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asimplechordSorry it's been so long. This has been written for ages, and I meant to expand on it, but I think that for this particular prompt, leaving it where it is works. Plus, given my snail-like writing pace right now, if I wait it'll never get posted.
Title: The trick is to keep breathing
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: incest implied, angst
Prompt set: 50.4
Prompt: #19, quitting
Word count: 401
A/N: This directly follows Parental advice and is part of the same story arc in my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
100quills universe. (The prompt grid is here.)
The hallway outside the library was empty. Even if they hadn't been alone, Fred wasn't certain he would have been able to release his grip on George's hand. For the moment, it was the only thing that kept his temper anchored and his words swallowed. And he couldn't speak, not yet; he was afraid of what he would say, that he would yell loud enough to cause a scene, loud enough to wake Mrs. Black's portrait. Instead he squeezed George's hand harder and headed up the staircase.
It was nobody's business but their own, his and George's relationship. Fred wasn't sure what his dad suspected or what evidence he'd seen to confirm his suspicions, but whatever it was, no one else had seen. No one else knew, except maybe Lee. Not that they had told him or anything; Lee just… knew.
Nothing their father had said tonight had been news to Fred. Hadn't he spent weeks wrestling with the thought of those issues? He'd considered family disapproval along with the other repercussions of pursuing a less than fraternal relationship with his twin. Maybe he wasn't the most profound thinker in the world, and it was true they were young to be making serious life decisions, but in the same way that Fred knew that he and George were meant to be pranksters pursuing their joke shop, he had finally realized that they were also two halves of a whole. No amount of lecture from parents would change that.
The trip to their room was both the longest and shortest walk he'd ever experienced. The door had barely closed behind them when Fred released his grip on George's hand, almost flinging it away as he threw himself on his bed. Before he could say anything, George had drawn his wand and was casting an Imperturbable Charm on the door. Once that was done, the length of willow (ten inches, Fwooper feather core, only a shade lighter than Fred's wand, which currently rested in his pocket) clattered to the top of the nightstand between their identical beds, and George slumped next to Fred. For all of his protests in the study, George seemed strangely subdued now.
This did not bode well.
"Maybe he's right."
That was not what Fred was expecting George to say, and he was disappointed. He took a calming breath before he responded.
"Right about what?" There, that was a reasonable tone, not the outraged shout that wanted free.
"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this now. Not here. What if one of the Order saw us? Or Moody, with that magical eye?"
Oh. Well, that last was a valid point. But the rest sounded disturbingly like a surrender to Fred.
"So, we don't mess around when we're here?" Inconvenient, but understandable. Fred could go along with that. But George was still not meeting his eyes.
"Yeah, but…" George's reply was hesitant. "Maybe not when we're at school, either."
Title: The trick is to keep breathing
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: incest implied, angst
Prompt set: 50.4
Prompt: #19, quitting
Word count: 401
A/N: This directly follows Parental advice and is part of the same story arc in my
100quills universe. (The prompt grid is here.)The hallway outside the library was empty. Even if they hadn't been alone, Fred wasn't certain he would have been able to release his grip on George's hand. For the moment, it was the only thing that kept his temper anchored and his words swallowed. And he couldn't speak, not yet; he was afraid of what he would say, that he would yell loud enough to cause a scene, loud enough to wake Mrs. Black's portrait. Instead he squeezed George's hand harder and headed up the staircase.
It was nobody's business but their own, his and George's relationship. Fred wasn't sure what his dad suspected or what evidence he'd seen to confirm his suspicions, but whatever it was, no one else had seen. No one else knew, except maybe Lee. Not that they had told him or anything; Lee just… knew.
Nothing their father had said tonight had been news to Fred. Hadn't he spent weeks wrestling with the thought of those issues? He'd considered family disapproval along with the other repercussions of pursuing a less than fraternal relationship with his twin. Maybe he wasn't the most profound thinker in the world, and it was true they were young to be making serious life decisions, but in the same way that Fred knew that he and George were meant to be pranksters pursuing their joke shop, he had finally realized that they were also two halves of a whole. No amount of lecture from parents would change that.
The trip to their room was both the longest and shortest walk he'd ever experienced. The door had barely closed behind them when Fred released his grip on George's hand, almost flinging it away as he threw himself on his bed. Before he could say anything, George had drawn his wand and was casting an Imperturbable Charm on the door. Once that was done, the length of willow (ten inches, Fwooper feather core, only a shade lighter than Fred's wand, which currently rested in his pocket) clattered to the top of the nightstand between their identical beds, and George slumped next to Fred. For all of his protests in the study, George seemed strangely subdued now.
This did not bode well.
"Maybe he's right."
That was not what Fred was expecting George to say, and he was disappointed. He took a calming breath before he responded.
"Right about what?" There, that was a reasonable tone, not the outraged shout that wanted free.
"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this now. Not here. What if one of the Order saw us? Or Moody, with that magical eye?"
Oh. Well, that last was a valid point. But the rest sounded disturbingly like a surrender to Fred.
"So, we don't mess around when we're here?" Inconvenient, but understandable. Fred could go along with that. But George was still not meeting his eyes.
"Yeah, but…" George's reply was hesitant. "Maybe not when we're at school, either."
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 03:22 pm (UTC)But... but... George!! You can't back-pedal now! You KNOW you and Fred are right and perfect! I agree with Fred - that wasn't what I expected George to say either. Good, but. :)
It does fit the prompt well, leaving it there. Won't do my fingernails any good though. ;)
I spotted two tiny errors in the fourth sentence - "he would said" and perhaps there should be an "enough" added to "loud to wake Mrs Black's portrait".
no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 03:36 pm (UTC)These two are so mixed up. First George was sure and Fred was confused. Now George is hesitant, when Fred's done all his thinking and made up his mind. We'll see/hear George's POV next. After the fest fic is done, of course!
Poor George. He'd got so used to the idea of their relationship that his dad's words were a rude awakening. It was... an organic, natural situation to him, which didn't require that much deep thought. Fred, on the other hand, who has had to reason this out more recently, considered and accepted the reality of parental disapproval.
I have spent far too much time thinking about the background emotional dynamics of this. This set of prompt-responses was supposed to be a series of smutty drabbles, not a long, drawn-out, angsty relationship story.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-22 02:09 am (UTC)All makes sense. *nodding* And there can't be smut all the time. :) Besides, F&G have all the possibilities for being really interesting, complex characters (once we take 'em away from Harry-centric viewpoint / JKR's need for comic relief and start really looking at them), so the plotty, angsty bits always work well with them. That's my theory, or something approaching it, anyway. :D
Just out of curiosity - does J ever read your LJ? It's just I've never noticed before if you routinely post un-flocked twincest here in your regular journal... *eyebrow*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-22 02:47 am (UTC)Most of my posts, twincest or otherwise, are not flocked unless I think it's work-senstive or I was looking for a response from a few specific friends or it's a personal issue. *shrug* She might have learned more than she wanted to know about my fandom interests if she did mosey over here.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 03:43 pm (UTC)pr0nfic posted.Fwooper feathers just sound like a Tweasley thing to me, you know? ;D