winch runs on, with a ladder running up to it. Oliver glances up at the swinging platform with Titus on it, and starts the climb up the ladder.
The catwalk is narrow and rickety, and Oliver moves slowly. He makes it to the winch and ends up lying on the catwalk, hanging half off it to reach the motor. There's a slipped belt that takes a little doing to slip back into place, but once it's done, he's pretty sure he can get it to run. He takes out the remote control and starts the motor up again at half speed, just in case. It runs smoothly, taking Titus down, and Oliver heads for the ladder.
He's halfway down when he glances back at the platform and sees it's almost at the surface of the pit. He's got a moment of doubt, and starts to reach for the remote in his pocket, but pulls his hand back at the last minute. There's nothing else he can do, not unless he's willing to give Titus up entirely. Which he's definitely not willing to do. He reaches the ground just as the platform is sinking below the surface, and he slides to his knees at the edge of pit, watching and waiting.
It's not long before pit starts to bubble, and Oliver's attention is focused entirely on where the chain disappears below the surface. He's seen the tapes from when Alex used the pit to heal him, but he's got no reason to expect that this time will be the same. Whatever happens, he hopes it will give Titus back to him.
The whole pit is bubbling now, and when a few drops hit Oliver's skin, they're hot enough to scald. When Oliver yanks his hand back, it's just in time, because the moment he does, the surface of the pit bursts into flames.
"Titus!" Oliver tries to get closer to the edge of the pit, but the heat is so intense he has no choice but to back away. He's looking around for a fire extinguisher when Titus surfaces, gasping for air and flailing wildly. Oliver stares, wide-eyed, as Titus walks out of the pit, his clothes untouched by the flames all around him. As he gets closer, Oliver can feel the heat from the fire getting more intense as well, and he scrabbles away from Titus, holding up a hand to shield his face. Titus keeps coming, and Oliver can feel his hand blistering, the heat spreading all over his body in a way that doesn't feel even remotely pleasant.
"Titus, stop, please," he manages to get out between gritted teeth, and Titus pauses, looking around, then down at Oliver. His eyes widen and he reaches out to Oliver, and the flames around him spread out and grow higher. Oliver flinches back from the flames and Titus pulls his hand back.
He opens his mouth, silently mouthing Oliver's name, then looks around, frowning at the flames all around them. When he reaches out to Oliver again, the flames recede, and Oliver breathes a little easier.
"Titus? Are you—" he trails off, because really, what can he ask that won't sound utterly ridiculous? Clearly, Titus isn't all right. And it's all his fault. "Hey," Oliver reaches out to Titus with his uninjured hand. "Come here," he says, and Titus takes a shaky step toward him. The flames immediately around him die down almost completely, but the ones further out spread, engulfing most of the cave, including the path to the elevator and to the stairs. As far as Oliver can see, they're trapped.
Titus staggers toward Oliver, reaching out for Oliver's hand, but he collapses to his knees before their fingers touch. Oliver slides toward him and pulls Titus close, ignoring the pain in his burned hand, and Titus goes willingly, clinging to him.
"Oliver?" Titus asks, and Oliver nearly cries with relief. Even as the flames around them spread out over the cave, billowing up in large pillars of fire and smoke, Oliver can't bring himself to care. Right in this very moment, he's got Titus back, and that all that matters. And when Titus moves forward and kisses him, making him feel like the flames are consuming him as well, Oliver closes his eyes and leans into the kiss.
He feels Titus' hand slide up his back underneath his shirt and looks up over Titus' shoulder just in time to see a tuxedo-clad David wielding a fire extinguisher, and then he gets a face full of the foam. As he doubles over coughing, he sees Titus going down under an assault by Dave, also wearing a tuxedo, delivering a blast of foam from an extinguisher of his own. When he's cleared his face enough to straighten up, he's met with two matching furious expressions being delivered full force from both the Daves.
"What the fuck did you do, Oliver?"
So, uh, that happened.