notes: This was kind of inspired by dndressingroom, a LiveJournal role-play community in which I play B. In his AU, when B was visited by L, though a rare occasion, the two boys would sneak away to a garden where they could be "them".
X x x
"Do you think they will find us?"
B and L were friendly, once. And B was the one tugging L by the arm, wincing as a bramble caught on the sleeve of his shirt. "Out here? Unlikely," the boy replied flatly, fingers gripping the other's shirt.
They dreamed of running away. Sometimes, they talked of running away together and forgetting the world. Forgetting Wammy's House. Forgetting everything anyone had ever told them, made them do--made them be. And they could be their own people.
"We would have no where to go," L said, plopping a marshmallow into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
B swung his feet in a small body of water, eyes fixated on a distant fish. "Well," he murmured, "let's be hypothetical, then."
"Hypothetical?" L cocked his head to the side and swallowed another marshmallow.
"Yeah." The edges of B's lips turned to a grin. He nodded to himself. "What if we could get away? You know. Away from here. Away from the life those people have created for us. What are we to them, L? Are we simply their tools, mere appliances in their plans, whatever those may be?" He clenched a fist, and L looked on, concerned. "I won't have it."
"Calm down, you," L snapped, closing his eyes. He laid back in the grass, small tufts of hair falling in front of his eyes. "Don't get so upset by this. You know just as well as I do that we're not going anywhere. So just hush about it."
B gritted his teeth. He never liked being told what to do, and L was no exception. "You don't know that," he whispered, half to himself. "We could get somewhere if we tried." He frowned. "But you won't."
"You're right," L said, simply, yawning a little. He cracked an eye open and peered at B. "You should be thankful we even found this place."
The Garden was nice. B had to agree with L on that. It must've been chance that the two even found it-- because luck is fickle and B never believed in that sort of thing, anyway. But when the stumbled upon it, L running after B who was running away from the House, both boys being yelled at by an angry adult (most likely for B's latest mischief; L swore up and down that he had hands that would never stay still, and maybe he was right, after all).
They made it their regular spot, and though L only came to visit every few years, it was nice. It proved to be the only time that B could vent, and he was certain it was the only thing keeping him sane.
So just maybe it was to be expected that when L stopped visiting, and the Garden began withering with old age and new spite, he would break.
"This is yours," L said to him on their last talk, placing a manga volume in his hand.
B turned it over and examined the title. Akazukin Chacha: Volume 1. He thought for a moment, and shook his head. "No, no," he said quietly, thrusting the book into L's arms. "You keep it. Read it, and you can give it back next time we see each other." He narrowed his eyes, after a while, and waggled a finger. "But don't you let anything happen to it. That's my favorite."
"I feel privileged," L smiled.
"You should."
The Garden stopped blooming the year after that, and four years later, B would stop waiting for L to return. He would stop waiting for his chance to speak of running away, and escaping--maybe getting a house and a garden of his own, even, and sitting beside a lake while sharing a bag of marshmallows with L.
B stopped waiting for his volume of Akazukin Chacha to return.
And he started preparing for the death of the Garden.
X x x
notes: There's symbolism in this, hur hur. :B Also, this is complete AU, so prz to be no complaints, kthnx.