paigian
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& i have built nothing for you that can survive it by paigian
Fandoms: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
16 Sep 2024
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Summary
Nicky is…unfathomable. Unfuckwithable. A sea wall with sea green eyes. No great incursion had shored up against it and won; no sinkhole could collapse it. When they first met (under less than desirable circumstances, mind you), before he knew anything about Nicky, Joe could intuit he was a dangerous human being just from the self-assured way he carried his body around, like it hadn’t ever failed him.
He also delights in telling people no in a way that’s only noticeable by the slightest uptick of his mouth or crinkle at his eye. He is tacit and serious about a lot of things, the mission, their (relative) safety, their role in the universe. Sometimes he sits down like he’s been holding the world on those big, broad shoulders of his, and his under-eyes are constantly bruised, like he doesn’t ever sleep well.
But then, out of nowhere, he’ll do something totally unexpected, like laugh at one of Joe’s terrible jokes, or place an atrocious bet against Booker sans prompt, or agree to do something fuckstupid just because Joe asked him at the right moment.
In which Joe's been immortal for six months; a long stakeout with Nicky provides him with an opportunity to reflect.
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christ, hold me like a knife by paigian for yusufsmoon
Fandoms: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
03 Jul 2024
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“Why did you do that?”
It’s not a question Nicolo had been expecting, mostly because the answer seemed so obvious to him, the reasoning so sacrosanct, that having to put it into words felt somewhat ridiculous.
“He touched you. You did not want him to.” The tilt of his head makes the blood on his face run down to his jaw.
“Of course I didn’t want him to but— Nicolo.”
His name, a blow. The rest of Yusuf’s sentence is lost to the ringing in Nicolo’s ears as he tries to recover from it. What would it take for him to understand that Nicolo would do anything — endure every injury, bury any body, cross the desert a thousand times — for him?
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"The voice on the overhead speaker announces that the train will arrive in two minutes. Joe closes his phone and scratches at his beard, looking around the cool blue morning. Joe could sleep in for another hour and take the express train, but he’d rather sit for a longer, quieter commute than stand in a packed carriage.
It’s definitely not because this is the same train that the hot dad with his adorable baby takes a few days a week. No matter what Booker and Nile say. It really is a nicer commute, even if pre-crush Joe would rather die than get up earlier than he needs to."
Or, Joe is a library tech with a long commute, and Nicky is a permanently tired single dad.
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It’s sometime in the afternoon the following day when Joe wakes for the fourth or so time. For a few moments he doesn’t open his eyes, trying to decide if he’ll let himself drift off again. He can just about hear the market, the distant sounds of people and movement barely reaching him outside the hotel grounds.
A stray cat is curled up on the rug in a patch of sunlight; Joe huffs, following her lead and rolling towards the window, crow’s feet deepening as he squints for the brightness in his eyes. He reaches awkwardly to stroke her ears, letting her sniff his fingers before opening his palm for her to lift her little head into.
Outside, oranges weigh down their branches, a sighing tree in the warm breeze making the sun blink drowsily between green-leaved eyelids. Below open shutters, he can hear Nicky’s voice, speaking to someone in Darija. It draws closer as he walks through the courtyard; Joe can’t hear another voice. A phone call, probably. Andromache, certainly.
Marrakesh will always smell like oranges.
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"I have a question for you,” Nicolo starts.
Yusuf, who was busy trying to get some sleep before Nicolo broke the silence, holds in a sigh.
Rolling onto his side, cheek resting upon his palm, Yusuf meets his eyes, ocean licked by fire. The flame of their camp flickers in the breeze, making them a firestorm of rolling waves.
“If you are going to ask me about Muhammad's cow again, please save it for when I am awake enough to stab you for it,” he says lightly, only half-joking.
In which Joe and Nicky talk about poetry instead of their feelings.
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ain't it exciting you, the rumble where you lay? by paigian
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
24 Oct 2022
- Words:
- 77,346
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 26
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sense made intimate and aching by orphan_account, paigian
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
24 May 2022
- Words:
- 4,034
- Works:
- 2
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- 9
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- Words:
- 10,004
- Works:
- 3
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- 22
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Summary
"'Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch. A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be - to be, And oh, to lose. A thing for fools, this, And a holy thing, a holy thing to love. For your life has lived in me, your laugh once lifted me, your word was gift to me."
- Yehuda Halevi
- Words:
- 12,751
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- 85