Part I: Unnamed Saiyuki Drabble Fic
A gentle reminder from Naye prodded me to post the opening drabbles for the Saiyuki story I have begun as part of my Midwinter Writing Challenge goals for midwinwrite.
For those of you who share my love for Saiyuki and care to read, here's a brief word about the genesis of this project:
When xparrot completed her wonderful Saiyuki story, Remembering to Breathe last fall, I was taken by an idea for a sequel that would explore the impact of Hakkai's recovery from the traumatic events of "RtoB" on his relationship with Gojyo, assuming a timeline in which my own Saiyuki story, Awakenings, came before "RtoB," so Hakkai and Gojyo are an established couple.
About the same time, a post on fanthropology about the idealization of sex in fanfiction--both gay and het--caught my eye, a post asking why we never see fiction about the less glamorous sides of sexual encounters: the awkwardness of the first time, clumsiness, or the frustrations of dealing with issues such as lack of desire, impotence, inability to reach orgasm, and such. The idea of someday exploring such themes with one of my favorite OTPs or with original characters intrigued me, and it wasn't long before the thought followed that my Hakkai/Gojyo story might provide a venue to do that. (If that kind of content might offend you, you'd best turn away now, although my intent is to be very tasteful about this.)
Before beginning this story, I decided to tackle another of my Midwinwrite goals: to write at least one or two drabbles (the exactly-100-word variety). To make a long story short: my first drabble experiment drew on the projected Saiyuki story content that was brewing in my mind, and thus was born the idea to tell that story as a series of drabbles instead of as a narrative.
Although not intentional, as the first drabbles developed, I found myself rotating POV from one member of the Sanzo-Ikkou to another. I have now decided to continue that pattern, telling the story in sets of four drabbles, one from each of the four's viewpoints for each part of the story. This seems particularly appropriate, since this is a sequel to xparrot's story, and she similarly rotated through their viewpoints. xparrot has generously allowed me to borrow her wonderful convention of naming each Ikkou member's parts of the story with their identifying colors. I do this as a tribute to her brilliant work in this fandom.
So without further ado, Part I of the as-yet-unnamed
Gojyo/Hakkai Drabble Story
Part I: Distress
Red
Gojyo lies awake beside his partner, their bodies parallel, not touching. He watches a hairline crack in the ceiling take shape in the emerging daylight. He craves a cigarette so badly his fingers twitch with anticipation. But he hesitates to rise, not wanting to wake Hakkai.
"As long as it takes," he has told Hakkai over and over. But it took years, the first time, before Hakkai could forgive himself enough to chance accepting Gojyo's love. And Gojyo doesn't know where he'll find the patience to wait again. He closes his eyes against the cracked ceiling. He needs that cigarette.
*****
Green
"Hey, Hakkai, are we stopping for lunch yet?"
Expecting Gojyo to throttle Goku for the fourth variation on this question in as many minutes, Hakkai pauses before repeating his answer yet again. But only when he glances back to Gojyo does Gojyo hurl an apple at Goku, grumbling, "Stuff it, Monkey! I'm tired of hearing it already!"
Hakkai sighs. Gojyo's heart isn't in it. He's preoccupied, and Hakkai blames himself; but he can't see his way to fixing things with Gojyo.
When he feels Sanzo watching him, he hides behind an affected chuckle. "Enough fighting, Gojyo! Soon, Goku. Almost there."
*****
Violet
Sanzo has yielded his usual place in the front seat to Gojyo this afternoon. Beneath his robes his legs are cramping in the tight space behind Hakkai. He ignores the discomfort. Tilting his head back, he takes a long drag on his cigarette, holds the smoke in his lungs for several satisfying seconds, then releases it. The breeze from Jeep's forward motion carries it behind him in a thin stream, while he turns his attention back to the pair in front. He can tell by how hard they've been trying to act as though everything is fine that it isn't.
*****
Gold
While making dinner, Goku requests another lesson in healing. Hakkai agrees, and while Gojyo cleans up afterwards, they settle into a corner to study. It delighted Goku, in the weeks after the nightmare with the red-haired twins, that the first thing Hakkai came to enjoy were their lessons. But tonight he seems distracted. Patient as always. Attentive to questions. Thorough in his explanations. But awkward seconds elapse between Goku's questions and Hakkai's answers. Goku notices Hakkai's gaze drift to the window, unfocused... or to Gojyo. He is saddened to see the haunted look of weeks past back in Hakkai's eyes.
Part II is here
For those of you who share my love for Saiyuki and care to read, here's a brief word about the genesis of this project:
When xparrot completed her wonderful Saiyuki story, Remembering to Breathe last fall, I was taken by an idea for a sequel that would explore the impact of Hakkai's recovery from the traumatic events of "RtoB" on his relationship with Gojyo, assuming a timeline in which my own Saiyuki story, Awakenings, came before "RtoB," so Hakkai and Gojyo are an established couple.
About the same time, a post on fanthropology about the idealization of sex in fanfiction--both gay and het--caught my eye, a post asking why we never see fiction about the less glamorous sides of sexual encounters: the awkwardness of the first time, clumsiness, or the frustrations of dealing with issues such as lack of desire, impotence, inability to reach orgasm, and such. The idea of someday exploring such themes with one of my favorite OTPs or with original characters intrigued me, and it wasn't long before the thought followed that my Hakkai/Gojyo story might provide a venue to do that. (If that kind of content might offend you, you'd best turn away now, although my intent is to be very tasteful about this.)
Before beginning this story, I decided to tackle another of my Midwinwrite goals: to write at least one or two drabbles (the exactly-100-word variety). To make a long story short: my first drabble experiment drew on the projected Saiyuki story content that was brewing in my mind, and thus was born the idea to tell that story as a series of drabbles instead of as a narrative.
Although not intentional, as the first drabbles developed, I found myself rotating POV from one member of the Sanzo-Ikkou to another. I have now decided to continue that pattern, telling the story in sets of four drabbles, one from each of the four's viewpoints for each part of the story. This seems particularly appropriate, since this is a sequel to xparrot's story, and she similarly rotated through their viewpoints. xparrot has generously allowed me to borrow her wonderful convention of naming each Ikkou member's parts of the story with their identifying colors. I do this as a tribute to her brilliant work in this fandom.
So without further ado, Part I of the as-yet-unnamed
Gojyo/Hakkai Drabble Story
Part I: Distress
Red
Gojyo lies awake beside his partner, their bodies parallel, not touching. He watches a hairline crack in the ceiling take shape in the emerging daylight. He craves a cigarette so badly his fingers twitch with anticipation. But he hesitates to rise, not wanting to wake Hakkai.
"As long as it takes," he has told Hakkai over and over. But it took years, the first time, before Hakkai could forgive himself enough to chance accepting Gojyo's love. And Gojyo doesn't know where he'll find the patience to wait again. He closes his eyes against the cracked ceiling. He needs that cigarette.
*****
Green
"Hey, Hakkai, are we stopping for lunch yet?"
Expecting Gojyo to throttle Goku for the fourth variation on this question in as many minutes, Hakkai pauses before repeating his answer yet again. But only when he glances back to Gojyo does Gojyo hurl an apple at Goku, grumbling, "Stuff it, Monkey! I'm tired of hearing it already!"
Hakkai sighs. Gojyo's heart isn't in it. He's preoccupied, and Hakkai blames himself; but he can't see his way to fixing things with Gojyo.
When he feels Sanzo watching him, he hides behind an affected chuckle. "Enough fighting, Gojyo! Soon, Goku. Almost there."
*****
Violet
Sanzo has yielded his usual place in the front seat to Gojyo this afternoon. Beneath his robes his legs are cramping in the tight space behind Hakkai. He ignores the discomfort. Tilting his head back, he takes a long drag on his cigarette, holds the smoke in his lungs for several satisfying seconds, then releases it. The breeze from Jeep's forward motion carries it behind him in a thin stream, while he turns his attention back to the pair in front. He can tell by how hard they've been trying to act as though everything is fine that it isn't.
*****
Gold
While making dinner, Goku requests another lesson in healing. Hakkai agrees, and while Gojyo cleans up afterwards, they settle into a corner to study. It delighted Goku, in the weeks after the nightmare with the red-haired twins, that the first thing Hakkai came to enjoy were their lessons. But tonight he seems distracted. Patient as always. Attentive to questions. Thorough in his explanations. But awkward seconds elapse between Goku's questions and Hakkai's answers. Goku notices Hakkai's gaze drift to the window, unfocused... or to Gojyo. He is saddened to see the haunted look of weeks past back in Hakkai's eyes.
Part II is here