#pbbwip

the holy vow of a teenage kiss, Andy/Eddie, Pacific Big Bang, @antiquecompass

He leaned against the arm of the sofa and bent down to say something clever, but before he could manage Sledge flashed him a disapproving look.

“Who decided to let a jarhead like you in polite society, huh?” he asked in an undertone, looking pointedly at Leckie’s makeshift seat.

Leckie rolled his eyes.

“Fine, scooch over.”

“Why should I?” Sledge asked.

Leckie was a natural born smartass, as were most of his friends. He could tell Sledge was an amateur at the game, because he couldn’t suppress the grin that crept onto his face, but Leckie found it endearing. He stood and gave Sledge an elaborate bow before walking around the back of the sofa and taking a seat on his other side. He leaned over to speak, and again was cut off before a word could pass his lips--stopped, this time, by his own senses.

Sledge had put on a dash of cologne before supper, but not very much--or perhaps he had put it on earlier in the day and the scent had faded. In any case, there was only enough to catch Leckie’s attention, not enough to obscure the other smells clinging to his skin and his clothes. He had been out walking during the day, long enough to work out a light sweat that still lingered in the thin cotton of his button-down shirt.

Over all of that was--autumn. Leckie didn’t know how to parse the smell of autumn, whether it was really the scent of dead leaves or the earth when it was stiff and unyielding, or the wind itself, but it was the same in Alabama as it was in New Jersey. It was unexpected in this cramped little sitting room stuffed with finery. And something about it shook the rest of his senses, made him imagine he could still feel the cold radiating off Sledge’s skin, that the barest flush of his cheeks was from cold rather than heat. That if he reached out to touch his cheek it would be as cool the porcelain it resembled.

He wouldn’t even have to reach that much. If he inclined his head just a little bit more he could touch his lips to the lower part of Sledge’s face, just above his jaw.

Sledge was waiting. Leckie couldn’t think of a single clever thing to say.

“I want you,” he managed finally, in a strained murmur that couldn’t be heard by the players at the table, and a shiver passed over Eugene’s face.

“You’ve got some nerve, Leckie,” he said in a soft voice.

“That’s the last of it.”

 Andy closed the trunk hatch on his SUV and dragged his fingers over the Red Sox Nation sticker on the back window. He glanced around his busy street, the sounds of train tracks and heavy traffic, and the glut of foot traffic on the sidewalks. He took a moment to take it all I, to remember it, and then took a deep breath of the salty ocean air.

 Three water balloons dropped on his head. He glared up at the top of his building and squinted hard enough until he saw six hands waving at him from the roof lounge. He should’ve known having Lena and Snafu around each other would turn Burgie against him. He gave them a one-fingered salute and pulled off his t-shirt, ignoring the catcalls coming from above, used it to dry off as much of his hair as he could, and grabbed a dry shirt from his luggage.

 The last thing he wanted to do was drive nearly seven hours with a soaked shirt and wet hair. He was already going to look like shit when he arrived on Annabeth’s doorstep. He didn’t want to add anything to what he knew would be a truly pathetic picture.

 “You going to take off the pants too?” Snafu yelled down. “Shake that money-maker, Haldane!”

Snafu’s mother dies on a Tuesday and Roe tells him over the phone in that soft, steady whisper he used to use on his patients. Snafu grips the receiver and his knuckles are white and his face is white and he feels like he can’t breathe when Roe says, “I’m sorry, Merriell,” and Snafu laughs and hangs up.

He curls on his side in the dark of Sledge’s room and he tries not to cry but fails, and Sledge is saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry, and there is the whistle of wind chimes from the front porch, and a dog barks in the yard. Sledge says his name in a voice something painful and raw and confused and Snafu turns away with a laugh.

“Fuck off, Sledgehamma,” He says.

The phone rings downstairs as this thing inside of Snafu twists, tighter and tighter and tighter, until he can’t breathe, he can’t cry, he can’t speak, he lies there and he stares blankly at the wall while Sledge whispers his name again and again. There’s a breeze coming in from the open window, and Sledge’s lips move softly against his jawline, and Snafu doesn’t try to stop him when they travel lower and lower and lower. Sledge’s mouth goes from his neck to his chest to his hips, and Snafu feels like he’s going to be sick, his skin pressing heavy against Sledge’s, hot and sweaty and damp. 

“Merriell,” Sledge whispers his god-given name like it’s a sin, his hands moving roughly down Snafu’s pants, “Merriell Merriell Merriell Merriell -” 

“Sledge,” Snafu rasps, “Sledge, stop.” 

And Sledge stops, says nothing, and moves little. Snafu laughs, his ribs shaking with the hurt and the anger and the unfairness of it all. He falls asleep with his head on Sledge’s chest, to the soft rise and fall of his breathing.

this piece is /slightly/ more edited than the rest of the scene. so have some eugene and sid.

eugene wants to comfort his friends but he doesn’t know how.

It’s time to share a little bit of my @pacificbigbangblog story with you! The working title of the story is “The sadness you have never shown”. Please keep in mind that I’m not a native speaker and this is still just a rough first draft.

The snippet is set quite early in the story when Andy and Eddie still get to know each other, weird quirks and all. Just to give a brief summary, in this modern!AU Andy is a biology student who wants to work in conservation and Eddie used to be a paleontology student who had to quit due to personal reasons. Eddie now works in a diner as a waiter where he meets Andy one night and over time, they become friends through their mutual interest in science.

Also please check out the beautiful moodboards @alexpenkala made for the story! You can find Andy’s here and Eddie’s here.

“I love reading,” Eddie tells him with a smile. “I used to go to the library at least twice a week to find something new to read. I’m quite fond of historical fiction like the Cicero trilogy or The Song of Achilles. I’ve also read the Illiad and Odyssey by Homer.”

Andy raises his eyebrows at him. “Please don’t tell me you read them in Latin.”