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31_days2006-04-02 11:50 pm
sodzilla.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-04-02 11:50 pm
[April 2nd] [The Three Musketeers] Anchors
Title: Anchors
Day/Theme: I am more land than water
Series: The Three Musketeers (events referred to in 20 Years After)
Character/Pairing: Athos (implied Athos/d'Artagnan)
Rating: G
Athos never thought he would find himself missing the days when he felt adrift in the world. But then, at the time, it never occurred to him that the world could drift around him, that the things he once used for anchors would in turn come loose and float away.
Porthos is the first to go, off to marry his chest of gold, and the far less attractive former wife of a lawyer. Aramis is next, simply disappearing, leaving Athos and d’Artagnan to fuss for months before a roundabout letter informs them he has finally taken orders.
D’Artagnan is the last to leave, and the most painful, not only because of their particular relationship but because in the physical sense he is still there. They still see each other every day. It is simply that d’Artagnan now spends his days in the more rigorous duties of an officer, and his evenings in the company of new friends – something Athos finds all the more unsavory because some of them are former enemies. The bitterest thing of all is how he spends his nights, in the bed of his landlady at the inn of the Golden Hind.
Athos chafes at that, even though he knows what they have was never exclusive, even though d’Artagnan still steals time for him – just often enough. Confronting his friend about it is sheer folly, but one he cannot resist, and predictably it turns out badly.
“You’re jealous,” d’Artagnan accuses, laughing; Athos can think of a hundred possible replies to that, and not one that will not wound their friendship beyond healing. Instead he puts on his hat, marches out the door, and goes to ask de Tréville to send him away from Paris.
By the time he is halfway to Roussillon, he has convinced himself – almost – that d’Artagnan never meant to mock him, that the amusement was less at the fact of his anger and more at the idea he might have cause for it. Nevertheless, the events of October 11th, and his meeting with a certain young gentleman who is in truth not a man at all, leave him feeling somewhat less guilty than he would have thought.
Back in Paris, d’Artagnan recieves him warmly, though with a conspicuous lack of reference to their argument. Athos tries to be content with what he has. It works, for a time; it is only a year later when he makes his courier circuit again, when he returns to that same village and finds himself staring down into a cradle, that he realizes this change is something he has sincerely wished for.
In the long run, of course, it will hardly help. It will simply mean another place where he will settle, another person who will be the center of his life until they inevitably leave. But at least his son will be a child for many years to come, and children always come back.
Day/Theme: I am more land than water
Series: The Three Musketeers (events referred to in 20 Years After)
Character/Pairing: Athos (implied Athos/d'Artagnan)
Rating: G
Athos never thought he would find himself missing the days when he felt adrift in the world. But then, at the time, it never occurred to him that the world could drift around him, that the things he once used for anchors would in turn come loose and float away.
Porthos is the first to go, off to marry his chest of gold, and the far less attractive former wife of a lawyer. Aramis is next, simply disappearing, leaving Athos and d’Artagnan to fuss for months before a roundabout letter informs them he has finally taken orders.
D’Artagnan is the last to leave, and the most painful, not only because of their particular relationship but because in the physical sense he is still there. They still see each other every day. It is simply that d’Artagnan now spends his days in the more rigorous duties of an officer, and his evenings in the company of new friends – something Athos finds all the more unsavory because some of them are former enemies. The bitterest thing of all is how he spends his nights, in the bed of his landlady at the inn of the Golden Hind.
Athos chafes at that, even though he knows what they have was never exclusive, even though d’Artagnan still steals time for him – just often enough. Confronting his friend about it is sheer folly, but one he cannot resist, and predictably it turns out badly.
“You’re jealous,” d’Artagnan accuses, laughing; Athos can think of a hundred possible replies to that, and not one that will not wound their friendship beyond healing. Instead he puts on his hat, marches out the door, and goes to ask de Tréville to send him away from Paris.
By the time he is halfway to Roussillon, he has convinced himself – almost – that d’Artagnan never meant to mock him, that the amusement was less at the fact of his anger and more at the idea he might have cause for it. Nevertheless, the events of October 11th, and his meeting with a certain young gentleman who is in truth not a man at all, leave him feeling somewhat less guilty than he would have thought.
Back in Paris, d’Artagnan recieves him warmly, though with a conspicuous lack of reference to their argument. Athos tries to be content with what he has. It works, for a time; it is only a year later when he makes his courier circuit again, when he returns to that same village and finds himself staring down into a cradle, that he realizes this change is something he has sincerely wished for.
In the long run, of course, it will hardly help. It will simply mean another place where he will settle, another person who will be the center of his life until they inevitably leave. But at least his son will be a child for many years to come, and children always come back.