Every puzzle…
T: Written to fill a certain fan meme prompt, though I think this is a little tamer than they had imagined! New to the fandom but not to fic writing in general so feel free to give lots of constructive criticism!! Beware the angst, the slash, the potential Professor OOC, the playing around with game canon and the tiny game 3 spoilers. All and sundry belong to level five.
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After the terse confusion of their initial meeting the elder Luke had invited them back to his sparse apartment in order that they had a 'secure home base.'
What'd followed had been a flurried week of piecing together chunks of the mystery and trying to find a way back to where…or rather when…they belonged.
He'd also, subtly, attempted to gather a little more information on their host, to learn how and why he had become so…broken. A task that was proving quite the puzzle, if only due to the elder's apparent dislike of being alone in his company. Yet, as with every puzzle he had faced in his lifetime, he'd approached the matter with an open mind, a little critical thinking and a great deal of patience.
The eventual solution had come to him over breakfast and, the achievement bringing a smile to his face, he remarks, "It seems there is a fair in town."
As expected the younger Luke is instantly swept up by the promise contained within such an observation and, hope clear in his voice, he enquires,
"Will you take us, Professor?"
The elder does not, of course, miss the choice of pronoun and, mouth setting into a firm line, he remarks,
"I have better things to do with my time than indulge in such childishness."
"I am afraid that he has a point, Luke…we really should concentrate on getting home before our presence here irrevocably changes the timeline."
The words have been chosen as a deliberate goad for his young apprentice and, though he feels guilty for involving the other in the 'game', he can not help but feel a little satisfied when they achieve just that end.
For eyes narrowing slightly, the younger says, "You're nothing but an impostor!" to his older self before storming out of the room.
"It seems you were that way even now," The words are uttered almost under the elder's breath and he has no time to question them…to even acknowledge that he has heard them…before the other is following after his younger incarnation.
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In the end the younger Luke had talked the elder into 'changing his mind' on the matter of the fair.
Currently his apprentice is focused on winning a ring toss and, subsequently, the giant stuffed teddy slumped against the far end of the stall. Something that means this is as a perfect opportunity to 'corner' the elder.
"You know, this ring toss reminds me of a puzzle."
"You'll have to try a little harder than that…"There is a painful silence at the end of the sentence where the other bites back the habitual suffix and, confidence bolstered by this, he enquires,
"Have I perhaps offended you in some way, my boy?"
"No, in fact I think I should be grateful to you for showing me just how wrong I was about everything." The other responds before informing him, "I'd prefer that you not address me by that foolish endearment."
Opting, for the moment at least, to stay on what seemed the safer ground he enquires,
"Then what name would you care for me to use?"
"'Watson' seems appropriate, wouldn't you say?" He enquires before he steps a little from his side.
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"Ah, might I have a moment of your time?" There is an odd smile on the Professors mouth today and, feeling a little 'off kilter', he gestures to the vacant seat opposite his own and responds,
"Of course."
There is a brief pause as the man settles himself down and then, smile easing back into the familiar, he remarks,
"There's no need to be so worried," before he informs him, "I simply wished to apologise for any offence that a certain bad habit might have caused."
"What do you mean, Professor?"
"My continued referral to you as a 'boy'," The other responds before explaining, "I fear time has somewhat run away from me."
Dread well and truly obliterated he shakes his head and informs the other,
"I don't mind, Professor, in fact it's kind of comforting."
The other's smile twitches into something new and exciting and, gaining his feet he responds with a gentle, "that's good to know," before he steps back out of the room.
The warmth that that smile had ignited in him, the mix of frustration and desperate anticipation which had fuelled that warmth, had given him a full weeks worth of all but sleepless nights and, just when he'd felt it was high time he knocked the matter on the head, the Professor had left.
At the very beginning he'd blamed himself, had set it in his mind to use his meeting with his past self to right whatever it was that'd pushed the other away. Yet the closer that that 'reunion' grew the more he began to doubt this conclusion…began to hate the man that he had once called his mentor.
He'd wanted to hold onto that hate, to use it to shield himself against the potential distress of seeing how things had once been. Yet the instant that he had seen the P…that man…again that resolve had crumbled into dust. Something that'd left him full of bitterness and a desperate envy of his younger self that'd been all but pointless.
He'd done everything he could to scrabble back some semblance of control…to salvage what little life he had left before that too was destroyed…
Yet every time he felt that he had a handle on the situation, every time he believed he could simply treat that man as any other, he'd recall that odd final conversation and that stomach turning smile.
Laughing derisively at himself he shifts his grip on the candy floss that his younger incarnation had insisted on buying and, turning towards that man, remarks,
"You still owe me a ride of a Ferris wheal
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There is the muffled sound of laughter…or at least something akin to laughter…and then 'Watson' is making a remark that fills him with memories of St Mystere.
Vivid, terrifying, memories.
"Ah, perhaps not on this occasion," he responds as he squashes the nervous urge to pull his hat down a little.
Small hands catch at his own not a moment later and, voice confident despite the fear clear in his eyes, Luke says,
"It'll be alright, Professor."
The words as childish simplicity and yet they serve their purpose more thoroughly than any complex phrases. It would not, after all, do any good to show weakness in front of his apprentice. Nor allow the boy to believe it right to simply step away from issues rather than 'getting back on the horse'.
"But then there is no time like the present." He remarks as he gives his young apprentice an appreciative smile and gently breaking free of his grip.
'Watson' graces his words with the oddest of smiles before wordlessly beginning the journey towards the queue for the Ferris wheal.
Following in his wake his mind fixates on that smile…on the ream of emotions that were hidden there at its corners….and begins to pick it apart as thought it were little more than a particularly cryptic clue.
As he bends himself in past the doorway of the carriage and slides into the seat opposite 'Watson', something clicks in his mind.
"When I…leave…I do so without reason, correct?" His companion tenses and then slowly nods his head.
"You seem uncertain." He remarks before enquiring, "You said before that you were grateful to me, is that because you had thought your separation from my older self your fault? Because my choice to 'use' your younger incarnation to bring you here made it possible that the separation was because you were nothing to me?"
"You always were far too smart for your own good." His companion remarks before he directs his attention towards the slowly expanding horizon.
Supposition solidified now in his mind he has just begun to debate the 'next step' when there is a painful screeching noise and the carriage judders to a halt.
That his companion does not look surprised about this turn of events tells him one thing,
"You knew this was going to happen."
"Of course, it wasn't so long ago that I was the one down on the ground feeling guilty for encouraging you up here, after all." He responds, his eyes never straying from the 'window'.
"Then you suggested this because there was something you wished to say to me away from your younger self, correct?"
"Correct."
"And that would be?"
"It's better that you leave him now before he becomes truly attached. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise he shall end up like you."
"Yes."
Silence and then he utters the other's true name. His head all but snaps towards him at that and, voice thick, he enquires,
"What is it?"
"You are wrong about why he…I…left you." He informs him before saying. "He did not leave because you had become a burden, or because you were insignificant to him, but rather for my sake."
"Explain."
"He knew that it was important for me to see the person you are now…that only such a shock would make me realise…" The last words of the confession are stolen from him with a strong, confident, kiss.
Warmth catches at him and, as fingers press against the small of his back, he finds himself lost to it.
Finds himself lost to anything other than the white hot path that those fingers leave across his skin and desperation of a sort the he had never believed himself capable of.
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He is at the Professors side, hugging tight to his legs and calming the beating of his heart with the warmth he finds there, the very second that his mentor steps from the carriage.
Thus it is only when the other does not respond to this affection in his usual manner than he really looks at the other.
At the odd expression on his face and the faint wisps of candy floss sticking from his hat.
"Is everything alright, Professor?"
His mentor glances over his shoulder at his older self and then, turning back to him, he responds,
"Yes, my boy, I believe that it is."
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T: And there you have it. The prompt that started this whole thing, for those curious, was 'Legal and Layton go at it on a Ferris wheal'.