FIC: River -- PG -- Songfic Challenge

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Title: River
Author: geekwriter143
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Category: angst-o-rama
Challenge: Songfic
Summary: Nick takes a walk in the cold.
A/N: There's a songfic challenge over at TalkCSI, and while I'm not really a big fan of songfic, I figured I could twist the challenge a little bit to better suit me. So I put my music on shuffle with the idea that I'd write for ten minutes about whatever song came up first. It was Joni Mitchell's "River." Lyrics after the story, if you're interested.


Nick hunched his shoulders and flipped his collar up against the cold. The weathermen were all forecasting for snow, but the sky was clear, the sun glaringly bright. There was no warmth, though, not that time of year, not even in the desert. It was just harsh light that made everything look too real. He'd come to prefer the nights, when the shadows softened everything he saw.

He hadn't been able to sleep. He hadn't been able to sleep for weeks. It had only taken a few insomnia-ridden days in his condo before he felt like he was going stir crazy, so he'd started to walk. Every day he tried to sleep and every day he gave up, got dressed, put on his coat, and walked. He didn't really pay attention to where he was walking to, didn't have a set route, though he often found himself walking on the bridge across the river.

Nick smirked as he looked down at the dry river bed, the orange-brown dirt, the scrub brush that grew between its banks. It wasn't a river at all, no matter what the sign on the edge of the bridge said. It was just a place where a river sometimes was, an empty place just waiting for the rain.

If it was a real river, Nick could jump, land with a splash, float on his back and stare up at the bright daytime sky. He could close his eyes and let the current take him downstream, somewhere else. Arizona, maybe. Maybe even Mexico. Somewhere he belonged. Somewhere he could sleep at night without seeing Greg's face every time he closed his eyes.

He didn't see Greg's current face. He didn't see the face Greg showed him at work. No, every time he tried to sleep Nick saw Greg's face the way it had been that last night when Nick had finally pushed him far enough, hard enough, so hard that Greg'd had to let go.

Nick's hands were read and chapped from the cold. He curled them in on themselves and let his head fall forward. He was so tired.

He lifted his head and shook his shoulders. Squinted as he turned towards the sun and headed home, hoping to catch some sleep, knowing he was just an empty place waiting for the rain.

**********

"River" by Joni Mitchell

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

Comments

[quettaser.livejournal.com]

Mmm, very nice. It definitely has the rhythm of a Joni Mitchell song, which is awesome. I always like it when songfics do more than just take the lyrics as inspiration for the story. And despite the angst, this still makes me feel good. I'm such a whore for good writing.

[stinkymonz.livejournal.com]

You're saying that like it's a bad thing. :P

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

I usually end up frustrated when I read songfic, because more often than not I don't know the song they're writing about. So I wanted to write something that was based on the song, but that could work without ever having heard it.

[sillie]

Awww... that was sad and beautiful at the same time. <3

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sweetie.

[cunnane.livejournal.com]

*wipes tear from eye* That was really beautifully written. I really love fics that have that mystery and intrigue that leave me screaming "What?! What happened?!" at the screen. I dub thee awesomest awesome writer from awesomeland :)

~x~

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks.

[saebuffyboy.livejournal.com]

wow, that's completly different than what I pictured any fic from this challenge being. But it was right on at the same time. anywhoo, I love the idea of writing like that. Not all the time, just kinda as a bit of excersize. Anwhoo, loved it.

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I never write songfic. I rarely read songfic, for no other reason than I generally don't know the songs so I always feel like I'm missing something. But I wanted to try the challenge, and the exercise turned out better than I expected, so I'm glad you liked.

[shacky20.livejournal.com]

I'll be the first to admit I usully don't like song fic, but this had a completely different feel to it, probably all of that lovely angst, but Greg, what about Greg, what did Nick do, you always leave me wanting more and this one is no exception.

[just1tearforme.livejournal.com]

Aww. I just want to hug the both of them and say make it work. I love how the visiual imagery of the fic parallels the feeling of song. Very good.

[katy-moon-beam.livejournal.com]

You know I don't usually like songfic either. This, however, I very much liked.

Helped to be a Joni-whore too I guess :)

[flipflopadd1ct.livejournal.com]

So I put my music on shuffle with the idea that I'd write for ten minutes about whatever song came up first. - That's so creative! Remind me to try that sometime - it would be interesting!

Now, talking about the fic, this was a great piece of Nick-angst. Like Sillie said up there, sad and beautiful at the same time. I especially liked how I didn't have to know the song to understand what the fic was about! :D

[obsidian-rai.livejournal.com]

Beautifully bittersweet. I'm not usually a fan of songfics but I think that's because a lot of them that I've read (mostly in SV fandom) basically take a song and make one of the characters turn to the other and say, "There's this song that fits exactly how I feel about you. Listen." and that's like the entire fic. This, though? Works very, very well. *nods a lot*

[fred-bear.livejournal.com]

Another wonderful fic! :) I love the melancholy tone that you translated so well from the lyrics to the fic. I just want to give them both a hug right now.

[maribouquet.livejournal.com]

"...he was just an empty place waiting for the rain."

Whoa. Beautiful.
Gorgeous - a perfect description of an environment that is also a perfect evocation of Nick's emotional landscape. So lovely.

And I know what you mean about not liking most songfics because the song is unfamiliar.
But this song I know, and love, and this fic...well, I love it too. Like the song, it puts me in a place where I could cry big, suffering, hot tears.

Keep 'em coming!

[squara.livejournal.com]

Oh Nick, why do you have to keep hurting Greg?

I always love your work, this was no exception. You are fabulous with the imagery. Fabulous.