See, I'm not a total romance-hater
Feb. 14th, 2008 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darklunaPsst. I wrote a post-one-shot Near/Hal thingie that was part of a work in progress but was in the wrong point of view. Had it posted, didn't like it, made it longer, fixed what was bugging me... You guys are like "Don't care, fic plz," y/y? ;-)
Oh, and while this isn't exactly a sequel to Snow, it takes place in a world in which "Snow" happened.
Easy to Fall
She doesn't think about the night they kissed that often. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments when circumstances came together in exactly the right way. Hal knows it happened mostly because she didn't expect to live much longer.
But it's been three years, and she's still alive, and Near has grown more beautiful than ever, and she can't help but remember, sometimes, can't help but stay a little later than the others. Tonight she looks over a few files from the new case, then goes over to the tarot fortress, stopping just outside.
Near has taken the Lego people representing the victims so far and made a little pile of plastic corpses on the ramparts. He's got the SPK puppets, and L, of course, on the tower, looking down at them. It's so weird, and so weirdly cute. Hal turns her helpless giggle into a not-very-convincing cough.
Near darts a glance at her, and she's sure he caught everything. The SPK members have kind of been on call for the past few years, but this is the first time they've needed to be here a lot... the first time Near has asked them to be here.
"You can come in," he says, a shade of what might be impatience creeping into his voice.
It's not that he's expressionless; it's just that he's so subtle and has such fine control that you really have to pay attention to read him. Hal has been paying attention. She steps over the outer wall and sits with him, inside what would be the keep, she guesses.
She's still not quite used to being around him again. His beauty has always been ethereal, but now it's colder, sharper, as if honed to an edge. He looks... not quite human; something finer, maybe, more elegant. "Are you... doing all right?" she says.
"Yes." There's that impatience again; she imagines she's being irrelevant. She doesn't want to talk, she just wants to be here.
She lets herself remember that snowy night as she watches him open another deck, thinks about how well they fit together, just for a moment, and about how that control slipped, just a little.
Near sets the cards aside and looks back at her, and there might be a flicker of heat in his eyes now.
Hal starts to say something, but she has no idea what to say, and he's probably understood it all already anyway.
As carefully as she did before, as carefully as she might add a card to a tower, she leans in.
Near closes his eyes but otherwise doesn't move at all, and Hal barely touches him before pulling back. "I... I'm sorry?" she says.
"No," Near says. "It's just... Not here."
"Oh," she says, getting it.
"Follow me."
She does, through the silent hallways, out into the rooftop garden, and the wind seizes her hair right away in a mad gust that makes her almost as dizzy as the anticipation.
The door slams behind them, and in the sudden, startling darkness Hal walks right into Near, but he catches her, and all at once he's kissing her, hungrily, almost desperately, fingers wound tight in her hair.
She thought, before, that he was holding back. She was right.
He breaks the kiss and she struggles to catch her breath, not helped at all by how he drags his mouth across her jaw, nips at her earlobe.
"Did you do this with Mello?" he says against her neck.
Understanding jolts her like a quick electric shock—that's where some of the heat came from. "Yes," she says, because he deserves the truth. "Once."
Near steps back a little to look up at her. "But you still would have shot him?"
"Yes."
"For me?"
Hal nods. Something has changed; the urgency has dissipated, and this... this is more important.
She pulls Near into her arms and just holds him. It would break her heart if she thought about it too much, how he's still so very young to carry this burden, but he tries so hard... how it kind of broke all of them, Mello, too, and L, whom she never even met but feels she knows from the shadow he cast over his heirs.
She closes her eyes, and the wind buffets them. She feels as if she's found a strange, brief moment of warmth and peace, and wonders if Near could possibly feel it too. He rests his head on her shoulder, and his fingers, never still, trace soothing little circles on her back.
His hair smells faintly sweet. Hal has a hard time resisting the urge to touch it anyway, and now she lets the breeze tangle it about her fingers, and sinks her hands in, loving the softness.
Oh, Halle, she tells herself, you're in trouble.
Oh, and while this isn't exactly a sequel to Snow, it takes place in a world in which "Snow" happened.
Easy to Fall
She doesn't think about the night they kissed that often. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments when circumstances came together in exactly the right way. Hal knows it happened mostly because she didn't expect to live much longer.
But it's been three years, and she's still alive, and Near has grown more beautiful than ever, and she can't help but remember, sometimes, can't help but stay a little later than the others. Tonight she looks over a few files from the new case, then goes over to the tarot fortress, stopping just outside.
Near has taken the Lego people representing the victims so far and made a little pile of plastic corpses on the ramparts. He's got the SPK puppets, and L, of course, on the tower, looking down at them. It's so weird, and so weirdly cute. Hal turns her helpless giggle into a not-very-convincing cough.
Near darts a glance at her, and she's sure he caught everything. The SPK members have kind of been on call for the past few years, but this is the first time they've needed to be here a lot... the first time Near has asked them to be here.
"You can come in," he says, a shade of what might be impatience creeping into his voice.
It's not that he's expressionless; it's just that he's so subtle and has such fine control that you really have to pay attention to read him. Hal has been paying attention. She steps over the outer wall and sits with him, inside what would be the keep, she guesses.
She's still not quite used to being around him again. His beauty has always been ethereal, but now it's colder, sharper, as if honed to an edge. He looks... not quite human; something finer, maybe, more elegant. "Are you... doing all right?" she says.
"Yes." There's that impatience again; she imagines she's being irrelevant. She doesn't want to talk, she just wants to be here.
She lets herself remember that snowy night as she watches him open another deck, thinks about how well they fit together, just for a moment, and about how that control slipped, just a little.
Near sets the cards aside and looks back at her, and there might be a flicker of heat in his eyes now.
Hal starts to say something, but she has no idea what to say, and he's probably understood it all already anyway.
As carefully as she did before, as carefully as she might add a card to a tower, she leans in.
Near closes his eyes but otherwise doesn't move at all, and Hal barely touches him before pulling back. "I... I'm sorry?" she says.
"No," Near says. "It's just... Not here."
"Oh," she says, getting it.
"Follow me."
She does, through the silent hallways, out into the rooftop garden, and the wind seizes her hair right away in a mad gust that makes her almost as dizzy as the anticipation.
The door slams behind them, and in the sudden, startling darkness Hal walks right into Near, but he catches her, and all at once he's kissing her, hungrily, almost desperately, fingers wound tight in her hair.
She thought, before, that he was holding back. She was right.
He breaks the kiss and she struggles to catch her breath, not helped at all by how he drags his mouth across her jaw, nips at her earlobe.
"Did you do this with Mello?" he says against her neck.
Understanding jolts her like a quick electric shock—that's where some of the heat came from. "Yes," she says, because he deserves the truth. "Once."
Near steps back a little to look up at her. "But you still would have shot him?"
"Yes."
"For me?"
Hal nods. Something has changed; the urgency has dissipated, and this... this is more important.
She pulls Near into her arms and just holds him. It would break her heart if she thought about it too much, how he's still so very young to carry this burden, but he tries so hard... how it kind of broke all of them, Mello, too, and L, whom she never even met but feels she knows from the shadow he cast over his heirs.
She closes her eyes, and the wind buffets them. She feels as if she's found a strange, brief moment of warmth and peace, and wonders if Near could possibly feel it too. He rests his head on her shoulder, and his fingers, never still, trace soothing little circles on her back.
His hair smells faintly sweet. Hal has a hard time resisting the urge to touch it anyway, and now she lets the breeze tangle it about her fingers, and sinks her hands in, loving the softness.
Oh, Halle, she tells herself, you're in trouble.
