rollercoaster
Written for August Fic Challenge 2023, Prompt: Roller Coaster. Established Relationship. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!
It feels like a rollercoaster.
One second he's still, balanced on the edge and then he's over the precipice and free-falling with nothing to stop him from plummeting to certain death below. But then, there's an abrupt halt just before he hits the ground, and his body comes up short even though most of him still tries to move forward. An object in motion stays in motion…
It's like a rollercoaster.
Floating up and down between the unpredictable free falls and loops, haphazard twists and turns that make his head spin with the sudden changes in direction. Keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times, he thinks in this moment of hysteria, but he can barely move them at all.
It's like a rollercoaster.
Doesn't even know what's real anymore or just a part of the ride. The world seems like its exploding all around him, a cacophony of sounds and too bright lights. Sharp shrieks and screams like no one else is enjoying it all that much either.
It's like a rollercoaster.
Only he's sure he's not moving at all now, sure he's not on a ride. It's quiet now. His head still spins, riding the wave of a rollercoaster of its own making.
"Warren," someone calls out, and he is aware that the voice is familiar even if he is not sure exactly how. "Warren, come on, wake up," it begs him, and deep in his head, he registers the feel of hands on him, gentle and desperate just like the voice.
He wants off the rollercoaster.
He opens his eyes.
Blinks the world back into bleary focus. Slowly, he realizes that he's in his own house, in his own room, in his own bed. And that Will is at his side, the source of the voice, the hands, drawing him back to reality. "What-?"
Will wrangles him into his arms, lets out a frantic sigh of relief. "You're okay," he says, and Warren is not sure if Will means to reassure him or himself. "Hell, I thought I'd lost you."
"What happened?"
"We were fighting Hypnotic, remember?" Will prompts him, and vaguely Warren does recall that they'd been out on patrol together as Inferno and Airstrike when they'd happened upon Maxville's latest supervillain on a rampage through downtown. He remembers Will setting him down on a rooftop so he could provide cover fire while Will got in closer to deal with the threat a little more directly. "She hit you with something, and you fell. I barely got to you in time before you hit the ground," he explains, all the fear still plain on his face. "I… I didn't know what it did to you – you wouldn't answer me and you weren't moving. Backup was there by then, so I took off with you, flew you home as quick as I could."
Suddenly the rollercoaster makes a lot more sense, he thinks to himself. A trippy hallucination thanks to Hypnotic's powers combined with a free-fall off a six story apartment building and a wild ride through the streets.
"I'm okay," he promises, pulling Will in close once more. He seals his lips to Will's in an effort to prove that and revels in this much more familiar rollercoaster ride – they're both all too familiar with the easy ups and downs of each other.