Laylah (laylah) wrote in kinkfest, @ 2008-07-23 18:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: laylah, f: baccano!, july 23, p: claire/ladd |
"Cut Up Boys," Baccano! (Claire/Ladd)
Title: Cut Up Boys
Author: Laylah
Rating: not worksafe for sex and violence!
Word count: ~2500
Prompt: Claire/Ladd - blood blood blood - inertia creeps
A/N: YES, I know how little sense this makes. AND YET. I point you to this translation of one of the endings to the Japanese Baccano! DS game. I'm just running with the setup they gave me. :3
*
Claire wakes up from his nap at just the right moment, rolls out of bed and smiles at the roar of Ladd's shotgun, the sharp smell of powder and scorched cloth as the slug buries itself in the mattress. "Getting restless?" he asks.
The look Ladd gives him is needy, murderous, admiring. "You're great," he says, "really great. One of these days I'm going to really kill you."
"Not today, though," Claire says -- it's kinder than pointing out that nobody can kill him, ever, and when you're in love you should be kind to each other, shouldn't you?
"Hah." Ladd smiles, and he looks so handsome, so fond, that Claire's heart skips a beat. "Not today, all right. First we need to kill a lot more people together."
"That's right," Claire says. He stretches, and smiles again when he can see Ladd's eyes tracking the way he moves, staring at the bare skin where his under shirt rides up. "We're in New York for a job, after all. Not likely we'll run out of people to kill any time soon."
It's so easy to make Ladd happy with him. It makes Claire feel like he must be a good fiancé -- well, he knew he would be; he can do anything he decides to, after all. But he likes to see it confirmed in the delight on Ladd's face.
"You're calling your boss?" Ladd asks, following Claire over to the telephone.
"My brother," Claire says as he picks up the earpiece. He dials the number of the office upstairs from Coraggioso, and Ladd leans against the wall beside him, petting his hair as Claire listens to the soft burr of the telephone ringing.
"Hello?" he hears, after the third one.
"Luck," Claire says. "You know who this is, don't you?" He doesn't like to use his name on the telephone; he's heard that as far as the FBI knows, Claire Stanfield is dead and Ladd Russo is missing, and he'd like to keep it that way.
"Of course," Luck says. His voice sounds tinny through the connection. "It's good to hear from you. Are you in town?" Luck also knows how to be careful, won't say anything serious on the telephone.
"For a little bit," Claire says. Ladd shifts to stand behind him, breath hot on his nape. "I thought I might stop by and say hello."
Luck answers, but Claire's distracted by Ladd's voice in his other ear, whispering: "-- everyone he hires us for, and everyone in New York, you know, and then everyone in America, how's that, and then that'll be enough, won't it? I'll kill you then, my love, my monster, my --"
Claire reaches up and slips his fingers into Ladd's mouth to stop the words, and Ladd bites but only a little. "Sorry," Claire says to Luck, stroking Ladd's tongue, "could you say that again? My fiancé's trying to distract me."
"I just said I'd love to see you," Luck says. "Did you say your fiancée? Have you met a girl crazy enough to go along with you at last?"
"It's complicated," Claire says. "I'll tell you about it when we see you."
"I look forward to it," Luck says, though from the tone of his voice it sounds like he doesn't really.
When Claire hangs up the telephone, he looks back over his shoulder at Ladd. "If you really kill everyone in New York," he says, "then after that I'll kill you."
"Hah," Ladd says, pulling back to let Claire's fingers go. "I'd like to see you try, really try. You pushy bastard, thinking nobody could really kill you." He's still smiling, and it's not even the starving manic smile he gets when he needs to kill right that minute.
Claire takes hold of his lapels and pulls him closer. "Keep trying to prove me wrong," he says, and kisses Ladd's mouth before Ladd can promise he will.
One of the most amazing things about this whole romance is that they decided early on there was no point to waiting until their wedding night, since they were both men and wanted to do it sooner.
They're quick this time, though, because Claire doesn't want to keep Luck waiting and Ladd would still rather kill than do anything else, even if this is a close second. They finish, wash up, and dress for business -- Ladd wears white and Claire wears black, and they look like quite the pair.
Ladd throws an arm over Claire's shoulders as they walk across town. Ever since that brawl in Detroit that started when Claire wanted to hold his hand, Ladd's been extremely affectionate in public. Claire doesn't mind so much. They're in love, aren't they? And that's wonderful. Any anyone who'd get angry and violent because of their love can't be a good person, so it's fine if they get Ladd's attention.
"How about that guy?" Ladd says as they wait for a traffic light to change. He nods to a man on the other side of the intersection. "We make him sick, yeah? You can tell. Look at him."
They have work to do tonight. "Some weak-looking guy like that?" Claire asks. The light changes. He leans over and kisses Ladd's cheek before they start to cross. "Let's not waste time with boring guys like that. We have a mafia to go after."
"Right, right," Ladd says. He leans into Claire as they walk. Claire smiles at the guy who'd been staring, and the guy has the sense to look away. "Real tough guys, huh?"
"Should be," Claire says. "My brothers only ask me to come home to take care of the really tough jobs."
Ladd keeps smiling all the way to the club.
When they get there, Luck steps up to hug Claire and then really takes in the two of them, and the look on his face isn't the look of a man who's disgusted by them, not at all. He looks like he wants, the poor thing. Has he always been like that?
"Ladd," Claire says, "this is my little brother, Luck Gandor. Luck, this is my fiancé, Ladd Russo."
"You don't look anything alike," Ladd says, at the same time that Luck protests, "But if you're both men, how --"
"I was adopted," Claire tells Ladd. He smiles at Luck, and shrugs. "All right, we haven't found a priest who'd agree to do the ceremony yet, but we will. There's no question about that. And we'll want everyone to be there."
"Congratulations," Luck says, and he really does look like he wishes he'd thought to ask first. Poor Luck. "You'll have to tell me when you, ah."
Claire nods. "I will," he promises. But he can see the way Ladd's fingers flex with wanting to hold a weapon, wanting to choke something. "But first, let's talk about this job you have for us."