Counterpoints are from Ernest's POV. The ecchibis INSISTED on something, and since I couldn't break timeline and have Garu and Ernest have wild sex, I compromised by giving them an extremely shounen ai counterpoint piece. ^^ They're not happy, no, but Ernest is almost as good at fighting off the ecchibis as Erts is, so I leave him to fend for himself...
WARNINGS:
Shounen ai, shounen ai, shounen ai. Same universe, same timeline, no
AU. Ernest's gonna go off and get himself killed one day, and Garu doesn't
ever go off and get himself a clue. There will be inaccuracies and a lot
of assumptions about the nature of GOA, Candidatehood, Pilothood, etc,
and I'm just guessing about a lot of the personal stuff that I SHOULD know
if only there were furigana on these damn kanji. ^^ Ah, well. Don't
hold it against me too much.
SEDIMENTARY PERCUSSION
CHAPTER 1: Counterpoint
by Kay Willow
I wasn't lying to him.
It's never been that way before; normally my EX tempers the emotions of others so that they come in as distinct, separate entities, hovering on the edges of my consciousness like leeches and sucking away my peace of mind. But with him, I've never been able to maintain that distance: even from the first, his life and his spirit, his ENERGY hit me like a sledgehammer, leaving me dazed and winded and utterly confused.
His livid anger surged out of the void at me, penetrating effortlessly past my defenses and flooding into me like a living thing, tearing me apart. And no sooner had I fallen to my knees than it was followed by a crushing, crippling despair, weighing on my heart and soul and dragging me down still further.
And I wasn't in the least upset about my pain. All I could think was, Garu! Garu, what's happened to you, what's wrong?!>
But I couldn't reach out to him. Not there, in the middle of the training grounds, with instructors and monitors watching me, with Tune's normally hesitant voice frantic with worry from the control room, with the limited, barely-sentient concern of my Pro-Ing drifting up to me without understanding.
"I'm sorry," I panted, fighting to regain my feet and finding my legs unstable. "I need... a rest."
When Garu returned to his rooms, radiating a confused muddle of emotions that wrenched further at my mind, I made sure to be waiting for him. He looked so lost, so hopeless, that every empathic instinct I had urged me to reach out and soothe him.
At his question, I tried to show that somehow -- to embrace him, to take his hand, even just to tell him that I understand. My body and my brain met at a crossroads, and I took a single step forward and suddenly found something agitating about my hair. I don't know why I try. He doesn't feel the same way, probably considers me just another of his many friends, might even not consider me that much, maybe just someone he tried to help while he was feeling generous or just bored.
I can never be anything more than there for him. "I could feel..." I began, "...that you were unhappy."
And so much more, Gareas. And so much more. I always know what you feel.>
No matter what he may think, no matter how he views that day, I was his from the first moment I felt his mind... from the first moment he held out his hand to the mysterious telepathist he didn't even know and vowed to be his friend no matter what. How he knew how lonely I was, how tired I was, how much I needed that helping hand... I will probably never understand how he can claim to be so bad at dealing with people, and yet read me so easily.
"You were broadcasting strong enough to knock me off my feet. First anger that struck me like a physical blow, then sadness that jabbed straight into my skull..." A pathetic explanation of something that left me paralyzed and breathless and desperately needing to go to him all at once, but he appeared to appreciate it anyway, and I smiled and teased him just a little. "You're always so violent, Garu."
For a moment, everything seemed okay, as he needled me back and we continued to play this game that I never thought I could enjoy, a game of mocking and untruths. But then the depression returned to him as he swung into his room -- his territory, a space that my mind recognized on some primal level as being totally and utterly his -- and he pronounced bleakly, "They're not going to let me become a Pilot."
The words made no sense to me, even accompanied by the wretchedness that told me that it wasn't a joke. He explained his situation in simple, unadorned sentences, then threw himself on his bed and made as if to hide from the cruel and heartless universe that had forced on him the one thing that could shatter his dreams, through no fault of his own.
Insomnia. Such an abstract thing, seemingly so innocent... Something I would never have normally associated with Gareas, and coming so close to sabotaging everything he's worked for.
I sat next to him on the bed. "I never thought... Why?"
He cocked his head around to study me, keeping his face resting on his folded arms. "I don't know. I just... can't relax. Can't not THINK. It's not very conducive to drifting off, you know?"
He starts the game, demands that I play it, and then leaves himself open like that. I grinned broadly and delivered the appropriate insult: "Well, you have to think SOME time."
"Okay, okay," Garu said testily, disgruntled at having outmaneuvered himself, "if you've got that out of your system, can we get back to the fact that I have a PROBLEM here?"
He pouted, and in that instant I wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss him -- smooth his wild hair with my fingers and feel his body next to mine and find a way to hold all his unhappiness at bay. But he's not for me, and I know that; I belong to him completely, but he is a free spirit, and I could no sooner seize him and seek to hold him to me than I could seize a star and make it mine.
But, as Garu said, he had a problem. Although it wasn't much of a problem, since the answer was already within his grasp. I smiled at him. "So you need to find a solution, huh? How about using EX to help--"
"No, no. We've already covered all that in Med Bay. It's no good," he interrupted me. "I can't risk anything that would change my bond with my Ingrid."
I tried again, "But if you'd--"
"Ernest, come on, here!" he snarled, venting his frustration on his pillow and snapping the seams. He glowered at its remains. "I need a SOLUTION, not a rehashing of false starts!"
Gareas, if I didn't love you so much, I don't know if I could bear with you.> But the violence and the impatience are part of his charm, and only make his careful, deliberate efforts to draw me out all the more wondrous.
He didn't want to hear the obvious solution. Sometimes Gareas likes doing things the hard way. "Then maybe exercise is the way to go. If you wear yourself down in the weight room, there's a good chance that you'll fall right to sleep the moment your head hits the... mattress." I couldn't fight down the smirk.
And then he rolled onto his back and stared up at me intensely. Almost unconsciously, he ran a hand up his chest...
Ah, Garu, you don't know what you do to me.>
And then he smiled at me. For me. "All right. If you really think it'll do some good, I'll try it."
'If I really think'... If it's me, then he'll take my word.
"But you'll have to tolerate my whining if it doesn't work."
He couldn't let a sentimental moment go, could he? I couldn't help laughing, his turmoil and my own wistful imaginings melting away in a heartbeat of camaraderie, which, in the end, is enough for me.
What else could I say? "I accept that responsibility."
I will never have to merely tolerate you, Gareas. I'm yours.
Sappy? Yes. Overly mushy? Yes. Gonna get better? Not really. ^^
Pleasepleaseplease give feedback; I can't write for a series unless
I get reassurance that I'm not making everybody OOC or mangling the story
or offending people or something. ~_~ So if I don't get responses,
I'm going to assume you don't like it, and then I'll feel bad. ^^
You don't want me to feel bad, do you...?
Everybody belongs to Yukiru Sugisaki. I own four of the manymany copies
of her tankoubon that are out there, and pretty much nothing else but the
scenario. ^^
Kay Willow, heading off to pray for nice commentary
AIM: Savinsilk
Email: kay_willow@hotmail.com
Quote: Erin-neesama, after counseling me on the Epilogue --
"You can repay my literary advice by getting Ernest
laid. Or at
least pointing me to a page where I can get enough
specifics
to get him laid myself."
