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Apr. 25th, 2005 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmuzkaa pop ficlet, for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sky_pie
What Never Was
Justin has his mother's initials tattooed on his back. He gets a lot of teasing about it. What the people never ask is why he had the cherub done.
It's Justin's own. He has a baby angel watching his back.
Chris is visiting, which is a rare treat nowadays, even if Justin wouldn't want to admit that. That means no partying. He can party every night if he wants to, but now he has an interest in actually hearing what the other person is saying to him.
It's in the middle of the night when they decide that a quick trip to the nearest 7-Eleven is in order. They are both a little bit drunk, but Justin is still driving. Chris wanted to drive, saying that then they would have a smaller chance to plummet in their deaths, but he is wearing flip-flops. The thought of driving with only flip-flops on freaks Justin out.
The store is almost empty, which suits them fine. Still, Justin feels guarded and keeps looking around when Chris tries to convince him to buy the latest brand of kid's soda. Of course Chris has already tried it. Liquorice, it says in the label. Chris says it tastes like a burnt radio.
Because Justin keeps looking, he notices the woman. She is tall and slender and she looks like a person who used to go to gym but then just stopped. She has a brown curly hair with highlights. Her face... Justin can't stop staring.
Chris notices when Justin goes still and looks up to see what captured his audience's attention.
"Holy fuck!" Chris hisses when he sees the woman.
"Yeah", Justin agrees under his breath.
"That looks just like-."
"Yeah."
The woman turns in the end of the isle. Justin pushes the sodas back to the shelf and grabs Chris, pulling him with when he rushes to follow her. They come to an abrupt stop and duck when the she stops to look at the ice creams and keep on going when she continues.
She looks just like Justin. If she was a male, they could be identical twins.
Justin had a twin sister, Laura Katherine, who died just minutes after birth. Justin never met her and never knew her, of course, but he remembers her mother telling about her. She had a name. He seldom talks about her. Other people just wouldn't understand. He told Chris, a long time ago, and Chris told him about a nameless girlfriend who had a miscarriage in a public bathroom and refused to open the door to Chris who was crying on the other side. Justin knows that Chris knows how it feels like to grieve after someone who was never there. Justin thinks about her sometimes. A lot. His laptop's password is H1LauraKath3rine.
Justin and Chris stalk this sister doppelganger until she pays and leaves. Justin almost follows her to the parking lot but - thank god- Chris stops him.
"Let her go, man"
"I can't"
"I didn't say to let her go, Justin, I said to not follow that woman."
"I'm sorry."
Now they feel both guilty. "It’s okay. Let's just go."
They drive back in silence. Chris pleads tiredness right after. Justin wasn't the only one who got thrown off because of that imitation-of-what-never-was. He kisses Chris, tenderly, on the mouth, and lets him go. He goes to his computer and sits down. Maybe he should write e-mails to Stephen and Jonathan. He strips his shirt off and flexes his shoulders. The muscles underneath his skin make his tattoo move.
He logs in. H1LauraKath3rine.
***
Part of the plot idea borrowed from Douglas coupland's book "Microserfs".
sky_pieWhat Never Was
Justin has his mother's initials tattooed on his back. He gets a lot of teasing about it. What the people never ask is why he had the cherub done.
It's Justin's own. He has a baby angel watching his back.
Chris is visiting, which is a rare treat nowadays, even if Justin wouldn't want to admit that. That means no partying. He can party every night if he wants to, but now he has an interest in actually hearing what the other person is saying to him.
It's in the middle of the night when they decide that a quick trip to the nearest 7-Eleven is in order. They are both a little bit drunk, but Justin is still driving. Chris wanted to drive, saying that then they would have a smaller chance to plummet in their deaths, but he is wearing flip-flops. The thought of driving with only flip-flops on freaks Justin out.
The store is almost empty, which suits them fine. Still, Justin feels guarded and keeps looking around when Chris tries to convince him to buy the latest brand of kid's soda. Of course Chris has already tried it. Liquorice, it says in the label. Chris says it tastes like a burnt radio.
Because Justin keeps looking, he notices the woman. She is tall and slender and she looks like a person who used to go to gym but then just stopped. She has a brown curly hair with highlights. Her face... Justin can't stop staring.
Chris notices when Justin goes still and looks up to see what captured his audience's attention.
"Holy fuck!" Chris hisses when he sees the woman.
"Yeah", Justin agrees under his breath.
"That looks just like-."
"Yeah."
The woman turns in the end of the isle. Justin pushes the sodas back to the shelf and grabs Chris, pulling him with when he rushes to follow her. They come to an abrupt stop and duck when the she stops to look at the ice creams and keep on going when she continues.
She looks just like Justin. If she was a male, they could be identical twins.
Justin had a twin sister, Laura Katherine, who died just minutes after birth. Justin never met her and never knew her, of course, but he remembers her mother telling about her. She had a name. He seldom talks about her. Other people just wouldn't understand. He told Chris, a long time ago, and Chris told him about a nameless girlfriend who had a miscarriage in a public bathroom and refused to open the door to Chris who was crying on the other side. Justin knows that Chris knows how it feels like to grieve after someone who was never there. Justin thinks about her sometimes. A lot. His laptop's password is H1LauraKath3rine.
Justin and Chris stalk this sister doppelganger until she pays and leaves. Justin almost follows her to the parking lot but - thank god- Chris stops him.
"Let her go, man"
"I can't"
"I didn't say to let her go, Justin, I said to not follow that woman."
"I'm sorry."
Now they feel both guilty. "It’s okay. Let's just go."
They drive back in silence. Chris pleads tiredness right after. Justin wasn't the only one who got thrown off because of that imitation-of-what-never-was. He kisses Chris, tenderly, on the mouth, and lets him go. He goes to his computer and sits down. Maybe he should write e-mails to Stephen and Jonathan. He strips his shirt off and flexes his shoulders. The muscles underneath his skin make his tattoo move.
He logs in. H1LauraKath3rine.
***
Part of the plot idea borrowed from Douglas coupland's book "Microserfs".
