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storypaint) wrote2009-10-20 09:10 am
storypaint) wrote2009-10-20 09:10 am
four times Clow and Yuuko (didn't really) argue, and one time they did (Clow/Yuuko)
Title: four times Clow and Yuuko (didn't really) argue, and one time they did
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Length: 2024 words
Prompt: n/a
Pairing: Clow/Yuuko; slight Yue/Clow implied (#2)
Other: PG for sexual references (#3 and #5)
Excerpt: "I'm certain there was another bottle left. I know I brought an extra, just in case." Clow frowned, trying to concentrate on the scene before him, but every bottle he reached for was clearly empty. Even if his hand-eye coordination wasn't very good at the moment, their emptiness was depressingly obvious.
1. gottle of geer
"I'm certain there was another bottle left. I know I brought an extra, just in case." Clow frowned, trying to concentrate on the scene before him, but every bottle he reached for was clearly empty. Even if his hand-eye coordination wasn't very good at the moment, their emptiness was depressingly obvious.
"There is no more booze, Reed. Obviously you're too drunk to count," Yuuko answered, not bothering to get up from the couch.
"Then perhaps it's time to stop for the night," he said, sighing and turning back to wobble back to the couch. She pulled her feet out of his path just in time.
"I'm not that drunk!" she protested, scowling. She'd drink more, if only there was something to drink.
"What a shame. Clearly, I should have brought another bottle with me."
He leaned over to smile apologetically at her, but overbalanced and found himself sliding off the couch. He lay there a moment. She nudged him with her foot.
"Still alive," he mumbled into the carpet, "but no more booze."
"You don't know when to stop," she said.
"No argument there," he answered.
She rolled her eyes and lounged there a moment longer, contemplating the lack of alcohol. Clow started snoring.
"You'd better, next time," she said to his sleeping form, but she affectionately pushed him onto his side so that he wouldn't choke on his vomit before she stumbled off to her own bed.
*
2. reflections
"He's a stick in the mud," she said, and when Clow opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand. "But that's not the worst of it, you know. You have made someone to love you, wholly, and he does."
He didn't answer for a long moment. He wasn't sure how. He'd known that if she had hung around the mansion for long enough, she'd get to know his family. And Yuuko was not stupid, even if she could be silly.
But he'd never worked out how to answer this accusation. It was no mistake, not exactly. He would not change Yue, not for all the alcohol in the world. Yue was a person. This was the personality he'd developed, and interfering with it would mean he thought of his creations as no better than dolls.
"I know," he said finally. She looked at him, looked away, and then looked back, her expression even more incredulous.
"Hubris," she hissed.
"Certainly," he answered. "But we were all once young, and stupid."
"And you were exceptionally," she answered. She stared up at him, and blinked. For a moment, he saw just a touch of pity. For Yue, he assumed, of course. After all, he couldn't help how he was made.
She wandered off to raid his liquor cabinet, then, and he didn't protest when she pulled out the good wines.
*
3. first comes love then comes
They had their separate spaces. There was no question about that. Of course, they often spent time in each other's houses, but in the end, Clow went home to his mansion and Yuuko relaxed in the shop.
"You could move in with me," he said once, on a lazy day when they were both laying sprawled across his bed, hair tangled, the room full of her smoke. She raised her head to stare at him in disbelief.
"What kind of a stupid idea is that?"
He waved a hand, disturbing the air. "Just a thought, my love, just a thought."
"We'd drive each other insane," she said, daring him to disagree. "I can only stand you in small doses."
"You've put up with me for centuries," he answered, half-smiling, taking her free hand and rubbing her palm. She let him for a moment before she took it back.
"Only because we have our boundaries," she answered, and her tone was honest, and it hurt his feelings a little. He had always thought her all bluster in her irritation, which helped him not to be offended by it.
"What do you mean?" he asked, and his hurt must have showed on his face, because she turned over onto her stomach, resting her head in her hands, and she looked at him.
"I mean," she said, tracing a finger down the underside of his arm, making him shiver, "that you are annoying, and I am high-maintenance, and we are very used to being our own people."
She furrowed her brow, pausing with her nails pressed into his wrist, "And I don't want to move here-- it's impossibly dreary, and not close enough to the shop, and then I would have to be on the lookout all the time for Cerberus stealing my food and Yue stealing all cheer from the room."
She reached over to pick up her pipe from the bedside table, pulling on it again and setting it back before resting her head in her folded arms and letting the smoke escape slowly to the air.
"I suppose," he answered after a long moment, disappointed, and he didn't ask her again.
*
4. polarities
"Considering how much they eat," Yuuko said, leaning back against his shoulder familiarly, "we ought have named them after food."
Clow laughed. "Powerful names, you remember. Who could take them seriously if we named them like that?"
She rolled her eyes. "No one will take them seriously," she answered. "They're cute and sweet little things. Children."
"Children with big jobs," he answered, softly, and she realized she was touching him again. She shifted away.
"Of course," she answered, suppressing her irritation, "but children all the same."
"I wouldn't name my children after food," he answered, looking down at her, though she was looking away. She knew his face would be just a little disappointed, and she didn't want to see it.
"I can't imagine who would give you children," she answered tartly, and he bit his lip so he didn't answer, We made these ones together, didn't we?
But the thought reassured him. All was not lost. After all, she'd consented to the Mokona.
"No one who knew any better, I'm sure," he answered, self-deprecatingly, and reached out to brush her cheek.
It took her just a moment longer to pull away.
*
1. endings
She threw up her hands and took a pace forward, and then back. "There are too many variables. How can you expect this to work, honestly?"
"I've seen it happening," he answered, not looking up from his spell-sketching. "If we set things in motion, then the choices will be made. You believe in hitsuzen. Why is this so hard?"
"I just--"
She bit back her first response, and her second, and finally stalked off into the next room, slamming the door. Clow's house had good doors for slamming, and the sound echoed down the hallway. He didn't get up immediately, adding a few more lines before pulling himself from his chair to follow. The noise had attracted Cerberus to the hallway.
"What's going on?" the guardian asked.
"Yuuko is mad," Clow answered softly, patting Kero's head, "not that that's unusual."
Cerberus leaned against his master's leg and said, "Would you like me to talk to her?" Clow let his hand tangle in the beast's mane for a moment before he chuckled and answered, "No, I suppose I should go face my medicine."
She hadn't locked the door, since there was no point in trying. When he opened the door to the spare room she'd been staying in, she was pulling clothes from their hangers, picking hairpins off the vanity, her movements short and sharp and irritated. She wasn't making a great deal of effort to fit anything into the small satchel she had brought with her (small on the outside, that is, this was Yuuko after all).
"Yuuko--" he began, somewhat uncertain what had provoked her rage. Ever since they'd begun working on the finer details of the plan, she'd been more moody than usual. "What's wrong?" he asked finally, simply.
She glared at him. "You're leaving," she bit out. "You're leaving me alone with this mess. And that's the best plan you could come up with."
"Do you think I like the idea?" he asked, disbelieving. He shut the door behind him and warded it before continuing, "Do you think I want to leave my guardians, the Cards, the Mokona, or you?"
Any normal insult from her would have rolled right off him, but this assumption of disloyalty, of running away, made him furious. If she thought that something like that would be in his character, she didn't know him at all. If she thought that about him, he didn't know her at all, and if that were true, then who was it he had loved too much? An idea of a woman?
"It doesn't matter whether you want," she answered, "because it's what you're doing."
Something about her glare was softening, though, and he realized, surprised, that her eyes were wet. She seemed to realize it too, and whipped around to face the vanity, leaning over to fiddle with her things there.
"You are an impossible jerk," she said quietly.
"You always say that," he said, not denying it. He moved close enough to run a hand down her neck and across her shoulder. She turned to face him and buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling, shuddering, but only for a moment.
"It's a stupid plan," she said, lifting her face to look at him, and there was anger in her eyes again. And because he knew Yuuko very well, he ignored her slightly puffy eyes, brushing a hand across her cheek to catch the lone tear, but he said nothing about it.
"It will work," he said.
"It had better!" she answered, glowering. "Because if it doesn't, then when I get to the afterlife, you are getting it."
"Oh?" he answered, allowing a smirk to emerge. "Getting what?"
She smacked him across the chest, wresting from from his grip. "A piece of my mind."
"I hope it is the piece that's soaked in alcohol," he answered, his grin widening. She sighed theatrically in answer.
"You are utterly impossible, Clow Reed."
"I try my hardest," he said with a half-bow. "Now, should we?"
He gestured toward the door, but Yuuko shook her head. "Enough!" she said, flopping down on the bed. "Don't you ever stop working?"
Clow did have a habit of overwork; he'd strive to finish a project in almost a manic manner, forgoing proper sleep and food and sometimes even shaving for a couple of months if he was onto something. But he'd take a couple months off after that, to lounge around his house and tease Yuuko and drink good wines. It wasn't the way that Yuuko liked to work, and he was surprised, honestly, that she'd put up with it for as long as she had. Yuuko valued proper mealtimes and sleeping late and drinking all the time. Work had to fit in around that.
"If you'd like to take a break, that can be arranged," he answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He wasn't surprised when she sat up, took his glasses, and pulled him down on top of her. She kissed him once, fiercely, and then put her fingers on his lips when he tried to speak again.
"No arrangements necessary."
"Locking the door might be a good idea," he answered, sucking on her fingertips.
She rolled her eyes but slipped out of his grasp for long enough to do so, returning with a flying leap that quite knocked the wind out of him. That was Yuuko, mischievous to a fault.
No more was said of work that afternoon, or evening, and no more was ever said of that fight. But they did have another one the next week. And another a couple of weeks after that.
The fights really weren't unusual, up until the day he left. And after that, she argued with his memory. At least it didn't answer back.
(He was going to get a piece of her mind, though, when she saw him again, regardless of whether the plan worked or not.)
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Length: 2024 words
Prompt: n/a
Pairing: Clow/Yuuko; slight Yue/Clow implied (#2)
Other: PG for sexual references (#3 and #5)
Excerpt: "I'm certain there was another bottle left. I know I brought an extra, just in case." Clow frowned, trying to concentrate on the scene before him, but every bottle he reached for was clearly empty. Even if his hand-eye coordination wasn't very good at the moment, their emptiness was depressingly obvious.
1. gottle of geer
"I'm certain there was another bottle left. I know I brought an extra, just in case." Clow frowned, trying to concentrate on the scene before him, but every bottle he reached for was clearly empty. Even if his hand-eye coordination wasn't very good at the moment, their emptiness was depressingly obvious.
"There is no more booze, Reed. Obviously you're too drunk to count," Yuuko answered, not bothering to get up from the couch.
"Then perhaps it's time to stop for the night," he said, sighing and turning back to wobble back to the couch. She pulled her feet out of his path just in time.
"I'm not that drunk!" she protested, scowling. She'd drink more, if only there was something to drink.
"What a shame. Clearly, I should have brought another bottle with me."
He leaned over to smile apologetically at her, but overbalanced and found himself sliding off the couch. He lay there a moment. She nudged him with her foot.
"Still alive," he mumbled into the carpet, "but no more booze."
"You don't know when to stop," she said.
"No argument there," he answered.
She rolled her eyes and lounged there a moment longer, contemplating the lack of alcohol. Clow started snoring.
"You'd better, next time," she said to his sleeping form, but she affectionately pushed him onto his side so that he wouldn't choke on his vomit before she stumbled off to her own bed.
*
2. reflections
"He's a stick in the mud," she said, and when Clow opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand. "But that's not the worst of it, you know. You have made someone to love you, wholly, and he does."
He didn't answer for a long moment. He wasn't sure how. He'd known that if she had hung around the mansion for long enough, she'd get to know his family. And Yuuko was not stupid, even if she could be silly.
But he'd never worked out how to answer this accusation. It was no mistake, not exactly. He would not change Yue, not for all the alcohol in the world. Yue was a person. This was the personality he'd developed, and interfering with it would mean he thought of his creations as no better than dolls.
"I know," he said finally. She looked at him, looked away, and then looked back, her expression even more incredulous.
"Hubris," she hissed.
"Certainly," he answered. "But we were all once young, and stupid."
"And you were exceptionally," she answered. She stared up at him, and blinked. For a moment, he saw just a touch of pity. For Yue, he assumed, of course. After all, he couldn't help how he was made.
She wandered off to raid his liquor cabinet, then, and he didn't protest when she pulled out the good wines.
*
3. first comes love then comes
They had their separate spaces. There was no question about that. Of course, they often spent time in each other's houses, but in the end, Clow went home to his mansion and Yuuko relaxed in the shop.
"You could move in with me," he said once, on a lazy day when they were both laying sprawled across his bed, hair tangled, the room full of her smoke. She raised her head to stare at him in disbelief.
"What kind of a stupid idea is that?"
He waved a hand, disturbing the air. "Just a thought, my love, just a thought."
"We'd drive each other insane," she said, daring him to disagree. "I can only stand you in small doses."
"You've put up with me for centuries," he answered, half-smiling, taking her free hand and rubbing her palm. She let him for a moment before she took it back.
"Only because we have our boundaries," she answered, and her tone was honest, and it hurt his feelings a little. He had always thought her all bluster in her irritation, which helped him not to be offended by it.
"What do you mean?" he asked, and his hurt must have showed on his face, because she turned over onto her stomach, resting her head in her hands, and she looked at him.
"I mean," she said, tracing a finger down the underside of his arm, making him shiver, "that you are annoying, and I am high-maintenance, and we are very used to being our own people."
She furrowed her brow, pausing with her nails pressed into his wrist, "And I don't want to move here-- it's impossibly dreary, and not close enough to the shop, and then I would have to be on the lookout all the time for Cerberus stealing my food and Yue stealing all cheer from the room."
She reached over to pick up her pipe from the bedside table, pulling on it again and setting it back before resting her head in her folded arms and letting the smoke escape slowly to the air.
"I suppose," he answered after a long moment, disappointed, and he didn't ask her again.
*
4. polarities
"Considering how much they eat," Yuuko said, leaning back against his shoulder familiarly, "we ought have named them after food."
Clow laughed. "Powerful names, you remember. Who could take them seriously if we named them like that?"
She rolled her eyes. "No one will take them seriously," she answered. "They're cute and sweet little things. Children."
"Children with big jobs," he answered, softly, and she realized she was touching him again. She shifted away.
"Of course," she answered, suppressing her irritation, "but children all the same."
"I wouldn't name my children after food," he answered, looking down at her, though she was looking away. She knew his face would be just a little disappointed, and she didn't want to see it.
"I can't imagine who would give you children," she answered tartly, and he bit his lip so he didn't answer, We made these ones together, didn't we?
But the thought reassured him. All was not lost. After all, she'd consented to the Mokona.
"No one who knew any better, I'm sure," he answered, self-deprecatingly, and reached out to brush her cheek.
It took her just a moment longer to pull away.
*
1. endings
She threw up her hands and took a pace forward, and then back. "There are too many variables. How can you expect this to work, honestly?"
"I've seen it happening," he answered, not looking up from his spell-sketching. "If we set things in motion, then the choices will be made. You believe in hitsuzen. Why is this so hard?"
"I just--"
She bit back her first response, and her second, and finally stalked off into the next room, slamming the door. Clow's house had good doors for slamming, and the sound echoed down the hallway. He didn't get up immediately, adding a few more lines before pulling himself from his chair to follow. The noise had attracted Cerberus to the hallway.
"What's going on?" the guardian asked.
"Yuuko is mad," Clow answered softly, patting Kero's head, "not that that's unusual."
Cerberus leaned against his master's leg and said, "Would you like me to talk to her?" Clow let his hand tangle in the beast's mane for a moment before he chuckled and answered, "No, I suppose I should go face my medicine."
She hadn't locked the door, since there was no point in trying. When he opened the door to the spare room she'd been staying in, she was pulling clothes from their hangers, picking hairpins off the vanity, her movements short and sharp and irritated. She wasn't making a great deal of effort to fit anything into the small satchel she had brought with her (small on the outside, that is, this was Yuuko after all).
"Yuuko--" he began, somewhat uncertain what had provoked her rage. Ever since they'd begun working on the finer details of the plan, she'd been more moody than usual. "What's wrong?" he asked finally, simply.
She glared at him. "You're leaving," she bit out. "You're leaving me alone with this mess. And that's the best plan you could come up with."
"Do you think I like the idea?" he asked, disbelieving. He shut the door behind him and warded it before continuing, "Do you think I want to leave my guardians, the Cards, the Mokona, or you?"
Any normal insult from her would have rolled right off him, but this assumption of disloyalty, of running away, made him furious. If she thought that something like that would be in his character, she didn't know him at all. If she thought that about him, he didn't know her at all, and if that were true, then who was it he had loved too much? An idea of a woman?
"It doesn't matter whether you want," she answered, "because it's what you're doing."
Something about her glare was softening, though, and he realized, surprised, that her eyes were wet. She seemed to realize it too, and whipped around to face the vanity, leaning over to fiddle with her things there.
"You are an impossible jerk," she said quietly.
"You always say that," he said, not denying it. He moved close enough to run a hand down her neck and across her shoulder. She turned to face him and buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling, shuddering, but only for a moment.
"It's a stupid plan," she said, lifting her face to look at him, and there was anger in her eyes again. And because he knew Yuuko very well, he ignored her slightly puffy eyes, brushing a hand across her cheek to catch the lone tear, but he said nothing about it.
"It will work," he said.
"It had better!" she answered, glowering. "Because if it doesn't, then when I get to the afterlife, you are getting it."
"Oh?" he answered, allowing a smirk to emerge. "Getting what?"
She smacked him across the chest, wresting from from his grip. "A piece of my mind."
"I hope it is the piece that's soaked in alcohol," he answered, his grin widening. She sighed theatrically in answer.
"You are utterly impossible, Clow Reed."
"I try my hardest," he said with a half-bow. "Now, should we?"
He gestured toward the door, but Yuuko shook her head. "Enough!" she said, flopping down on the bed. "Don't you ever stop working?"
Clow did have a habit of overwork; he'd strive to finish a project in almost a manic manner, forgoing proper sleep and food and sometimes even shaving for a couple of months if he was onto something. But he'd take a couple months off after that, to lounge around his house and tease Yuuko and drink good wines. It wasn't the way that Yuuko liked to work, and he was surprised, honestly, that she'd put up with it for as long as she had. Yuuko valued proper mealtimes and sleeping late and drinking all the time. Work had to fit in around that.
"If you'd like to take a break, that can be arranged," he answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He wasn't surprised when she sat up, took his glasses, and pulled him down on top of her. She kissed him once, fiercely, and then put her fingers on his lips when he tried to speak again.
"No arrangements necessary."
"Locking the door might be a good idea," he answered, sucking on her fingertips.
She rolled her eyes but slipped out of his grasp for long enough to do so, returning with a flying leap that quite knocked the wind out of him. That was Yuuko, mischievous to a fault.
No more was said of work that afternoon, or evening, and no more was ever said of that fight. But they did have another one the next week. And another a couple of weeks after that.
The fights really weren't unusual, up until the day he left. And after that, she argued with his memory. At least it didn't answer back.
(He was going to get a piece of her mind, though, when she saw him again, regardless of whether the plan worked or not.)
no subject
This fanfic almost hurt to read, as it hit close. I do'ed it anyway, since, of course, one of my favourite contemporary writers, and a fandom with which I'm familiar.
no subject
Thanks for the compliment~
no subject
yet.You're welcome! ^_^