scribblinlenore: (LA Confidential: Partners)
[personal profile] scribblinlenore
Here's the first drabble from the drabble meme challenge. I intended to write actual drabbles of 100 words, but...yeah. That went by the wayside. I am going to try to keep them all under 1,000 words. *g*

This one is for [livejournal.com profile] linaerys.

Title: Can't Keep Doing This
Fandom: LA Confidential
Pairing: Bud White/Ed Exley
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Everyone in LA has a car
Word count: 855




Can't Keep Doing This

Everyone in L.A. has a car. Everyone except Bud White, who turns up on the Greyhound from Bisbee one dusty Wednesday afternoon, alone, no explanations, and apparently determined to remain footloose and automobile-free.

"I can't keep doing this," Ed says every morning when he comes to pick him up at the grubby by-the-week motel where he's staying.

Bud shrugs. "Don't expect you to."

He reaches for the radio, makes a face at the Mozart that comes wafting out, fiddles with the dial until he finds something that suits him. A beggar for your kisses… Ed recognizes the song from some other morning's ride.

Bud sprawls in the passenger seat. Out of the corner of his eye, Ed can see his casually flung leg, the shape of his thigh beneath his trousers. Bud drums his fingers in time with the beat, and the vibration travels across the dash and up Ed's arms and rattles around inside him, an unnerving buzz under his skin that makes the sweat break out on his forehead.

It's only because it's warm outside, he tells himself.

But the buzz doesn't go away. He feels the reverberation of it all day: when he's reviewing the monthly manpower reports, smirking his way through another pissing match with the brass, standing back to back with Bud White, shotgun in hand, taking down an illegal gambling operation, their third one this month. They always have made a good team.

There's endless paperwork waiting for him when he gets back to the station. He stays at it until well past dinnertime, and he half hopes Bud will give up, catch a ride with someone else. When he comes out of his office, jacket folded neatly over his arm, he's half relieved to find Bud still lounging at his desk.

"I can't keep doing this," he insists nonetheless.

Bud gets to his feet, smiling lazily. "So you've said."

Ed stares straight ahead at the road the whole drive home. Bud has the radio on again, the tap-tap-tap of his fingers, and it's like they're sending telegraphic messages to Ed's skin. At last, he pulls up, shuts off the car, lets out his breath. Only then does he realize that he's parked outside his own house, and Bud is still sitting in the passenger seat next to him, not the way this is supposed to go.

Bud raises an eyebrow. Timing is everything, every good cop knows that. Knows that sometimes a second is all you've got to keep a situation from going to hell. A second is all Ed needs to bluff his way through this, bluster out a complaint about how overworked he is or toss off a casual I assumed you could use a decent meal, something, anything, that makes this seem less like the Freudian slip it actually is.

"Uh," Ed stutters, his face going hot.

Sometimes a second is all it takes. Bud stills, and Ed can feel the explosive potential charging in the air, can almost smell it, like the sky before an electrical storm. There's a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and nowhere to go in the close confines of the car. It won't be the first time Bud White has beaten him all to hell, he reconciles himself.

Bud catches him in the jaw, but not with his fist. He pulls Ed around to him and pushes their mouths together. Ed is caught off balance. Maybe he always is when there's kissing involved, but certainly when it's Bud White doing it. Bud's thumb presses under his chin, and his lips move firmly until Ed finally thinks to kiss back.

He's panting by the time Bud pulls away, blinking owlishly, his glasses knocked askew. Bud is…laughing.

Ed presses his mouth into a thin line, feels the heat flooding his face. Then he's grabbing Bud by the collar, yanking hard, biting kisses onto his lips. He grapples at Bud's shoulders, manhandling him closer, the molecules between them simmering with uncivilized possibilities. There's going to be violence, Ed thinks. And it's going to be the best he's ever had.

They grunt and paw at each other and Bud shoves a knee between Ed's thighs, making him see stars. It takes Ed far longer than it should to consider the neighbors, to disentangle himself and slump back in his seat. Heat prickles beneath his collar, and his lungs feel like they're burning. His belly is clenched so tight with want it hurts.

"You can't keep doing this, huh?" Bud smirks. "For a college boy, you're not too smart sometimes."

Ed turns to glare, but Bud is already opening the door, sliding out of the car. He starts up the front walk, stops, and looks back. The expression on his face is familiarly goading, you gonna do something about this or you just gonna sit out there all night like a cowardly fuck?

Bud White has been making Ed want to take stupid chances since the moment they first crossed paths. He throws the car door open and scrambles after him. He's not sure he would have it any other way.

Date: 2008-11-02 08:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] linaerys.livejournal.com
*claps*

Happy Birthday to me! That was really hot and in-character.

There's going to be violence, Ed thinks. And it's going to be the best he's ever had.

Yes, that exactly.

Date: 2008-11-07 09:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Yay! I'm glad you liked it. That was such a great prompt. It instantly brought this scene to mind. LA Confidential really is one of the best things ever!

Date: 2008-11-02 09:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] logovo.livejournal.com
Ah! What a surprise to go back to this great pair!

And yeah, loved it, how much it is *them* in your writing.


Date: 2008-11-07 09:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
I recently rewatched the movie, and I just fell for them all over again. I wish there were more LA Confidential slash in the world.

I'm so glad you liked this story!

Date: 2008-11-02 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isagel.livejournal.com
Oh, yum! This is one of my absolute favourite small fandom OTPs, and you've done them perfect justice, which is a far too rare thing. The "There's going to be violence" line may have made my week. :) I'm so, so happy you decided to write a whole story and not just a hundred words.

Date: 2008-11-07 09:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Aww, thanks, doll! I'm so glad you thought this worked. I recently re-watched the movie, and I fell for these guys all over again. They just sizzle on the screen together. I wish there was a lot more LA Confidential fan fiction in the world.

Date: 2008-11-02 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] debris_k.livejournal.com
*flails* That's probably only the second Bud/Ed slash fic I've read, but the pairing's utter OTPness makes it feel like a personal canon, already. In other words, lovely, lovely job, and boy do I hope you write more of these boys.

Date: 2008-11-07 09:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Yay, I'm so glad you liked this! I recently re-watched the movie, and man, those guys just sizzle together. I wish there was a whole lot more White/Ex slash in the world. I do hope to write some more myself.

Date: 2008-11-02 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] simonesa.livejournal.com
yum, yum. Ed needs Bud! He should just quit fighting it.

Date: 2008-11-07 09:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
He really, really does! They need to be partners in every sense of the word.

Date: 2008-11-02 11:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelly-girl.livejournal.com
Awesome fic. Love the tap tap tap of Bud's fingers.

Date: 2008-11-07 09:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Thanks, doll! I'm so glad you liked this. Ed is so controlled, but Bud gets under his skin. That's one of my FAVORITE things about the movie. Yum. They are so slashy together!

Date: 2008-11-03 12:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fairy-tale-echo.livejournal.com
Thank goodness this wasn't only 100 words! ;)

To echo everyone here, loved the tap-tap bit, it worked very well with building tension and setting the scene. AND OF COURSE: There's going to be violence, Ed thinks. And it's going to be the best he's ever had.

GUH GUH GUH GUH GUH. Also: GUH!

Date: 2008-11-07 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Hee. I don't know who I was kidding about that 100 word thing. Each story is getting longer than the last!

I'm so glad you liked this. I recently re-watched LA Confidential, and man, do these guys just sizzle together on the screen. I love that Ed is so controlled, but Bud totally gets under his skin. It really made me want to write this.

Date: 2008-11-03 09:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ohfreckle.livejournal.com
I've never read this pairing, but I really enjoyed this one.
Nothing better than hot kisses ;)

Date: 2008-11-07 09:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Sadly, there's not nearly as much LA Confidential slash in the world as there ought to be. 'Cause those guys are seriously hot together!

So glad you liked this!

Date: 2008-11-06 08:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jakrar.livejournal.com
This is awesome!

Date: 2008-11-07 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scribblinlenore.livejournal.com
Yay! I'm so glad you thought so. Thank you!

Profile

scribblinlenore: (Default)
scribblinlenore

October 2024

S M T W T F S
  12345
67891011 12
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 13th, 2025 01:17 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios