SN Ficlet: Strange Things
May. 15th, 2004 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereWell, sorry, Celli. You just couldn't distract me quite enough. I think I need to go slink into a corner now. (I'm going to the really, really special hell.)
Strange Things
People do strange things when they're grieving. Dan knows that. Hell, Dan's experienced it. He knows that the world stops making sense for those first few weeks. You long to do things that are stupid and almost self-destructive, and that all you want is a reason why you're still here when the other person isn't. Dan gets it.
Dan even gets the need for casual sex. His first year at Dartmouth was a blur of pretty girls and handsome guys, long nights, beer runs and bare skin. His first night was like that too. He can still remember talking to the girl, Sandy or Sheila or Shelley, and getting called to the phone. She followed him there, and his Mom spoke through gasping sobs to tell him about Sam.
He'd walked back to his room in a daze. She'd walked beside him, and when she asked what happened, he'd told her that his younger brother had been in a car accident. He hadn't told her Sam was dead, because… He couldn't say it, couldn't believe that Sam, his baby brother with the comic collection and the algebra equations scribbled across Dan's notebook, could actually be… gone, just like that.
She hadn't asked too many questions, thank god. She hadn't asked much other than Sam's age and if Dan was going back home. But she'd sat there and talked about the music on the radio, about how huge the campus seemed, and when he couldn't force himself to think anymore, her lips were sweet and pliant under his.
It had been soft and slow, and just what he needed. He just needed an excuse to turn his mind off, to ignore his memories. A way to hide himself under taste and touch; to concentrate on hands and legs instead of thinking about travel arrangements and funerals.
To this day, he still has a soft fondness for her. He's grateful to her for being there, even though she barely remembered him later. It was what he needed, what kept him sane for the next week of deathly silence and unspoken accusations. Dan understands the need for it.
That's why he's here. He came to the wake because Esther was a wonderful woman, as warm and caring to them as she was to her own children. But he stayed the night because he understands that desperate need not to be alone. So when Isaac's hand lingers on his arm a little too long, when it whispers across the back of his neck, Dan doesn't pull away. Instead, he just smiles and thinks that people do strange things when they're grieving.
The End.
Strange Things
People do strange things when they're grieving. Dan knows that. Hell, Dan's experienced it. He knows that the world stops making sense for those first few weeks. You long to do things that are stupid and almost self-destructive, and that all you want is a reason why you're still here when the other person isn't. Dan gets it.
Dan even gets the need for casual sex. His first year at Dartmouth was a blur of pretty girls and handsome guys, long nights, beer runs and bare skin. His first night was like that too. He can still remember talking to the girl, Sandy or Sheila or Shelley, and getting called to the phone. She followed him there, and his Mom spoke through gasping sobs to tell him about Sam.
He'd walked back to his room in a daze. She'd walked beside him, and when she asked what happened, he'd told her that his younger brother had been in a car accident. He hadn't told her Sam was dead, because… He couldn't say it, couldn't believe that Sam, his baby brother with the comic collection and the algebra equations scribbled across Dan's notebook, could actually be… gone, just like that.
She hadn't asked too many questions, thank god. She hadn't asked much other than Sam's age and if Dan was going back home. But she'd sat there and talked about the music on the radio, about how huge the campus seemed, and when he couldn't force himself to think anymore, her lips were sweet and pliant under his.
It had been soft and slow, and just what he needed. He just needed an excuse to turn his mind off, to ignore his memories. A way to hide himself under taste and touch; to concentrate on hands and legs instead of thinking about travel arrangements and funerals.
To this day, he still has a soft fondness for her. He's grateful to her for being there, even though she barely remembered him later. It was what he needed, what kept him sane for the next week of deathly silence and unspoken accusations. Dan understands the need for it.
That's why he's here. He came to the wake because Esther was a wonderful woman, as warm and caring to them as she was to her own children. But he stayed the night because he understands that desperate need not to be alone. So when Isaac's hand lingers on his arm a little too long, when it whispers across the back of his neck, Dan doesn't pull away. Instead, he just smiles and thinks that people do strange things when they're grieving.
The End.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 12:36 am (UTC)Just needs to be said.
Also, that kinda worked for me. *fears you*
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 12:39 am (UTC)Just needs to be said.
*laughs* Yes, it's a good thing to remember.
Also, that kinda worked for me. *fears you*
*does victory dance* Told you I could make it work.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 08:02 pm (UTC)Thank you, thank you!
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 01:20 am (UTC)I'd actually been trying to get various people to write Danny/Isaac for months, because, canonically, Dan has such a huge crush on the man. But I couldn't ever see Isaac actually going for it, so it was just this joke I'd bring up to torment people.
Aw, but you made it work.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 07:58 pm (UTC)I'd actually been trying to get various people to write Danny/Isaac for months, because, canonically, Dan has such a huge crush on the man.
*nods* Actually, I wouldn't have even thought of it, apart from a Josh Lyman fic (5 ways Josh didn't get laid? Something like that) which had a Leo/Josh section that just *worked*.
But, yeah, Dan does have this huge hero-worship thing going for Isaac.
But I couldn't ever see Isaac actually going for it, so it was just this joke I'd bring up to torment people.
*sniggers* Well, I just did it because I could see it working, but the idea was freaking out Celli and Hilary. (Yeah, I wrote it for shock value.) But, I couldn't *ever* imagine Isaac cheating on Esther. However, if Esther was gone, I think Danny would do whatever it took (even if it wasn't technically/mentally healthy) to make Isaac feel better.
I'm glad you liked it. *g*
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:07 am (UTC)Hiding.
I'm not coming out 'til the random generator's gone!
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 07:49 pm (UTC)*cackles*
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:47 am (UTC)I have... well, I guess you could pretty much call it a kink... for stories that take the most implausible pairings/situations, and make them work. And this one rocks.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 07:35 pm (UTC)It was just... Even though it was freaking out Celli and Hilary, I knew I could make it work. I have a feeling I should go wash out my brain now, but still... I'm ridiculously proud that it worked.
Thanks for commenting!
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 05:44 pm (UTC)