Fanfiction: "Summer Rain"
Jan. 21st, 2020 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deemoyzaTitle: "Summer Rain" (2,312 words) [AO3]
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Transistor
Rating/Warnings: Teen / No warnings apply
Characters: Red, Subject
Relationships: Red/Subject
Summary: A rainy-night stroll leads to another juncture in their relationship. Pre-canon, one-shot, fluff.
Excerpt below cut.
The air was heavy and warm, and the city lights tinted the clouds a dull, dingy pink, like an unfinished skypainting, but with all the irregular, unpredictable wisps and curves and hazy contours that no skypainter had ever truly replicated. Perhaps a sky like this was too ordinary, too unrefined, too indefinable to merit their efforts or attention.
Not unlike the man walking beside her, Red thought, surreptitiously looking him over. Auden didn't fit into the higher social strata of Cloudbank, had no place among its illustrious citizens. Growing up on the waterfront and earning his living with his hands had made him strong, but also, by Cloudbank's standards, rough. He was edges to their softness, frankness to their diplomacy; he was well-informed on the city's news, and the antics of its celebrities, but as far as Red knew, he was not a habitual voter, if he'd ever voted at all.
He didn't play Cloudbank's game, and that's what she admired most. She'd felt a thrill of rebellion when she declined to provide a reason for her selections years ago, but she could only imagine the exhilaration of refusing selection entirely. That the Administrators did not intervene and force him to decide spoke to his standing, or lack thereof, in the city, and he seemed perfectly content to slide beneath their notice.
He walked with his usual easy gait, but from the set of his jaw and his constantly sweeping gaze, Red could tell he was still on the lookout for any threats to her well-being. She grinned and nudged him playfully, giggling as he staggered a few steps to the side.
"Relax," she said, "and enjoy the evening."
"I'm enjoying it," he replied. "I just want to make sure we can continue enjoying it. Don't want to be mobbed by fans out of nowhere. They might mean well, but, in a pack, they can get out of hand."
"A pack? They're not animals."
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged. "All right, I admit they can be a little overzealous. But, like you said, they don't mean any harm. Besides –" she tugged at her shirt and patted her face, only lightly made-up "— I doubt they'd even recognize me. I'm not exactly glamorous tonight."
"But no less beautiful because of it."
She looked up, and he met her eyes, smiling and unabashed. He'd said it so simply, without hesitation, as if it was the most natural response in the world. And he'd meant every word.
Perhaps that explained the electricity that coursed through her veins just then. It couldn’t have been the words, themselves; she'd heard similar sentiments before, from other, duller admirers, to no such effect.
No, it was the way he said them. The way he looked at her when he said them. His openness, his honesty …
It was him.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Transistor
Rating/Warnings: Teen / No warnings apply
Characters: Red, Subject
Relationships: Red/Subject
Summary: A rainy-night stroll leads to another juncture in their relationship. Pre-canon, one-shot, fluff.
Excerpt below cut.
The air was heavy and warm, and the city lights tinted the clouds a dull, dingy pink, like an unfinished skypainting, but with all the irregular, unpredictable wisps and curves and hazy contours that no skypainter had ever truly replicated. Perhaps a sky like this was too ordinary, too unrefined, too indefinable to merit their efforts or attention.
Not unlike the man walking beside her, Red thought, surreptitiously looking him over. Auden didn't fit into the higher social strata of Cloudbank, had no place among its illustrious citizens. Growing up on the waterfront and earning his living with his hands had made him strong, but also, by Cloudbank's standards, rough. He was edges to their softness, frankness to their diplomacy; he was well-informed on the city's news, and the antics of its celebrities, but as far as Red knew, he was not a habitual voter, if he'd ever voted at all.
He didn't play Cloudbank's game, and that's what she admired most. She'd felt a thrill of rebellion when she declined to provide a reason for her selections years ago, but she could only imagine the exhilaration of refusing selection entirely. That the Administrators did not intervene and force him to decide spoke to his standing, or lack thereof, in the city, and he seemed perfectly content to slide beneath their notice.
He walked with his usual easy gait, but from the set of his jaw and his constantly sweeping gaze, Red could tell he was still on the lookout for any threats to her well-being. She grinned and nudged him playfully, giggling as he staggered a few steps to the side.
"Relax," she said, "and enjoy the evening."
"I'm enjoying it," he replied. "I just want to make sure we can continue enjoying it. Don't want to be mobbed by fans out of nowhere. They might mean well, but, in a pack, they can get out of hand."
"A pack? They're not animals."
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged. "All right, I admit they can be a little overzealous. But, like you said, they don't mean any harm. Besides –" she tugged at her shirt and patted her face, only lightly made-up "— I doubt they'd even recognize me. I'm not exactly glamorous tonight."
"But no less beautiful because of it."
She looked up, and he met her eyes, smiling and unabashed. He'd said it so simply, without hesitation, as if it was the most natural response in the world. And he'd meant every word.
Perhaps that explained the electricity that coursed through her veins just then. It couldn’t have been the words, themselves; she'd heard similar sentiments before, from other, duller admirers, to no such effect.
No, it was the way he said them. The way he looked at her when he said them. His openness, his honesty …
It was him.
