FIC: Broken English - Part 2 (Giles/Ethan) - aiming for R

[estepheia]

Okay, here it is, the second part of my Ethan-ficathon story. It now has a title. :-)

I'd link to the first part, but thanks to vista and this stupid browser posting interface, I have problems formatting my posts. I should download one of the clients, but I lack the energy right now. Also, the story is unbeta'd. Sorry. Please point out any problems or errors that you encounter.

Masterlist:  http://antennapedia.livejournal.com/275193.html?view=2076409#t2076409

TITLE: Broken English (used to be untitled)
PAIRING: Giles/Ethan
RATING: I'm aiming for a slashy R, but the characters might chicken out
SPOILERS: Set after 8x04 The Long Way Home (comics); set in Germany, btw
PROMPT: a vacation or roadtrip, magic, slash
WRITTEN FOR: spikendru

Resigned, Giles puts the car into gear, and steps on the gas. Like a horse eager to race, the BMW lurches forward. Within seconds, they are on the motorway, heading east.

“Fasten your seat belt.”

“As you wish,” Ethan purrs.

Smug bastard!

*

For the next two minutes, neither of them speaks.

Giles keeps his eyes peeled, flicking between the road and the rear-view mirror, pretending that driving safely on the wrong side of the road requires his complete concentration.

A November chill seems to have crept into the car. Looking for a way to turn up the heating, Giles fiddles with the buttons in the BMW’s cockpit. He hates these modern cars. The sheer number of buttons and dials is quite intimidating. Of course, he hits the wrong button.

“...You just keep on pushing my looove over the boooorderliiiine...”

Giles hits it again, cutting Madonna off in mid-song. Stupid rentals. He misses his old Citroen, the one Spike trashed.

He can feel Ethan’s eyes on him, his scrutiny, his quizzical smile. It makes him self-conscious, uncomfortably aware of the weight he put on during his last trip to Rome, the grey in his hair, and the lines that the years have dug into his face.

It also makes him aware that, no matter how many years have passed since they last fucked each other, no matter how much Giles despises Janus and everything he stands for, his body still thrums in Ethan’s presence, like a time bomb steadily ticking the seconds and minutes away until its inevitable destruction.

Of course, Ethan must never know. He’ll only use it for leverage.

Giles shoots a glance at his unpredictable passenger. It’s too dark to make out many details, but it’s clear that the wily old sorcerer has seen some wear and tear. He is thinner than Giles remembers him. The lines around his mouth and eyes cut deeper now, and Ethan’s hair and beard shimmer in a strange mixture of black and silver, giving the old trickster an undeservedly distinguished look.

It’s not fair. A man of Ethan’s dissolute lifestyle should at least have the decency to look debauched, with sagging skin and tell-tale red veins. Instead, Ethan’s ash-grey three-piece suit makes him look like a high-ranking civil servant. Or like a marriage swindler of the first water...

It makes Giles wonder what kind of deal Ethan has struck.

“Coffee?” Ethan breaks the silence, raising his little tray.

“I’m afraid I have to decline. My tolerance for surprises is not what it used to be.”

“Beware of Janus worshippers bearing gifts?” Ethan manages to look offended. “My, my, you really do bear a grudge, my friend.” He makes a great show of drinking from both cups, then offers the tray again. His hand, Giles notices, is rock steady.

With a sigh, Giles picks one cup at random and slips it into his cup holder.

Ethan shrugs, and sips his hot beverage, savouring it as though he were sampling an exclusive wine. “German tea is frightful,” he smalltalks, “but the coffee’s good.”

Giles gives no answer. He’s a man at war, on his way to buy a grimoire that may well make a great deal of difference in the conflict Buffy and her Slayers are facing. He has no stomach for idle chit-chat.

A whole battalion of questions parades through his head: How did Ethan escape? Why did he choose to reappear when playing dead offered anonymity and safety? What does he want? How did he know Giles’s itinerary? And most of all: What’s Ethan’s role in the upcoming conflict?

“Hard to believe that there used to be a border here, isn’t it,” Ethan remarks, as they pass the small town ofHelmstedt.

It’s true. There are no barbed wire fences, no guard towers. No sign of the Iron Curtain that used to cut the mundane world in half. The “Todesstreifen”, the no man’s land between the two Germanys, is gone. There’s probably a lesson in this, somewhere, but Giles maintains his stony silence. In the cup holder, his coffee cools, untouched.

It’s Sunday night. Not a lot of traffic at this time of night. Lorries and trucks are banned from the motorways until 10pm. The largest vehicles Giles overtakes are cars with Polish license plates, dragging trailers loaded with even more dented and battered vehicles eastwards, where labour costs are low enough to make a repair profitable.

“You could go faster, you know,” Ethan remarks as he languidly gazes out of the window. “There’s no speed limit. Not anymore. But I remember taking the transit route to Berlin in the Eighties. 100 kmh all the way, the motorway dotted with all those candy colored two-stroke cars, and every few kilometres police cars would lurk in the bushes. If you exceeded 100, even a little, the VoPos fined you faster than you could say ‘fuck Lenin’. Westmarks, of course...”

“Is there any point to this?” Giles snaps.

When Ethan slowly turns his head to regard thim, Giles realizes that there is, indeed, a point to Ethan’s chit-chat. Has to be. Ethan is sending him coded messages. Only he seems to be using a different morse code than Giles, because for the life of him, Giles can’t figure it out. Not without some kind of ENIGMA-machine...

The question is, does he really want to know?

Outside, the first few snow-flakes dance in the BMW’s headlights.

TBC

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

A whole battallion of questions parades through his head: How did Ethan escape? Why did he choose to reappear when playing dead offered anonymity and safety? What does he want? How did he know Giles’s itinerary? And most of all: What’s Ethan’s role in the upcoming conflict?

Ah, yes - we are wondering the same things.

Ethan’s hair and beard shimmer in a strange mixture of black and silver, giving the old trickster an undeservedly distinguished look.
It’s not fair. A man of Ethan’s dissolute lifestyle should at least have the decency to look debauched, with sagging flesh and tell-tale red veins. Instead, Ethan’s ash-grey three-piece suit makes him look like a high-ranking civil servant. Or like a marriage swindler of the first water...

Poor old Ripper, fighting the good fight hasn't been kind to him and then to see Ethan looking so trim and distinguished...

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Well, I just hope that the conclusion won't be too anti-climactic. :-)

Thank you for reading and commenting.

[shapinglight]

Lovely chapter with some wonderful description, which just makes me repeat what I said about the tinkering definitely being worth it.

Am very much looking forward to finding out what Ethan's up to.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Well, I decided it was high time that I use a setting I'm familiar with. I'm very glad you're enjoying it.

[jmchau.livejournal.com]

no matter how many years have passed since they last fucked each other’s brains out

I think I would leave it at 'fucked each other'

Other than that? looks good.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Changed it. Thanks.

Not sure why, but whenever I write Ethan/Giles nothing much happens. They just think and talk and then they think some more and then they talk some more. I have no idea why they don't just jump each other's bones. Heee. Maybe it's a case of: No Sex Please, We're British. :-)

[jmchau.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a case of: No Sex Please, We're British

*snerk*

[nashvillain615.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. Broken English

*having a Marianne Faithful moment, here*

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Believe me, it took me quite a while to come up with a title. "The mage who came from the cold" was a close second. :-)

And yes, I adore that album.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! Giles'inadvertently happening upon Madonna made me giggle. Naturally, he would be appalled.

Rawr! Ethan looking hot is wonderful - even if it does make Giles envious, and insecure about his own looks.

Of course Giles wouldn't trust a "Janus worshipper bearing gifts"!

The question is, does he really want to know?

Well, I don't know about Giles, but I want to know!

*loves*

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I'm sure glad you're enjoying this. As usual, I have my doubts. In most cases I only like my own stories when I reread them a year later. :-)

Is it too slow? Is it too verbose? Does it sound stilted? Or German? Should I crank up the special effects budget and toss in a fight scene? Can I get away with a story that consists mostly of conversation? How important is the sex? How do I get the sodding characters to jump each others' bones? Does the recipient want steamy sex or just subtle hints...

As you can see, a lot of questions ricochet around in my brain, distracting me from the actual act of writing. :-D

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, I am enjoying this! I always enjoy your work, which is why I was thriled to discover that you were writing for me.

2. No. No. No. I like German. If you wish - I like the special effects, and I also like the talking fics. Sometimes the sex comes, and sometimes it doesn't. *sigh* I wrote Andrew/Zach Addy from Bones for my Crossfandom Ficathon, and those two are absolutely perfect for each other! Just the sheer nerd factor is so damn adorable! Do you think I could get them to actually have sex?

Thirty thousand words and I still couldn't get them into bed! Zac was all shy and Andrew was twitchy and . . . nada! They were obviously attracted to each other - they flirted, held hands, were jealous of ther people spending time with the object of their affections (Andrew even threatened Willow with Anya's hairy toes curse when he thought she was spending too much time with Zach!) but after writing 30,000 words, they still never managed teh sex!

So, steamy sex would be a big plus, but if the boys don't cooperate, what can we poor writers do?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

LOL.

1. Thank you!!!!

2. Oh goody, that means I can stop secondguessing what you'll like. :-)

3. Bwahaaa. I know EXACTLY how that feels. You write and write, and there's tension, but the characters are either too stupid or too stubborn to boink. I have several stories where I just gave up and let the characters do what they wanted. My G/E chess story had the same problem, but in that fic it didn't matter so much, because at the end of it the reader was left without doubt that sooner or later Giles and Ethan would do the deed. :-)

Andrew/Zac sounds like a fun pairing.

I love your icon, btw.
I haven't completely given up on that fic, I only shelved it for now.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

W00T! If the Ethan/Snape happens, that would be beyond wonderful! But if not, I always enjoy Giles/Ethan.

Here's the link to the Andrew/Zach, if you're interested:

http://spikendru.livejournal.com/110110.html

I still haven't given up hopes for a sequel, in which they actually consumate the oh so promising relationship they began to develop in "Orion Ale"! hee!

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Oooh, fascinating...

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you, dear.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Interesting choice of Madonna song considering where they are! Sounds like borders and boundaries are going to be kind of a big thing.

Ethan is sending him coded messages. Only he seems to be using a different morse code than Giles, because for the life of him, Giles can’t figure it out. Not without some kind of ENIGMA-machine...

That's great. *g*

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting. Yep, borders are one of the two themes that I'm using to keep the story on track. A little heavy-handed, perhaps, but it helps me pick up where I left off, whenever my intermittent writing schedule prevents me from writing several days in a row. :-)

Thank you for quoting. I always like it if people pick out the line or section they enjoyed most. Cheers!

PS: My beta just sent me back the next chapter. Hopefully, I'll post something later tonight.

[ion-bond.livejournal.com]

Mmm. I like the comparison between Giles and Ethan and the no man's land that you let Giles sort of glance off of. Your Ethan is a lot of fun.

Wouldn't Giles be used to driving on the righthand side of the road after living in Sunnydale for a decade or so?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

So sorry. I meant to reply sooner.
Thank you for your kind comments. I'm glad you like the no man's land theme.

Yes, Giles is used to driving on the right hand side of the road. Doesn't mean that he can't pretend that it requires his full attention. ;-)

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Brilliant. I can really feel layers behind the character's interactions. Well drawn!

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

*beams*
Thank you. I always try to leave some things unspoken, makes it more believable that the characters don't always get what the other characters want or mean. :-)

I'm glad you're enjoying this.