![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
FIC: For Whatever We Lose (QaF, Hunter)
Title: For Whatever We Lose
Requestor:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
secretsolitaire
Prompt: Hunter, swimming
Time Frame: All post show
Words: 670
Beta: Just me. So all mistakes mine.
Summary: Look inside Hunter's head
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own none of this - they belong to Showtime, Cowlip and others. I make no money. Thank you.
For whatever we lose
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
~e.e. cummings
Hunter had always loved water.
In the time when his mother had ruled his life, when he had to give away a little part of who he was everyday, the only moments of peace he had found were those rare occasions when she’d drop him off at the YMCA, on her way to some bout of drug-enhanced escapade, and he would spend those hours learning how to swim.
His first instructor had been some random 15-year old student that volunteered his time. Sandy blonde hair and eyes so green, Hunter had wondered briefly if he was even human. His name had been David. He’d been funny and kind, two things which Hunter knew little about in life. After their first lesson, where he had told Hunter that he thought he had great potential, Hunter would follow him around whenever he could.
David had found the little ten year old boy with the sad eyes and haunted expression more endearing than annoying so he’d made Hunter his little assistant whenever he was around.
One day Hunter had made the mistake of saying David’s name to his mother and she beaten him for being, as she had put it, a little faggot.
She never took him back.
Somehow, Hunter forgot then how much he loved water. Maybe as self-preservation against feeling anything at all because that was the only way he could function.
In the beginning, whenever anyone touched him, he’d squeeze his eyes shut and think of that boy that had taught him the rules of swimming. He’d think of threading through cool, clear water, watching as his toes would flex and un-flex while he swam further each lap.
After awhile he co-related it all, the boy, swimming, water with everything he wanted to forget and shut the memories away.
Then Ben and Michael came along.
And all those things Hunter once loved to do were possible for him again. He could allow those memories to surface, he could let that warmth return and he could remember how much he loved the water.
When he joined the swim team at school, he’d been thrilled. He would spend hours in the school gym, lap after lap, letting the water flow over his skin, feeling weightless for the first time since he could ever remember. It was like the water powered him, gave him strength, confidence, all those pieces he lacked fell into place.
Then all hell broke loose and he ran far away because all those things he’d gained meant nothing if he couldn’t even do one of the simplest things he loved to do. He knew it was cowardly but he needed to go. And he would have kept running, if it hadn’t been for his world blowing up.
Coming back had been hard. Staying even more so. But it had been worth it.
For his twentieth birthday he received, from Brian and Justin, a three year membership to a local gym. He already had an account at the gym they all worked out at but Brian had told him that it was worth checking the new gym out.
When he saw the Olympic size pool, that ten year old that still lived inside him had wanted to cry and cheer and laugh.
The next time he saw Brian, he thanked him, hugging him and then Justin briefly. They only nodded, smiling at him.
He stands at the edge of seemingly endless pool of water, eyeing the distance from where he is now to where he will end up. He stretches his arms back, rolling his head slowly from one side to the other. Taking a deep breath before diving in, he lets the coolness surround them, pushing and pulling…
This represented everything he loved in his life. How far he’d come. What he’d made it through. The person he was and the man he would become...
End.
###
See! I'm still doing stuff...just all slow about it. :)
###
Requestor:
secretsolitairePrompt: Hunter, swimming
Time Frame: All post show
Words: 670
Beta: Just me. So all mistakes mine.
Summary: Look inside Hunter's head
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own none of this - they belong to Showtime, Cowlip and others. I make no money. Thank you.
For whatever we lose
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
~e.e. cummings
Hunter had always loved water.
In the time when his mother had ruled his life, when he had to give away a little part of who he was everyday, the only moments of peace he had found were those rare occasions when she’d drop him off at the YMCA, on her way to some bout of drug-enhanced escapade, and he would spend those hours learning how to swim.
His first instructor had been some random 15-year old student that volunteered his time. Sandy blonde hair and eyes so green, Hunter had wondered briefly if he was even human. His name had been David. He’d been funny and kind, two things which Hunter knew little about in life. After their first lesson, where he had told Hunter that he thought he had great potential, Hunter would follow him around whenever he could.
David had found the little ten year old boy with the sad eyes and haunted expression more endearing than annoying so he’d made Hunter his little assistant whenever he was around.
One day Hunter had made the mistake of saying David’s name to his mother and she beaten him for being, as she had put it, a little faggot.
She never took him back.
Somehow, Hunter forgot then how much he loved water. Maybe as self-preservation against feeling anything at all because that was the only way he could function.
In the beginning, whenever anyone touched him, he’d squeeze his eyes shut and think of that boy that had taught him the rules of swimming. He’d think of threading through cool, clear water, watching as his toes would flex and un-flex while he swam further each lap.
After awhile he co-related it all, the boy, swimming, water with everything he wanted to forget and shut the memories away.
Then Ben and Michael came along.
And all those things Hunter once loved to do were possible for him again. He could allow those memories to surface, he could let that warmth return and he could remember how much he loved the water.
When he joined the swim team at school, he’d been thrilled. He would spend hours in the school gym, lap after lap, letting the water flow over his skin, feeling weightless for the first time since he could ever remember. It was like the water powered him, gave him strength, confidence, all those pieces he lacked fell into place.
Then all hell broke loose and he ran far away because all those things he’d gained meant nothing if he couldn’t even do one of the simplest things he loved to do. He knew it was cowardly but he needed to go. And he would have kept running, if it hadn’t been for his world blowing up.
Coming back had been hard. Staying even more so. But it had been worth it.
For his twentieth birthday he received, from Brian and Justin, a three year membership to a local gym. He already had an account at the gym they all worked out at but Brian had told him that it was worth checking the new gym out.
When he saw the Olympic size pool, that ten year old that still lived inside him had wanted to cry and cheer and laugh.
The next time he saw Brian, he thanked him, hugging him and then Justin briefly. They only nodded, smiling at him.
He stands at the edge of seemingly endless pool of water, eyeing the distance from where he is now to where he will end up. He stretches his arms back, rolling his head slowly from one side to the other. Taking a deep breath before diving in, he lets the coolness surround them, pushing and pulling…
This represented everything he loved in his life. How far he’d come. What he’d made it through. The person he was and the man he would become...
End.
###
See! I'm still doing stuff...just all slow about it. :)
###
no subject
It took me a second to remember who Hunter was. ::facepalms::
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
(no subject)
no subject
{{{{Hunter}}}}
Btw, a shooting near my apt. today... news at 11, lol.
(no subject)
no subject
This was so wonderful. I love that you can write so much in so little. So good!!
(no subject)
no subject
(no subject)
no subject
Very clever to connect the swimming with something that happened in his childhood, and eventually, after the happy memories became soiled, he reclaimed them again for himself in the end.
Hunter is such a great character. I admired how he picked himself up and that he got a good life with Ben and Michael at his side. He certainly deserved it, and more.
Thanks, Kat!
(no subject)
no subject
... SWIMMING FIC YAY! (
You should write more. You know, for my write-Katie-fic-and-she'll-donate-to-no-on-8 idea. XD)(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
In the beginning, whenever anyone touched him, he’d squeeze his eyes shut and think of that boy that had taught him the rules of swimming. He’d think of threading through cool, clear water, watching as his toes would flex and un-flex while he swam further each lap.
This just breaks my heart. I can imagine him needing this sort of escape. *cuddles Hunter*
He stands at the edge of seemingly endless pool of water, eyeing the distance from where he is now to where he will end up. He stretches his arms back, rolling his head slowly from one side to the other. Taking a deep breath before diving in, he lets the coolness surround them, pushing and pulling…
I love how you've transformed the act of swimming by the end into something he can reclaim. Beautifully done. ♥
(no subject)
no subject
Chelle
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
Lyn
(no subject)
no subject
(no subject)
no subject
I like how understated it is, but still revelas all the hurt in Hunter's life.
Ths is gorgeous:
He stands at the edge of seemingly endless pool of water, eyeing the distance from where he is now to where he will end up.
(no subject)
no subject
(no subject)