ozmissage: (BH. George. one of the wild things.)
[personal profile] ozmissage
Title: two boys in a backseat
Rating: PG
Pairing: George/Mitchell
Words: 831
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: Pre-series, but with spoilers through the end of s3.
Summary: This is how they learned each other.
A/N: This started as a ficlet written for [livejournal.com profile] hopelessfangirl back in November and I decided to rescue it from that old meme, infuse it with more angst and grammar (mostly just the angst), and post it.


There was a time when they were in between places. In the beginning, George will think to himself a long time after the end.

During this in between time, this period spent as vagabonds, the car was their home. It took George a long time to get used to the musty scent of it, to the embarrassing squelching sound the seats made every time he moved an inch, to the fact that the man behind the wheel was a vampire, but he did get used to it. Eventually. This is how:

They didn’t have much money between them and they couldn’t stop long enough to make more, not yet, Mitchell insisted over and over again as if he could feel his old companions at their back.

(George knows now that he absolutely could.)

So they kept moving forward, blindly and aimlessly, running with no end in sight.

They only stopped to sleep.

At night, Mitchell sprawled across the front seat and George across the back and there---parked in deserted lots and back alleys and forgotten turnoffs hidden from the road---they talked. The seat dividing them acted as a confessional; they told each other stories and lies, dreams and pointless anecdotes until one or both of them drifted off to sleep.

This is how they learned each other.

How they sealed their fate.

One memory is sharper than all the others.

The night before their first full moon together, the air turned so cold their breaths seemed to freeze on contact, crystallizing into tiny halos of ice that glistened for a a moment before evaporating into nothing. It wasn’t so bad for Mitchell. He wasn’t fond of the cold, but it’s not like it could kill him. But George---

“You alright, back there?” Mitchell asked.

George was shaking. The combination of the cold and the transformation just on the horizon were wreaking havoc on his body. He was still new then, only seven full moons under his belt, each one more terrifying than the last. He was numb and panicked all at once; still he managed to mutter I’m fine through chattering teeth.

Even then Mitchell could always tell when he was lying.

He hauled himself over the back of the seat and landed not at all gracefully in a heap on the floorboard.

“What are you doing?” George asked, clearly bewildered.

“Budge up,” Mitchell said. “I don’t want to wake up to find you frozen to the seat in the morning.”

Mitchell,” George hissed. “We’re not…cuddling.”

The indignation in George's voice amused Mitchell. He climbed onto the narrow seat and settled down beside his reluctant bedfellow without asking.

“Tonight, we are.”

George knew he should protest more, but the truth was he needed the company. The cold and the worry---it was all too much to deal with. Everything was too much. Reluctantly, he turned to his side, giving Mitchell a tiny space to stretch out on.

It was awkward at first. George didn’t know what to do with his hands and Mitchell’s face was incredibly close to his, closer than it had ever been before, but then Mitchell casually wrapped his arm around George’s waist and everything else seemed to fall into place.

“Better?” Mitchell asked.

George nodded in the darkness, a gesture that would have been lost if Mitchell had been in his normal place. He was still shaking, but at least his teeth had stopped trying chatter their way out of his head.

“There’s a full moon tomorrow,” George said with an air of calmness he didn’t feel. “I’m going to need to find a place to change.”

“We’ll worry about that tomorrow,” Mitchell replied.

“It’s hard to sleep the night before.”

“Because you’re panicking.”

“What? I’m not panicking. Why do you think I’m panicking?”

Mitchell laughed softly.

“I can feel your heart beating, George.”

George grimaced.

“Can you not say things like that when your face is this close to my neck?”

“Shh…” Mitchell said. “Just go to sleep.”

“I just told you I can’t.”

Mitchell pulled him closer; let one of his hands come to rest over George’s and his lips graze the back of George’s neck so softly that George is never sure if it happened or if he imagined it.

The only thing he is certain of is that his heartbeat finally began to slow.

“You can,” Mitchell promised.

And he did.

It became a ritual after that, even after they found a place to live and they were no longer faced with the threat of hypothermia on a nightly basis. On the night before the full moon, Mitchell would slip into George’s room and crawl into the bed beside him and talk nonsense to him until George fell asleep.

Sometimes, on the really bad nights when talking wasn’t enough to calm George’s shattered nerves, they slipped out to the car and curled together on the old, rickety backseat that reminded them both of home.

This is what George remembers.

(This is what he promises to never forget.)

Date: 4/25/11 05:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] decadentdream.livejournal.com
Aw nice. I could completely picture every word you wrote.

Date: 4/27/11 03:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :)

Date: 4/25/11 06:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azewewish.livejournal.com
I can picture this so clearly in my head, especially George's squeak of indignation & Mitchell's amused pragmatism.

Lovely job on this!!

Date: 4/27/11 03:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Aw, thank you! :)

Date: 4/25/11 11:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toestastegood.livejournal.com
♥ You are so ruthlessly capable of breaking my heart. I love the way you write these two.

Date: 4/27/11 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Aww, thank you...and sorry about the heartbreaking, they seem to bring out my angsty side more than any other pairing. ;)

Date: 4/25/11 01:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isarn.livejournal.com
Just perfect. I can see them both, in my head, indignant George and amused Mitchell -keep writing them like this!

Date: 4/27/11 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :)

Date: 4/25/11 05:42 pm (UTC)
ext_121721: Pinigir User Picture (House & Wilson)
From: [identity profile] pinigir.livejournal.com
Loved it! Loved Mitchell's way of getting George to sleep.

Date: 4/27/11 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you so much!

Date: 4/25/11 05:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] troyswann.livejournal.com
The seat dividing them acted as a confessional; they told each other stories and lies, dreams and pointless anecdotes until one or both of them drifted off to sleep.

This is how they learned each other.

How they sealed their fate.


Ah, this is really beautiful.

Date: 4/27/11 03:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :)

Date: 4/25/11 09:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tellshannon815.livejournal.com
Yay, my OTP! Great job, I can totally see this!

Date: 4/27/11 03:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you! :)

Date: 4/25/11 10:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joyyjpg.livejournal.com
OH MY GOD. You are amazing. This totally happened. This is gorgeous, bb, and that last line is killing me ♥ ♥

Date: 4/27/11 03:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Aww, thank you! [livejournal.com profile] hopelessfangirl wanted an explanation for why their first instinct was to cuddle on the couch when they were trying to "act normal" and my brain immediately went to pre-series backseat snuggling. :D

Date: 4/26/11 09:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] owensheart.livejournal.com
This was so beautiful.

But wait, woah, I have not yet seen S3 Pleae tell me does Soething happen to Mitchell in the end, dont worry about spoilers I dont mind them as we only get things so late here anyway.

PLEEEZE tell me what happens.

Date: 4/27/11 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :)

Are you sure you want to know? It's a wonderful season, well worth the wait. I'm going to put the spoiler below, just highlight to read---it's a big one though.

Edited Date: 4/27/11 03:30 pm (UTC)

Date: 4/28/11 07:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] owensheart.livejournal.com
EEP oh my! now I have to ask why does Mitchell want George to stake him.

Yes I am sure I want to know, I dont mind spoilers.

Please tell me.

Date: 4/28/11 07:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Mitchell never quite gets over the guilt of what happened in the boxcar, that coupled with a prophecy by one of his victims that he would be killed by a "wolf-shaped bullet" leads to him asking George to stake him. But the real kicker is that he asks George because he's afraid he's corrupting him (this is due to the fact that George refuses to turn his back on Mitchell and is compromising his own principles in the process).

What makes it extra devastating is the fact that George only stakes Mitchell because this ancient vampire (an original, maybe? he's going to be the big bad next season) is going to force Mitchell to go with him against his will and George won't let Mitchell be used. It was all crazy emotional. I needed like a box of tissues to get through it.

The whole season is on youtube here (http://www.youtube.com/user/syfygirl82). The eps are broken up into parts, but the transitions aren't too jarring, that's where I watched most of the season because I was too impatient to wait. ;)

Date: 4/29/11 07:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] owensheart.livejournal.com
Thanx for telling me, and for the link Ill defo go an check it out.

Date: 4/26/11 12:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ilfirin-estel.livejournal.com
Those last two lines are gut-wrenching. God, this fic, this ship. Beautiful. <3

Date: 4/27/11 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :)

Perfect

Date: 12/17/11 08:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] michellewincest.livejournal.com
This is so prefect!!! I feel this would be something the characters would actually do, I could see it! Oh this by far is my favourite George/Mitchell fic.

Re: Perfect

Date: 12/18/11 05:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ozmissage.livejournal.com
Wow! Thank you so much! <3

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