Haven fic: This Map of Scars Will Lead You Home (Nathan, Duke) PG-13
Title: This Map of Scars Will Lead You Home
Author: shealynn88
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~300
Characters: Nathan, Duke
Summary: The scars that make them two sides of the same coin are the ones from living in Haven, from growing up there, from growing together and splitting apart.
For the insmallpackages holiday exchange.
Nathan knows how to dress wounds - with a trouble like his, it's been a necessity.
But somehow, dressing the gouge in Duke's arm is more painful than dressing his own wound would have been, because everything is mixed up and messy when it comes to Duke.
“Ow, Jesus, Nathan! I feel that, remember?”
The reminder is a cruelty that Nathan takes for granted by now, but he presses the bandage painfully in absent retribution, because Duke expects it. It's the way they operate now. Traded jibes and pain and scars. “Don't be such a baby, Crocker. I'm almost done.”
Duke yanks his arm away as Nathan puts the finishing touches on. They glare at one another for a long moment, and Duke picks up his jacket. It's meant to be nonchalant, but Nathan notices the way he winces when he extends his arm.
“Gonna have a nice scar,” Nathan observes, keeping his voice neutral.
Duke shrugs. “What's one more, right? After everything.”
They both have plenty of scars - white road maps of all their wrong turns and close calls. Scars gained for and by one another. Scars from the line of duty and life on the wrong side of the law.
But the ones that make them two sides of the same coin are the scars that no one else can see. Scars from living in Haven, from growing up there, from growing together and splitting apart.
Nathan sighs. “Means you're alive to bleed another day,” he says, and it's the closest he'll come to saying he's glad.
Duke slaps him on the back, hard enough to make him stumble, and Nathan swats him back because that's what he's supposed to. But he knows, it's the closest Duke will come to 'thank you.' It's the reason he'll do it all over again, the next time.
This is what they do, now. They fight. They needle. And they're there when needed.
Author: shealynn88
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~300
Characters: Nathan, Duke
Summary: The scars that make them two sides of the same coin are the ones from living in Haven, from growing up there, from growing together and splitting apart.
For the insmallpackages holiday exchange.
Nathan knows how to dress wounds - with a trouble like his, it's been a necessity.
But somehow, dressing the gouge in Duke's arm is more painful than dressing his own wound would have been, because everything is mixed up and messy when it comes to Duke.
“Ow, Jesus, Nathan! I feel that, remember?”
The reminder is a cruelty that Nathan takes for granted by now, but he presses the bandage painfully in absent retribution, because Duke expects it. It's the way they operate now. Traded jibes and pain and scars. “Don't be such a baby, Crocker. I'm almost done.”
Duke yanks his arm away as Nathan puts the finishing touches on. They glare at one another for a long moment, and Duke picks up his jacket. It's meant to be nonchalant, but Nathan notices the way he winces when he extends his arm.
“Gonna have a nice scar,” Nathan observes, keeping his voice neutral.
Duke shrugs. “What's one more, right? After everything.”
They both have plenty of scars - white road maps of all their wrong turns and close calls. Scars gained for and by one another. Scars from the line of duty and life on the wrong side of the law.
But the ones that make them two sides of the same coin are the scars that no one else can see. Scars from living in Haven, from growing up there, from growing together and splitting apart.
Nathan sighs. “Means you're alive to bleed another day,” he says, and it's the closest he'll come to saying he's glad.
Duke slaps him on the back, hard enough to make him stumble, and Nathan swats him back because that's what he's supposed to. But he knows, it's the closest Duke will come to 'thank you.' It's the reason he'll do it all over again, the next time.
This is what they do, now. They fight. They needle. And they're there when needed.