Set Gamma: Gremio and Tir, Suikoden
Old school, old school shounen-ai.
I did this interestingly, with the themes in a chronological narrative arc.
Fandom: Genso Suikoden
Pairing: Gremio x Tir McDohl
Theme set: Gamma
Rating: PG-13
39. Overwhelmed
“If you really want to serve your country, young man, go home and be the mother to my son, he doesn’t have one, and I-I…can’t be with him now, but I need to, and I’m sick of watching boys die in place of men.”
13. View
Gremio arrived at the House by the Fountain in the darkness before dawn, and saw the child for the first time, twisted in a red and blue checkered blanket in the last throes of sleep.
42. Talk
Perhaps he was just trying too hard, but he freely admitted it was frightfully awkward, for a boy of fifteen to serve a boy of six.
7. Wings
He managed, though, and relaxed into the task-the Young Master, Tir, was always off finding ways to amuse himself, anyway, so Gremio coasted through the first few weeks and made the House by the Fountain as much a nest as he could.
6. Hurricane
The bandits came with the first rains.
5. Run
They had swarmed the foyer like locusts, ganged up on Kai, the Young Master’s martial-arts tutor, toppled the old man, and run off with the shrieking boy before Gremio even made it down the stairs.
49. Lock
Gremio kicked in the door to their cellar, even though he had an axe.
45. Eclipse
Only rage, only hatred, only fear raced through him as he hacked the gang to pieces, whipping through the hovel like a poltergeist, Tir’s wailing ringing in his ears.
9. Red
When it was all over, the little boy buried his face in Gremio’s cloak and cried, leaving raised streaks in the bloodstains.
17. Promise
He carved the reminder into the blade with a stone, because that was all he could find; in the end, though, it helped his hands stop shaking, having to scrape the same lines, over and over again.
11. Midnight
For weeks after, Tir crept into Gremio’s bed, and even then the child was unable to sleep, his pudgy hands trembling with remembered fear as they wound and clung to the older boy’s long, golden hair.
18. Dream
Gremio hated sleep.
25. Mask
The war ended that same year, and Teo came home to his son and household, so Tir put on a brave face for his father and made mention of the kidnapping only when asked.
41. Wait
When his father’s back was turned, though, Gremio knew the boy to quiver, holding back his tears.
30. Body
But fear tempers itself into a fine armor, though he eventually outgrew it alongside his jerkin and shoes.
3. Memory
Gremio did not.
36. Laugh
He knew every happiness as the boy grew-as they both grew-but Gremio was on a constant guard, shadowed by the specter of his negligence.
31. Sacred
Yes, Ted was Tir’s best and closest friend; Gremio had always been something different.
28. Forgotten
It was always hard for Gremio to believe that Tir had grown up.
32. Farewells
They left the House by the Fountain as an entourage, when Tir followed his father into the Imperial Army, not much older than Gremio had been when the General had sent him into another kind of service.
48. Unknown
Tir’s sense of justice and balance was a sore spot, and even before the Empire came after Ted he’d become a deserter in his heart.
46. Gravity
The Rune of Life and Death changed even the color of Tir’s eyes, somehow, and Gremio shivered each time he noticed the harried blackness, wondering where he’d seen it before.
8. Cold
The despair finally caught up with him at Mount Tigerwolf; citing the weather, he curled up next to Gremio that night, the way he had when he was small, and he buried his hands in the man’s golden hair until he’d snuffed out the glow of the scythe-shaped rune.
21. Silence
Neither of them mentioned it in the morning.
2. Hero
Nor did they the night Odessa died, when it happened again-though this time, it was fear, not despair, and a memory that neither dared lend voice.
24. Strength
When they occupied the Castle, something in Tir’s heart warned him that, if he relied too much on Gremio, he would never be the kind of leader the Liberation Army needed.
19. Candle
So, while Gremio still put out the lights for Tir at night, when Tir was in the castle, he no longer accompanied the Young Master on every jaunt; he listened to the others in the Liberation Army, their stories, their reasons, and remembered that he, too, had once cared enough about the country to truly serve it.
44. Hope
What resulted was that even Gremio was almost in the cause by the time he died for it.
40. Whisper
“Young Master…promise me you’ll always follow your heart…”
4. Box
Hours passed before Mathiu came to get them, and found Tir curled into a useless, helpless ball in the corner of the grey stone room, shivering-and the others, equally useless and helpless, but frightened of their commander as much as for him.
26. Ice
Tir could not cry; the tears longed to fall, but held frozen and jagged behind his eyes, and all he could do was hold the sides of his throbbing head and try to drown out the Soul Eater’s subliminal cackling, like a murder of ravens over the corpse of a hundred-eyed beast.
1. Ring
Viktor went back into the room and fetched the remains-when he later asked if Tir would like the axe, to mount on his wall, maybe, Mathiu cleared his throat in pointed admonishment and Viktor stammered an apology.
35. Fever
Tir tossed and turned through Gremio’s own memories all night.
33. World
If Ted’s death had changed his countenance, and Odessa’s his perception, and Gremio’s his soul, then the act of forgiving General Milich Oppenheimer had warped the lives of all who fought this war.
47. Highway
He dueled and killed his father on the road, facing each other in the dirt more like common bravos than leaders of men.
15. Silk
Tir held his sleeve over his eyes and waited only a moment before realizing that he had no cause to cry; so he wiped the sweat from his brow and moved on.
43. Search
He flung himself into recruitment, despite the cruel jokes that rattled through the veins on his left hand about just luring in more to love and lose-perhaps because since he’d lost so much, he felt no more could harm him.
16. Cover
In the end, he’d done what Viktor had suggested, and propped the axe up on his wall, but the tattered remains of the cloak he kept in his wardrobe, to mend, in what little spare time he had.
23. Fire
Shasarazade burned, and all Tir could think about was how Gremio had never once trusted Sanchez.
20. Talent
Leknaat’s blind eyes filled the room with light, and Tir felt his left hand wrack with pain, his skin crawling, but too suddenly and violently to have fallen asleep.
12. Temptation
Almost before his eyes had focused, Tir was rushing across the War Room, tripping on the hem of the mended cape and clattering to his knees, embracing the bewildered Gremio’s legs the way he had when they were young.
50. Breathe
Gremio gasped, his chest heaving, as if he’d never expected to have air fill his lungs again.
10. Drink
By the time Tir had finished explaining, Gremio had gone through two and a half pitchers of water.
29. Dance
Gremio stood beside Tir as he took command, directing the units from a platform on the shore; the servant gaped at the calm complicity of every man in the ranks, and was quite certain now that his Young Master had grown up.
27. Fall
As the Hanging Gardens crashed, Gremio threw all caution to the wind and ran, his hand like a vice around Tir’s wrist.
34. Formal
Tir thought it best to leave the Republic to Lepant, and Gremio agreed, fearing for Tir’s future otherwise.
14. Music
They stole away the very night of their victory, fireworks sizzling in the sky at their backs.
22. Journey
This time, when they lay down to sleep, Tir once again crept over to Gremio and collapsed against him, almost in disbelief; Gremio took the young man’s hands, and looked him in the eyes, and whispered, “I’ll never leave you, never again.”
37. Lies
Tir believed him.
38. Forever
They shared another hundred and seven years.
I did this interestingly, with the themes in a chronological narrative arc.
Fandom: Genso Suikoden
Pairing: Gremio x Tir McDohl
Theme set: Gamma
Rating: PG-13
39. Overwhelmed
“If you really want to serve your country, young man, go home and be the mother to my son, he doesn’t have one, and I-I…can’t be with him now, but I need to, and I’m sick of watching boys die in place of men.”
13. View
Gremio arrived at the House by the Fountain in the darkness before dawn, and saw the child for the first time, twisted in a red and blue checkered blanket in the last throes of sleep.
42. Talk
Perhaps he was just trying too hard, but he freely admitted it was frightfully awkward, for a boy of fifteen to serve a boy of six.
7. Wings
He managed, though, and relaxed into the task-the Young Master, Tir, was always off finding ways to amuse himself, anyway, so Gremio coasted through the first few weeks and made the House by the Fountain as much a nest as he could.
6. Hurricane
The bandits came with the first rains.
5. Run
They had swarmed the foyer like locusts, ganged up on Kai, the Young Master’s martial-arts tutor, toppled the old man, and run off with the shrieking boy before Gremio even made it down the stairs.
49. Lock
Gremio kicked in the door to their cellar, even though he had an axe.
45. Eclipse
Only rage, only hatred, only fear raced through him as he hacked the gang to pieces, whipping through the hovel like a poltergeist, Tir’s wailing ringing in his ears.
9. Red
When it was all over, the little boy buried his face in Gremio’s cloak and cried, leaving raised streaks in the bloodstains.
17. Promise
He carved the reminder into the blade with a stone, because that was all he could find; in the end, though, it helped his hands stop shaking, having to scrape the same lines, over and over again.
11. Midnight
For weeks after, Tir crept into Gremio’s bed, and even then the child was unable to sleep, his pudgy hands trembling with remembered fear as they wound and clung to the older boy’s long, golden hair.
18. Dream
Gremio hated sleep.
25. Mask
The war ended that same year, and Teo came home to his son and household, so Tir put on a brave face for his father and made mention of the kidnapping only when asked.
41. Wait
When his father’s back was turned, though, Gremio knew the boy to quiver, holding back his tears.
30. Body
But fear tempers itself into a fine armor, though he eventually outgrew it alongside his jerkin and shoes.
3. Memory
Gremio did not.
36. Laugh
He knew every happiness as the boy grew-as they both grew-but Gremio was on a constant guard, shadowed by the specter of his negligence.
31. Sacred
Yes, Ted was Tir’s best and closest friend; Gremio had always been something different.
28. Forgotten
It was always hard for Gremio to believe that Tir had grown up.
32. Farewells
They left the House by the Fountain as an entourage, when Tir followed his father into the Imperial Army, not much older than Gremio had been when the General had sent him into another kind of service.
48. Unknown
Tir’s sense of justice and balance was a sore spot, and even before the Empire came after Ted he’d become a deserter in his heart.
46. Gravity
The Rune of Life and Death changed even the color of Tir’s eyes, somehow, and Gremio shivered each time he noticed the harried blackness, wondering where he’d seen it before.
8. Cold
The despair finally caught up with him at Mount Tigerwolf; citing the weather, he curled up next to Gremio that night, the way he had when he was small, and he buried his hands in the man’s golden hair until he’d snuffed out the glow of the scythe-shaped rune.
21. Silence
Neither of them mentioned it in the morning.
2. Hero
Nor did they the night Odessa died, when it happened again-though this time, it was fear, not despair, and a memory that neither dared lend voice.
24. Strength
When they occupied the Castle, something in Tir’s heart warned him that, if he relied too much on Gremio, he would never be the kind of leader the Liberation Army needed.
19. Candle
So, while Gremio still put out the lights for Tir at night, when Tir was in the castle, he no longer accompanied the Young Master on every jaunt; he listened to the others in the Liberation Army, their stories, their reasons, and remembered that he, too, had once cared enough about the country to truly serve it.
44. Hope
What resulted was that even Gremio was almost in the cause by the time he died for it.
40. Whisper
“Young Master…promise me you’ll always follow your heart…”
4. Box
Hours passed before Mathiu came to get them, and found Tir curled into a useless, helpless ball in the corner of the grey stone room, shivering-and the others, equally useless and helpless, but frightened of their commander as much as for him.
26. Ice
Tir could not cry; the tears longed to fall, but held frozen and jagged behind his eyes, and all he could do was hold the sides of his throbbing head and try to drown out the Soul Eater’s subliminal cackling, like a murder of ravens over the corpse of a hundred-eyed beast.
1. Ring
Viktor went back into the room and fetched the remains-when he later asked if Tir would like the axe, to mount on his wall, maybe, Mathiu cleared his throat in pointed admonishment and Viktor stammered an apology.
35. Fever
Tir tossed and turned through Gremio’s own memories all night.
33. World
If Ted’s death had changed his countenance, and Odessa’s his perception, and Gremio’s his soul, then the act of forgiving General Milich Oppenheimer had warped the lives of all who fought this war.
47. Highway
He dueled and killed his father on the road, facing each other in the dirt more like common bravos than leaders of men.
15. Silk
Tir held his sleeve over his eyes and waited only a moment before realizing that he had no cause to cry; so he wiped the sweat from his brow and moved on.
43. Search
He flung himself into recruitment, despite the cruel jokes that rattled through the veins on his left hand about just luring in more to love and lose-perhaps because since he’d lost so much, he felt no more could harm him.
16. Cover
In the end, he’d done what Viktor had suggested, and propped the axe up on his wall, but the tattered remains of the cloak he kept in his wardrobe, to mend, in what little spare time he had.
23. Fire
Shasarazade burned, and all Tir could think about was how Gremio had never once trusted Sanchez.
20. Talent
Leknaat’s blind eyes filled the room with light, and Tir felt his left hand wrack with pain, his skin crawling, but too suddenly and violently to have fallen asleep.
12. Temptation
Almost before his eyes had focused, Tir was rushing across the War Room, tripping on the hem of the mended cape and clattering to his knees, embracing the bewildered Gremio’s legs the way he had when they were young.
50. Breathe
Gremio gasped, his chest heaving, as if he’d never expected to have air fill his lungs again.
10. Drink
By the time Tir had finished explaining, Gremio had gone through two and a half pitchers of water.
29. Dance
Gremio stood beside Tir as he took command, directing the units from a platform on the shore; the servant gaped at the calm complicity of every man in the ranks, and was quite certain now that his Young Master had grown up.
27. Fall
As the Hanging Gardens crashed, Gremio threw all caution to the wind and ran, his hand like a vice around Tir’s wrist.
34. Formal
Tir thought it best to leave the Republic to Lepant, and Gremio agreed, fearing for Tir’s future otherwise.
14. Music
They stole away the very night of their victory, fireworks sizzling in the sky at their backs.
22. Journey
This time, when they lay down to sleep, Tir once again crept over to Gremio and collapsed against him, almost in disbelief; Gremio took the young man’s hands, and looked him in the eyes, and whispered, “I’ll never leave you, never again.”
37. Lies
Tir believed him.
38. Forever
They shared another hundred and seven years.