Summary – after a nasty fight, Sousuke says in heat of anger that he wished he'd never met Gin. Words he didn't mean, of course. But wishes are tricky things you see, and when the wrong pair of ears hears him, the very next day Gin has disappeared. Gone without a trace. And life becomes very horrifying very quickly as he tries to get Gin back.
A/n – Hello! I return to you with another Terry Pratchett scale 'oneshot' like Fisher :) funny story, Catsafari and I came up with the same concept on a walk one day and both set off to write completely different stories based on it. So it'll be cool to see how mine differs from hers.
Again, this contains mild nightmare fuel, heavy borrowing from Ancient Magus Bride, cussing, and a fuckton of angst (get your heart crushed in pre-approved ways or your money back :) there are a few heirverse crossreferences just because I wanted to play in the verse sandbox without necessarily committing to verse canon (which is why this is in phase X on ao3) but this is indeed a standalone story that can be read on its own.
Updates should be semi-regular, and as always feedback is nice and generally keeps us writers writing&posting.
Enjoy the story. And if you have time and like The Cat Returns, go check out Cat's piece, 'The Disappearance of Haru Yoshioka'.
xxx
"Be careful what you wish for. You never know who will be listening."
- Terry Pratchett
Without a Trace
"You know what, fuck you!" Gin snarled at him, stalking out of the room and straight out of the front door. "If you don't love me I'll go find someone who will!"
A snarl formed itself on Sousuke's lips as as he watched his husband leave, absolutely filled with blind fury. So much fury his fists were shaking.
"Fine, go!" he snapped, following Gin and lingering in the doorway as his fox stalked out into the night. "See if I care. It' not like I wanted you in the first place!"
He watched Gin visibly flinch at that, and he felt a vicious smile tug at his lips. If the younger man was stung by the barb, he didn't show it.
Seemed he was finally growing a spine.
He watched Gin's form vanish down the path until he was out of sight and retreated back into the house. They fought rarely, but when they did they were like fox and hound, at each other's throats. Vicious and nasty. Drawing blood.
He sighed as he shut the door. "Good riddance," he said to no-one. He should have been relieved, but his body remained taut as a wire. "Fucking brat."
He took a deep, calming breath that did absolutely nothing to calm him. Maybe a drink would calm him down. He moved through to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of whisky, drinking it neat. Usually he'd drink it with ice – on the rocks – but he was just too damn rattled tonight.
Only Gin could get under his skin like this. Rattle the bars of his cage and make him bristle for a fight. Just one of Gin's many talents.
He took a swig, emptied the glass, and poured another. Hoping it'd take the edge off. Gin had rattled his bars good and hard tonight and the sooner he stopped rattling too, the better.
He blew out a long sigh as he sank into bed that night, the whisky having done its work. Thoughts of Gin still playing on his mind, but at least they were muted now by the alcohol instead of blasting full volume.
"Leave me then," he muttered, closing his eyes and welcoming sleep with open arms. "Go like everybody else does. I don't care."
He rolled over, got comfortable, let his body grow heavy. "I wish I'd never met you."
And with that thought in mind, of a life without Gin having even entered his life, he fell into a dreamless, drunken sleep.
. . .
Next thing Sousuke knew, his alarm was blaring. The noise drilling into his skull and giving him one hell of a headache. He groaned and rolled over to switch it off.
He rose with a pounding headache, and begrudgingly got ready to face the day. Gin still nowhere to be found.
He must be hiding out at Rangiku's, Sousuke thought, drinking his morning mug of tea. No need to worry. He'll come back soon when he's stopped being angry.
He finished his breakfast and his tea and left the house to go to work. No doubt he'd see Gin there. Even if it'd just be for a few minutes for Gin to express his wrath in petty revenge and inconvenience.
Or the silent treatment. Which was a lot worse because Gin knew he couldn't stand silence.
. . .
The time passed slowly at the office on a normal day. Without Gin there, it dragged. No, it crawled along at the pace of an elderly snail.
It was past noon now, long past the time Gin was supposed to arrive. An hour later than the time Gin usually arrived. And despite himself, Sousuke was starting to worry. This wasn't like Gin. For all their petty little squabbles over the years, Gin had never flunked off work. Well, not to his knowledge anyway. For all he knew, Gin played hookie frequently while he was away. Maybe this latest spat was enough to make Gin go into hiding.
He recalled his own angry words from last night. It's not like I wanted you in the first place.
He frowned. Perhaps that'd been too harsh. Harsh enough to finally push Gin away for good.
He shook that thought away before it could take root to grow and strangle him. Don't think about that, he told himself. Though the grim voice in his head snickered quietly at him.
Yes, it whispered. But what if? What if he's finally had enough of you and your bullshit? Because it's about time if he has.
The voice laughed, even as he shoved it away. No. He refused to accept that. He was not going to roll over and accept that unless he heard it from Gin's own mouth. In person.
He contemplated it. He was a captain now, thanks to his overthrowing of Hirako. He could order Gin to come. They could have it out and smooth things over. Bury the hatchets. Or Gin could was his hands of him. Either way, they'd know where they stood and he'd know Gin was safe.
He breathed deeply, bracing himself, and summoned a Hell butterfly. He composed a brief message to Gin and sent the messenger on its merry way. Sousuke returned to his work to distract himself while he awaited a reply.
Fortunately the butterfly returned quickly, tinkling in the air to attract his attention. But what the insect landed on his outstretched finger, he noticed something quite odd. Instead of a reply from Gin to his earlier message, the butterfly simply relayed: unable to deliver message. Please try again.
Which, okay, was a little unusual – none of the messengers he'd sent had done this before. But he shrugged it off with a few of the usual excuses. It was a new butterfly. It hadn't been trained properly. He hadn't been clear enough about who the recipient was. Any other day and he might have twigged that something was wrong. But he was tired. He was anxious. He was a little hungover. So he thought nothing of it.
Instead, he recomposed his message and sent it again. Hoping it would reach its destination this time.
But the same thing happened as before. The butterfly returned with the same message. Unable to deliver message. Please try again.
Sousuke's frown deepened as he summoned a different Hell Butterfly and sent that one away, hoping this one wasn't a dud too. That the message would go through this time.
But it didn't.
It returned with the same. Unable to deliver message. Please try again.
And so did the next butterfly. And the one after that.
And the next.
And the next.
And the next.
Which eventually made him realise that something was definitely wrong here.
Very wrong indeed.
He sighed and rose from his seat, resolved to hunt down his fox himself, just for some reassurance that Gin was alright. Even if the man was still ignoring him and had found some way to confuse the messengers just to avoid speaking to him.