Pairing(s): Munch/Fin, Fin/Munch.
Fandom: Law & Order: Special Victim Unit.
Rating: G to R.
Feedback: Very welcome, please!
Word Count: 3 140.
Theme Set: ε (Epsilon)
Author Notes: Made for the 1sentence challenge at LJ.
#01 - Motion
It's hypnotic, the way Munch waves his fingers around when he's trying to think, one side, then the other, and Fin's eyes get snared by the motion, erasing whatever he was thinking and leaving only one thought behind: those fingers against the rest of him to figure it out.
#02 - Cool
Fin's style is cool, in the classical, African-American, hip-hop style; but Munch is cool in that refined, classy way that leaves everyone staring back in awe, Fin included.
#03 - Young
Being younger is always a pain around the precinct; the youngest get the worst part of the deal – kinda like him, who got stuck with Munch, but then again, who's he to deny fate?
#04 - Last
Munch's a genius, Fin knows because he's read about him, but he also knows – and this he discovered in the field, after working with the man for years – that he's the sweetest heartbroken idiot around, still trying to get over the last blind hag that left him, and not daring to look up for the next.
#05 - Wrong
Fin thinks it's curious that, for all the snide remarks he gets, Munch never out right tells him he's wrong; it's like a constant, the quiet acknowledgement to his skill and the blind faith that makes him wonder late at night.
#06 - Gentle
Fin's used to getting hurt in the job, with him being a hands-on styled cop and all, he just never expected to get used to Munch running his fingers over his back, soothing muscles with the surprisingly gentle strength of his hands.
#07 - One
Few things can compare with being with Munch – with really being with Munch – much as he is right now, Fin thinks absently, thrown back in bed, gasping, moaning, and clenching his muscles hard enough to remind Fin that they are, indeed, one.
#08 - Thousand
There's a thousand and one things he hates about Munch – from his penchant to always pull the joke on him, to his maniatic need to have everything sorted in alphabetical order, to his inability to hold a serious, jokeless conversation, to the irritating habit of using up all the hot water on mornings Fin's running a little late already – but there's also a thousand and one things he loves just as strongly – like the feeling of fingers easing up knots of tension in his back, or the silent laughter whenever he falls for a subtle prank, or the quiet delight in spending just a few hours together, doing nothing – and it doesn't take a genius to know which one he chooses… or why.
#09 - King
"Drama queen," Munch berates at him, when he notices his crestfallen expression – he had liked that girl, he'd trusted her, and what did she do? Go around and take justice on her own hands – then quickly amends, "Right, drama king," when Fin scowls darkly, promising retribution.
#10 - Learn
"Where did you learn that?" Fin asks before he can think the question, but then there's Munch inside him, doing wicked things with that sharp tongue of his, and he wants to laugh and cry at the same time: summer of love, right.
#11 - Blur
"Calm down," comes the irritated snap from Munch, as Fin moves around the precinct like a struck-up hyper Chihuahua, a blur of activity that leaves everyone wondering what was up with him – a good night of sex, Munch thinks ruefully, not that others'll ever have to know that, "brat."
#12 - Wait
Fin kicks a pebble as he walks down the street, he's never really been the patient once – that's Munch's job – but he could use some patience while he waits for his partner to gather his wits so they can get back together after that spectacular row last night; he's just hoping Munch does want to get together, not to get back and be greeted with a 'well, we lasted long enough, didn't we?' rant, 'cause then he knows he's just going to break and do something stupid: and why does he love the stupid prick in the first place, anyway?
#13 - Change
It's subtle, their friends can barely tell, but it's there: the change in dynamics is so deep, so shaking, that the effects are taking time to show; meanwhile, Munch's still Munch and Fin's still Fin, regardless of how their relationship has changed.
#14 - Command
"Get out, Tutuola," Munch snaps irritably, holding the phone in one hand – where his Mother (who wasn't dead after all, but who really should have been) is screeching some nonsense about family shame and horrible sins – and a crumpled napkin in the other; Fin knows he shouldn't take it personally, after all, he's caught wind of the first round and he knows Munch's just feeling threatened, that he's just trying to protect himself: it doesn't mean the last roared "Get out, goddamnit!" doesn't hurt, though.
#15 - Hold
Fin wakes up gasping for breath, swearing profusely when he realizes he was having a nightmare over something that happened years ago in Narcotics; Munch grumbles half asleep and drags him down against him; when he wraps his arms around him, he mutters a cranky "Just go back to sleep, brat," that really shouldn't be that soothing.
#16 - Need
Everyone has needs, for food, for shelter, for security, for success; you can tell a lot about a person if you know what he or she needs – Munch, for instance, Fin knows he needs commitment, while he himself only needs the warmth to reassure him things will be fine come next morning.
#17 - Vision
There's Munch, battered and coughing up smoke while he drags their victim of the weekend out of the smoldering remains; Fin thinks he's never seen anything remotely more beautiful than the sight of Munch alive.
#18 - Attention
"I had hoped it wouldn't come this far," Fin mutters somewhat annoyed as he stands in front of a bewildered Munch, trying hard to ignore the chill and the fact he's being stared at, that he's naked and suddenly self-conscious about it, "but could you please put that goddamn stupid book away and come to bed? I don't care what bleeding code Da Vinci invented, and you don't, either, if you want to get some in the nearby future," Munch's expression's worth it, though.
#19 - Soul
Fin has come up with a theory for Munch as his badass glasses; eyes are the windows to one's soul after all, and having already seen the sheer beauty, the sheer vulnerable beauty of his partner's soul, Fin's not surprised he wants to hide it away from harm.
#20 - Picture
It's a torn, old picture, taken when Fin was forcefully volunteered by his sister to take his niece and their friends to a theme park and had dragged Munch along out of spite after a crude remark about his babysitting abilities; they were wet, cranky and not really speaking to each other when it was taken, but Fin keeps his copy in his wallet at all times, and knows Munch does too, even if he'll never admit it to anyone.
#21 - Fool
Apparently he's not getting the joke, by the way Munch's giving him a very unflattering look, but Fin honestly has no clue what he's supposed to answer to a 'let's get married' pseudo-proposal that came out of left field in the middle of breakfast – maybe he is the fool Munch has been preaching about for the last ten years.
#22 - Mad
He's not mad at Munch, not really, he's just scared witless at the very sudden, very real prospect of the older man dying and leaving him alone to fend for himself.
#23 - Child
It's a curious sight, one that clasps on his heart tightly, making him wonder of all the things that have gone past them; Munch doesn't seem to notice him, rather amused by the small child's antics, looking twenty years younger when he smiles.
#24 - Now
"Now?" Munch asks in that cute, bewildered tone of his as he stares at Fin as if he's lost his mind, "You mean, now as in now?" Fin tries to not feel hurt by the shocked expression – wanting sex on a Monday morning before work ain't a crime, right?
#25 - Shadow
He used to hate the fact Munch was taller than him, always towering around him wherever they went, but he's come to appretiate the comfort of his partner's shadow falling on him, a silent promise to stick with him through thick and thin.
#26 - Goodbye
Munch has been a cop for so long, he's lost count of the number of partners that have been assigned to him; some came and went without notice, others, like Fin, are just cruel reminders of a 'goodbye' that's yet to come.
#27 - Hide
He's hiding, Fin knows, curled up in a chair, surfing the web and pretending everything's okay; on Monday he'll be just as sarcastic and snide as usual and everyone will pretend nothing changed at all – everyone but Fin, who hates seeing his partner like that, and who would rather have Munch raging at him, that being listless at nothing.
#28 - Fortune
"Hey!" Munch glares at the smartass grin Fin gives him, flashing the stolen fortune cookie between his teeth, "How old are you, again?" He asks then, when it's obvious he's not going to get his fortune cookie back, "Five?" When Fin turns to glare, opening his mouth to retort, Munch snatches the precious cookie, plopping it into his mouth without a care, munching on the paper and ignoring the taste of ink inside his mouth, "You can get the fortune if you want it," he adds cheekily, seeing Fin gape.
#29 - Safe
Munch has killed a man on cold blood, and still Fin slides to bed with him every night, feeling content and safe as he's never done before – Munch has killed a man on cold blood, to protect him, perhaps that's why Fin sleeps so peacefully these days.
#30 - Ghost
"I'm not saying I believe in ghosts," Munch started, ignoring Fin's disgruntled glare, "Much less that a Poltergeist wannabe actually came and tried to abuse our victim, I'm just saying there's a lot out there we have no knowledge of," his eyes glinted, "like, for example, that precarious, absolutely insane force of nature that keeps me attached to your hip, despite obvious disadvan-" Fin kicked him, "-my point exactly."
#31 - Book
"Munch, it's three am, close the goddamn book and go to bed," Fin glared, silencing whatever retort his lover was preparing, "and no, I don't give a flying fuck about the electoral frauds in Latin America, I wanna sleep."
#32 - Eye
Fin has always known Munch had his past regarding not so legal substances; it's like that TV show, 'queer eye for the straight guy', only in his case is 'narcs eye for the suvvy guy' – it never fails him, whether it's to push Munch's buttons or to make him crack a laugh.
#33 - Never
It's unnatural to see Munch without the glasses, like catching him naked in the shower, but for some reason Fin likes to stare longer than decorum permits, knowing instinctively he'll never be allowed enough time to study the image to his heart's content.
#34 - Sing
The room's stuffy, his clothes are itchy and he'd really trade this for a night watching TV any day, but the unmistaken delight in Munch's face when the singer comes into the stage makes each and every inconvenience– including the glaring, scowling woman at his right – worth it; Fin still expects to get sex out of the deal though, and it'll better be good for all he's put upon for Munch's sake.
#35 - Sudden
Approaching the sullen Munch is like approaching a very dangerous, very poisonous snake; one must go gently, without sudden movements, speaking softly and promising plenty of nice things if one – meaning Fin – means to sleep in their shared bed that night.
#36 - Stop
"Stop, stop, stop," Olivia shook her head, "You lost me in the part where you said Munch's cute," She grinned at the flustered Fin, "I don't need to know about it, mind you, but I'd like to know the facts before I help you do anything that could potentially end with Munch plotting against us," Her grin turned into a smirk, "Hon."
#37 - Time
They have all the time in the world, only not, but it rarely matters when they're together and sneering disdainfully at something – together – so they can pretend they have years and years ahead of them; it's better that way.
#38 - Wash
Munch rolls his eyes when he enters the small washing room, holding back a snicker at the sight of Fin drenched in soapy water, blinking in bewilderment at his own state and wondering just how it had happened – Munch had told him about his generally over-dramatic washing machine, but had Fin listened? No, of course not.
#39 – Torn
The tension moment is ruined when a barbing battle starts in his office and Craigen feels torn between what he has to say – do not do anything to compromise the integrity of the New York Police Department – and what he wants to tell them – when did this happen and why wasn't I informed earlier? – but in the end he contents himself simply by watching the mating rituals of his detectives, wondering briefly if Munch's flushed because he's angry and if Fin is really shaking with restraint.
#40 - History
They don't have a lot of the classical mementos for couples simply because they aren't a classical couple, they are quite atypical even in their own type of couple, but one thing they have is the account of their history draped on the small vanity in the bedroom: there, there's Fin's collection of headbands – which Munch's hates vehemently – and a small part of Munch's collection of pins – which Fin hates even more – and strangely enough, both sets of items, as disorganized and contradicting as they are, manage to stay together in the small surface, a quiet reminder of the atypical, non-classy couple that got them there in the first place.
#41 - Power
It's not about power between them, not really; who touches and who lets himself be touched, it's not about age or experience or stupid power games that are more suited to people half their age, no… between them, things are all about trust.
#42 - Bother
"I'm sorry to have bothered you," Fin flinches back at the ice age hiding behind that tone, Munch doesn't need to practice to be a bastard and make him feel like shit, "I just meant to ask my lover if he was alright, but since apparently he's perfectly content with getting pissed off drunk instead of talking to me, fine, by all means, don't allow me to interrupt you."
#43 - God
If there's a god – or a God, or however it's written by people who believe and respect one – Fin thinks he's a vindictive, little over-powered brat; there's no way in hell a fair God would have allowed Munch to be hurt like that, not when he was being… being… Fin snuggles against the covers, holding the scent close and promising not to cry – it'd just make Munch laugh at him if he does.
#44 - Wall
Arguing with Munch over his past habits – his past addiction, Fin wants to snap irritably – is like slamming one's head against a wall; it's painful, messy, unproductive and usually leaves you wondering why you care in the first place, but Fin continues relentlessly, because he won't feel fine with this thing between them, until he's figured out where he stands with Munch and where Munch's past stands with them.
#45 - Naked
Few things can be as breathtaking as Fin taking a shower, in Munch's humble opinion; Fin likes to stand back, bracing himself against the wall and allowing the water to pour on him, reaching everywhere – he just stands there, under the spray, naked and glorious for the world – meaning Munch – to see, and it's beautiful.
#46 - Drive
It's not that Munch actually told Fin – or any other of his partners, really – that he had to drive for him, Fin – like the rest of his partners – just assumed that was how things were since Munch is a whole decade older than Fin – and closely almost two decades for the rest of his partners – so he figures it's about respect; but Fin – unlike his previous partners – actually looks good at the wheel, though, so Munch is not letting out on his little secret – the delight that comes with driving at hundred miles per hour on a deserted street at three am – any time soon.
#47 - Harm
"Odafin Tutuola, I love you like I've never loved anyone before," Munch used his most threatening voice, glaring at Fin with all the wrath he could muster – and it was a lot wrath at that, considering Fin had had the stupid song stuck on repeat for hours – "but if you dare to play that song one more time our living arrangements will become… tense," the older man narrowed his eyes almost into slits, "fatally so."
#48 - Precious
Sharing a bed is always awkward between them, at least for the first ten seconds in which they try to measure in what mood the other is on, before they settle down as close as possible to one another – Munch thinks it's quite amusing to be held as a precious teddy bear, though a teddy bear nonetheless, by a man who's shy of hitting forty.
#49 - Hunger
When they fuck – fuck and not make love; fucking is rough and vicious and every bit as fierce as anything else they do, while love making is reserved to those scarce emotive moments that are so very rare between the greatest cynics in the whole NYPD – Fin turns feral, all bared teeth and scratching nails, a hunger so deep flashing behind his eyes that Munch feels a pang of irrational fear – with a hunger that's nearly as big as his own wanting, Munch fears Fin will devour him until nothing's left behind.
#50 – Believe
"…right," Munch blinks slowly, staring up at Fin – who's quite content to lie on top of him, never mind the fact he's constricting his lungs and distracting his mind – "let us pretend for a moment that I actually believe it's physically possible, you're suicide enough to ask and I'm stupid enough to agree," he arches an eyebrow when Fin pouts a little, "what's in for me, aside gratuitous and amazing sex that's an inherent side effect of this madness of yours?"
