Fanfiction - SHWC - Breathe

[leskuh]

Title: Breathe
Fandom/Universe: Strangetown, Here We Come
Character(s): Ripp, Ophelia, Johnny
Rating: K+




Sometimes Ripp breathes in a little too deep.

Ophelia smells like sunshine. Like Roses mixed with Lilies mixed with the souls of the dead and the hearts of the living and it scares him sometimes, but mostly it reminds him of what it means to belong and so he has promised himself that he will never ever leave her.

Sometimes Ripp’s breathing is so shallow that he fears his lungs will collapse.

Johnny smells like sweat. He smells like someone who has been running all of his life. But where he’s running to or from, Ripp doesn’t know at all. All he can say for sure is that he definitely isn’t looking back. Johnny never looks back. But still Ripp can recall every blond hair on Johnny’s head.

Sometimes Ripp doesn’t breathe at all.

He imagines that he smells like sex. And a little bit like failure. Because he’s gained nothing. Because he’s lost nothing. Because he hasn’t lived at all.

Sometimes he imagines crawling into bed beside them and never letting go. He can almost smell the taste of apple green skin and feel the warmth of delicately feminine hands twining within his own. Sometimes he imagines that he is home.

But most of the time his breath comes out even and he slips back into sleep.





(sometimes he wants more)




a/n: I have a hard time breaking up trios. I really hope they manage to stick together.

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I read this one a while back, but I wanted to finally comment on it to let you know that I really enjoyed it. I just love how you've written this, and the idea of Ripp classifying them all by smell, since he's so fixated on the senses like that.

"Johnny smells like sweat." I'd say that is probably very true. Fresh sweat, though, like he just came back from a jog.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! They were fun to do. Your storyline is really great and gives a lot of subtle things that are fun to run with. Though, to be honest, I cannot for the life of me remember why I started on the scent thing. Probably because of Ophelia and flowers. I also was determined to get a line about smelling the taste of Johnny's skin because - GREEN!! But it seemed weird to put that under Johnny's smells for some reason so he got sweat instead.

Yes, fresh sweat, because Johnny probably showers almost immediately after getting back from any kind of physical activity. I can't see Mr. Priss letting himself gather a funk.