sweetprince (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sweetprince) wrote2010-02-25 02:30 pm
sweetprince) wrote2010-02-25 02:30 pm
Entry tags:
OMG, snippet party...
I've been having so much trouble finishing my fics, so you know what that means? Gimme some prompts and I'll reply with snippets. Any fandom I've participated in, although only AU prompts for J2. You can even request bits from this crazy Gladiator fic that I will never finish below...
He’s Suione. The man in the ring. Tall, with his blond hair shorn short. Nate doesn’t understand anything about the games, but he knows the Suione is good. He clips the Baktrian fighter in the jaw with the hilt of his sword and then dumps him in the sand. The crowd roars and the Suione bends down and rips out his throat, raising up again with crimson stained fists. Nate drops his eyes, and when he raises them up again he finds the Suione staring right into his box, gaze arrowing straight through him.
“Is he looking at me?” Nate’s sister breathes, grabbing at his elbow. “He’s so strong and graceful in form.”
“Could be,” Nate says softly, unable to look away from Brad.
*
Nate agrees with great reluctance to go with his friends to the Ludus Magnus. He’s never had much stomach for gladiators, but Servillius and Clodius won’t stop badgering him until he agrees to come. Nate sighs, and allows himself to be dragged out.
The ludus is saturated with the smell of sweat. They’re quickly shown the gallery by a circumspect slave, and Clodius and Servillius laugh and joke with each other, wondering if the Barbarian’s even had the facility to speak. Nate’s only half paying attention, but he doesn’t know why he’s surprised to see the Suione, running through forms in the practice ring with a wooden sword. He stops, watching the way the Suione’s muscles bunch and shift under his oiled skin.
“I see that the Suione has caught the young tribune’s eye,” the master of the ludus says, he sticks his tongue in his cheek and turns to the slave, “Summon Brad.”
Nate colors. “No, please, I importune you not to…”
His protests fall on deaf ears.
-More Winery!AU for
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
pjvilar (from this story Here)-Horrible First Date (from FBI!Nate/Cop!Brad 'verse) for
amberlynne-More Gladiator!Brad and Tribune!Nate for
alethialia-Sci-Fi AU: AI Brad for
oxoniensis-Brad/Nate, hottest day of the year for
soul_cake_duck-High School AU, Brad in military school for
strangie-More Gladiator!AU for
melloniel-Winery!AU: Brad's History for
bijoux-Brad/Nate Pre-Kuwait, Pre-Slash for
jujubinha-Brad/Nate, Cuddly Bear for
tikiaceae
Still More Winery AU, Part 1
He runs all the way into town and picks up a coffee at the Flying Goat, a place he heard Brad mention in passing. While he waits for it to brew, he looks out the window onto the street and sort of can’t believe he’s here. He finishes his coffee in the square. Everybody who passes says hello and good morning. He nods his head and smiles back. Brad fits in a place like this, with Ray, and his dogs, and the beautiful house. But at the same time he doesn’t. He’s got hard edges. Occasionally when they’re talking, Nate spears himself on them and worries he’s going to bleed out all over himself.
When the coffee’s gone, he tosses the cup and makes the run back. The sun is a little higher in the sky and by the time he reaches Brad’s place, he’s sweaty and sticky. He finds Brad in the kitchen, reading the San Francisco Chronicle in his pajama bottoms. Shadow lies prone, head pillowed on his paws in the sunshine, but when Nate walks into the room Fox is immediately upon him. Brad snorts with laughter.
“Good run?” he asks, looking up over the edge of the newsprint.
“Mmhm,” Nate replies, kneeling down to scratch behind Fox’s ears. He’s close enough to Brad that he can lay a playful kiss on his bicep without moving.
Brad flexes his arm and says, “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat,” Nate replies, getting to his feet.
There’s a manmade pond on the edge of Brad’s land. After Nate showers, Brad fixes a backpack full of food and hands Nate a blanket. They walk out in companionable silence to the pond to eat lunch in the sun.
Still More Winery AU, Part 2
“Oh?” Nate digs through the pack, setting things out on the blanket.
Brad’s lips tighten around a smile. “Yeah, didn’t want him interrupting my plans to fuck you all over my property.”
“Two bottles of wine?” Nate says brightly, ignoring him.
Brad lays back, head pillowed on his arms and he lifts his head to give Nate a suggestive look. “A little extra lubrication goes a long way.”
Nate blushes and cuts a large piece of a rich blue cheese to spread on a hunk of bread. He takes a bite and then moves to lie on his stomach beside Brad. “I probably should’ve asked this before, but you never…” he says and then stops.
Brad turns his head, expression open like he’s urging Nate to continue.
“How did you get involved in a winery?” Nate finally says. “If you don’t want to say—”
Brad huffs out a laugh, interrupting him. “It’s fine. You know I don’t have parents?”
“Yes,” Nate says softly.
Brad shrugs. “I ran away from foster care when I was twelve. I was in San Diego and it seemed like the seventh level of hell. So I told myself, just head north and things’ll get better.” He looks up at the sky, but his eyes are sightless, glancing inward into his own memories. “And it didn’t get better, but I had to stick to that, it was the only thing I had to keep me going—I followed the railroad, hitchhiked…I didn’t know any better, you know?”
Nate wants to reach out and touch him but he’s not sure it would be appropriate. Brad breathes out a sigh. “Finally the twisted fuck I was hitching a ride with to Eureka dumped me out in Vina. I was almost thirteen by then…real scraggly mess.” He shrugs. “But I got lucky, it was in the ass end of nowhere and I just walked until I found a building that I could squat in or take shelter. Turned out it was the Abbey of New Clairvaux. I woke up the next morning with five Trappist monks staring down into my face. Nearly had a fucking heart attack. They wanted to send me back, you know to my foster parents, but I said I wouldn’t go, that I’d rather starve than go back. And that upset them, so they took me in.”
Brad rolls back up into a sitting position and pulls a bottle out of the pack. “This Pinot Noir is one of theirs,” he says, presenting the bottle to Nate. New Clairvaux is written across the top of the label. “I sucked in school, I was always fucking up—hated all my teachers, but I understood the grapes.”
Nate doesn’t know what to say. Brad uncorks the bottle and hands it to him. “Take a swallow,” Brad tells him. Nate accepts the bottle and takes a careful sip. It’s smooth and perfect and he can’t stop himself from taking another drink. Brad grins. “Exactly. That’s why I won’t even try bottling Pinot.”
“God, I feel like the prince in the palace now,” Nate replies, setting the bottle down.
“That’s because you are,” Brad says. “But it’s okay, you’re a good lay, so I keep you around.” It’s said with mock, but there’s tenderness in Brad’s face so Nate lets it slide.
*
I don't really like how this piece turned out. Forgive me. On an explanatory note, the vinyard at New Clairvaux has been around since the last century, but the monks didn't start producing sailable wine until 2005. However, I'm sure it's wonderful, and because they will never ever be looking at slash, or like...using the internet, they aren't around to tell me how wrong it is that Brad could be learning about wine from them.
Re: Still More Winery AU, Part 2
Re: Still More Winery AU, Part 2
Re: Still More Winery AU, Part 2
Also, yay, backstory! Oh, Brad. You will always, always break my heart, won't you, you beautiful man? It's a good thing he has Nate. He deserves Nate. I think Nate could take care of him - not that he needs it, but it's glad to have it.
This AU is so lovely and quiet and beautiful and lovely and have I mentioned lovely? *loves some more*
Re: Still More Winery AU, Part 2
Re: Still More Winery AU, Part 2