i'm still not working on any fanfic, at least not presently. i wanna update my loz fics but i'm not there yet. however, i do have two original works i'm chipping through right now
They're cuddling. Matt is cuddling him, his cheek against Felix's collarbone, breath fanning light across his skin. The warmth has increased tenfold, and Felix doesn't know if he should shove Matt off the bed or just sit here and wait for him to wake up.
After choking down the immediate desire to flip the fuck out, Felix lets out a shuddering sigh, then moves the arm wrapped around Matt's shoulders to ruffle his hair. Matt makes a small sound in his throat, but doesn't wake, the arm around Felix's middle shifting a little. Is this why Matt never sticks around? Does he know he cuddles in his sleep? Felix winds a lock of hair around one finger, weighing his options. Maybe he really should just wait for Matt to wake up and notice.
A knock at the door dispels that idea. Matt jolts a little, unsticking his face from Felix's chest (was he drooling?) as Laura's voice comes through the door: "People will be arriving soon, Felix! It's time for breakfast!"
"M'up," Felix calls back, rubbing his eyes as Matt pulls fully away from him. He apparently stayed naked after his shower, and Felix props himself up on his elbows to admire the marks he left on Matt's neck as his partner languidly stretches.
"Didn't take you for the cuddly type," he ventures after a moment, and Matt glances back at him. "Or is that just a Matthew thing?"
Matt rolls his eyes, then rubs the back of his neck with one hand, his movements slow. He's still tired. "You're warm," he mutters, voice sleep-rough. "We're sharing a double. Was I supposed to keep to my side?"
the other is persistence, an overview of the progression of rowan and alejandro's dynamic after their first major narrative event, from the "persistence predator" world i share with @poltergeist-punk
"I… I don't think Alejandro had any brothers," he manages, finally. The so-called brother next to him takes another drag, watching, no notable changes in expression. "He… he had… three sisters, but that was it."
Smoke drifts up and out, battered to pieces by the rain. "Did you do so much research into the other members of the expedition?"
Rowan falls silent, turning his gaze down to the concrete under his feet. What is he supposed to say? 'Your brother is a murderer'? 'I know you're him, so just stop pretending'? Should he ask questions, force an answer? Maybe he really is just crazy, and this is all making him look worse. He wishes the ground would just open up and swallow him whole.
"Why are you here?" he finds himself asking, voice almost drowned out by the downpour.
There's a long stretch of silence between them. Rowan doesn't know what he's even asking for. Is he asking why Fernando followed him outside, or is he asking why Alejandro has returned to life and tracked him down? His heart is in his throat, painful and heavy.
"I heard my brother had died, and that the only survivor of that trip was here in the city," Fernando replies. Rowan hates how his heart sinks. This is better, isn't it? It has to be a brother, even if it's one he didn't know existed. "I was interested to potentially meet you. I apologize for the stress it's caused you, though. Truly, to see the spitting image of a man you thought dead… I don't blame you."
Rowan's shoulders sag. It's a weight off of them, to not have to fear that he's been found by a monster, but… Whatever part of him dug up those newspaper clippings and family information, the part of him that kept the walkie, the part that was relieved when the fur on his neck didn't grow back right… That part is disappointed. He really is just crazy.
"I do have a question for you, if that's alright," Fernando asks, looking over, and Rowan tiredly meets his gaze. He seems more gentle than his brother was, at any rate.
"Sure," Rowan sighs. Apologies are at the tip of his tongue, assurances that the fear really is because he thought he was seeing a dead man. Even now he intends to protect Alejandro's image. Why ruin it for his family, anyway?
"Do you cover your neck because of the scar?"
A steel wire of dread stabs through Rowan's chest. He blinks, once, twice. "The scar?"
Fernando takes another drag, golden eyes almost glowing past the curtain of smoke. "On your throat. At least, I assume it left a scar?"
The wire feels barbed, now, terror staking its way through each chamber of Rowan's heart. "Assume… what… left a scar?"
"When my brother," Fernando says, smoke wisping past his teeth, "pinned you in the mud with his jaws."
Every atom in Rowan's body is telling him to run. His heart races, the pound of his own pulse in his ears louder than the rain. Alejandro meets his eyes unwaveringly, cigarette held loose away from his face, ash crumbling to the cracked ground below them both. Everything else is perfectly still.
