gyzym: (Cardinal (Ohio))
[personal profile] gyzym
RIGHT SO FIRST: INCEPTION FEN. INCEPTION FEN. LISTEN UP.

Okay, I know I rec [livejournal.com profile] wheres_walnut's art like, all the fucking time, like every time she posts art, I know I do that, I really do. I AM AWARE. But the thing is I do it because it is, every time, blow the fuck away good, and oh my god, you guys. She is doing an art WIP (an ART WIP!!!) over at the kinkmeme where Arthur & Eames are fellow commuters on the Metro North and, you guys, Jesus Christ. Look, I know fuck-all about art aside from WOW THAT'S SO GORGEOUS DJHASFJKSDF but the thing I always love love love about Walnut's art is how goddamn real it feels, her use of color to set the mood, this vivid expansive beyond-what-I-can-articulate scene she manages to build. Even if you are not in Inception fandom and this, to you, would be two random dudes on a train, GO LOOK. THEY WILL BE THE MOST BREATHTAKING TWO DUDES ON A TRAIN YOU'VE EVER SEEN.

/embarrassing Walnut (SORRY NUT, I CANNOT CONTAIN MY LOVE AT ALL).

And, ahahaha, okay, second: so, when I first started posting fanfiction, I said to myself, "Jizz. Jizz. You can feel free to pound out whatever nonsense you like, so long as--and this is very important--you never write fic set in or around Cleveland, Ohio." This is for a lot of reasons, the predominant one being that I grew up/live here and thus have deep fear of self insert, though there's also the fear that my unlikely but undeniable love for this place will grip me so furiously that I'll never be able to set anything anywhere else ever again. Whatever the reason, "Don't write fic about Ohio" has been the "TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE LAMP" of my fanfiction career, and I have observed the rule faithfully.

But, see, tonight [livejournal.com profile] sheafrotherdon posted this vid about Michigan and, because I grew up in Ohio, Michigan makes me think of University of Michigan makes me think of Muck Fichigan makes me think of the Ohio State Buckeyes makes me think of buckeye candy makes me think of my childhood makes me think of home, and so my brain...went there. It went there, and to continue the Aladdin analogy this idea is like that giant ruby and I am Abu and somewhere my common sense is screaming NO YOU ASSHOLE TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE LAMP DO NOT WRITE FIC ABOUT OHIO, but I. I can't help myself.


What is happening to me right now. For serious.


So under the cut are some random context-free snippets of Danny and Steve in Northeast Ohio because of [plot device I haven't worked out], in the hopes that it will get the fuck out of my system. This is not fanfiction, it is 1500 words of fucking about on the internet. THAT'S TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I'M NOT TOUCHING THE LAMP. IF I DON'T GIVE IT A TITLE IT'S NOT REAL. Oh god.



The truth is, Danny has missed fall a stupid amount. He does know, for all he claims not to, how ridiculous it is to complain about living in paradise; it's just easier to deflect with "pineapple infested" and "sharks" than it is to explain that the loss of the chillier seasons is actually kind of like losing a (admittedly sometimes irritating) relative. So the Ohio thing is sort of nice in that sense, but if he was going to get an autumn why couldn't it have been a Jersey one, that's what Danny wants to know. Would it have been so hard to end up there instead, there instead of here, what is he doing here, fucking Christ. In some ways it's worse, homesickness-wise, than Hawaii could ever be, because it's closer, but still so fucking far.

But Steve keeps buying winter gear, ridiculous fingerless gloves and hideous coats and thick scarves, all lit up and proud of himself like a kid when he brings them home. He gets into it, tries and fails to make buckeye candy, asks the neighbors about what they should see while they're here. At Halloween he drags Danny to pick out a pumpkin, because some random lady at the grocery store told him about this orchard, apples and the pumpkins and a general store that smells like fritters and pie. There are kids everywhere, hopping off the wagon and running from the bees still left from summer, and it makes Danny miss Gracie something fierce; the fritter is good, though, deep fried, delicious, and he points out the ugliest pumpkin just for the fun of it.

It could be worse, is the point, and then Steve pulls him behind a Jonagold tree and kisses him, the chilled wind leaving his lips a little chapped. He tastes spicy like the cider he's been downing and he's laughing even as he shudders because he's not made for this kind of weather, and Danny reels him in, hands fisted in the hem of his coat. Steve smiles against his mouth and, yeah, Danny can think of places he'd rather be, but not that many, not right now.

--


They go to a Browns game because Steve's all into the football culture, because he's a freak of nature who never got over the whole star quarterback thing, not really, not deep down. Danny humors him because it's hard not to, these days; it's the most depressing thing Danny's ever seen, and he is a Nets fan, okay, he knows from losing. But these people are just, just resigned to it, disappointed before the game even starts, the weight of their sports curse settled over them like a blanket. It's like nothing he's ever seen, and he feels for them, but it's a bummer all the same.

"Best time to be a Browns fan is when they're not playing," says the stranger sitting next to him, somehow friendly in his bitterness, and Danny says, "Yeah, I hear you," even though he mostly doesn't.

They're all decked out in paraphernalia, though, glowing brown and orange like they bought out the whole store, and as it turns out they all hate Boston with a burning fiery passion for breaking their losing streak first. Danny, Jersey through and through and thus raised with Yankees pride, can jive with that; he jokes with the guys they're sitting with, and the beer flows freely, and Steve's grinning next to him, pressed in a little too close.

It's middle of the third quarter when the game turns around, and the Browns are suddenly winning somehow, and it's like the whole place has caught fire--everyone's on their feet screaming and Steve is yelling his fool head off, whooping like a teenager. Some asshole gave him orange and brown paint that's all over his face because he's never shaken his weird camo fixation, and Danny's standing too, because it's infectious, yelling for a team he's never even liked, Steve's hand warm through his jacket.

--


It's a long drive from the city to the house they're staying in, tucked into a grove of trees far from the bustle of downtown. Steve, Sunday-afternoon exhausted, is in the passenger seat because Danny knows better than to inflict his driving on the good people of Ohio--he falls asleep ten minutes down the road, lulled probably by the sudden warmth blasting from the vents of the rented Honda, tucked into the folds of his thick coat. His face is pressed, haphazard, against the window, and Danny slants a sidelong grin at him, his big bad SEAL knocked out by the sound of tires on asphalt, like Gracie when she was two and three and four.

Around them is this canopy of red and gold, light catching and reflecting from every tree, and Danny knows that autumn's a death march, really. He knows that in weeks or months the ground will be thick with snow, because he remembers that, the shift in seasons, the half-tragedy of realizing winter's set in and fall is over. But just now the radio croons out shitty soft rock, an unspoken concession to Steve's terrible taste in music, and Steve shifts in sleep and his face is reflected with that red and gold and his lips are chapped and Danny grins, grins until his face hurts, his hands tight on the wheel.

When they pull into the driveway Danny cuts the engine and the cessation of noise wakes Steve, wakes him gentle, wakes him slow. He's long-since cured of the habit of startling awake ready for a fight, making Danny's heart clench for him every damn time, but it's still good, to see him get up like this. He blinks sleepily and then he yawns and then he smiles, and Danny leans across the gearshift to meet him because he can't help himself.

"You have a nice nap?" he says, less sarcastic than he means to, and Steve makes this low murmuring noise, soft, smooth, as he slides a still-gloved hand across Danny's cheek. His lips are sleep-slack when they kiss, but his breath comes easy, and the fabric of the glove catches against Danny's five o'clock shadow. Danny sees red and gold as he closes his eyes.

---


It storms, and maybe Hawaii's spoiled Danny just as badly as Steve, because he's gotten used to downpours that aren't like this--on the island they're intense, often dangerous, but usually warm. He's forgotten what it's like to be caught in a thunderstorm that's spitting down freezing rain until it happens to him, and he curses, running for the house, water trickling under the collar of his coat.

Steve laughs his ass off when Danny gets inside, mocks him mercilessly about the sixth-sense he was supposed to have developed in Jersey, grins cheerfully when Danny throws him the middle finger. But he grabs Danny a pair of sweats, too--bottom drawer, left side--a t-shirt, long sleeved and blissfully dry. He yanks Danny onto the couch, grabs one of the blankets they keep everywhere because they both get cold, cards a big hand through Danny's sopping hair. He doesn't let up with the teasing, smug bastard, but he palms the back of Danny's neck while he laughs, radiates warmth like the big SEAL space heater he is until Danny finally quits shivering.

It's not home, but it's not bad, for Ohio.

---


There's a red bird and a Navy SEAL sitting in Danny's backyard; the first looks at Danny curiously, cocking its head, and the second waves a hand for silence.

"I didn't say anything, you goof," Danny says.

"Now you have," Steve hisses. "Sit down or stop moving, you're going to scare it off."

Danny wants to laugh until he cries, but he reigns it in like a champ, folds himself into the grass next to Steve. It's a nice enough day, the temperature hovering at something like fifty degrees, the sun out. Steve's staring at the bird like it's resisting arrest, but Danny's come to accept that that just means he's feeling contemplative.

"Birdwatching?" he says. "Really? We gotta get you outta here, McGarrett, the boredom's gotten to your head."

"It's a cardinal," Steve says. "State bird out here."

"Seriously," Danny says, "why do you know that? Are you going native on me, is that what's happening, am I gonna come home one day and find you've bought season tickets for the Cavs--"

"You know I mentioned Lebron James the other day and some guy almost decked me?"

"Yeah," Danny says, "they're a little--it's better not to go down that road, trust me, not that you'd know, basketball failure that you are. But, in all honesty, you do remember that we've got a home, right? One that isn't here?"

Steve slants him a sidelong grin, and oh, goddamn it, Danny's gone and walked right into it, Steve and his fucking sneaky traps. He braces himself, waits for the smug rush of "I knew you liked Hawaii," but it doesn't come; Steve just keeps smiling at him, stupid happy, the cardinal hopping around in front of them.

"Yeah, Danno," he says. "I remember just fine."
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Date: 2011-03-28 06:34 am (UTC)
esteefee: Steve McGarrett looking bigeyed worried (smeve)
From: [personal profile] esteefee
oh, aw, AWWWW. I think I like Ohio now, that okay by you? all right, cupcake?

thank god for [plot devices]

::loves more than a little::
Edited Date: 2011-03-28 06:35 am (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-28 06:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seeingrightly.livejournal.com
because Danny knows better than to inflict his driving on the good people of Ohio

Steve is SUCH a Jersey driver that it almost startles me when Danny bitches about his driving, and then I remember that even if Danny was a worse driver he'd still bitch about Steve being reckless, but anyway, my point is - Danny is absolutely used to that kind of driving, nonstop, all the fucking time, all around him.

And that, right there, goes to show that Hawaii Five-0 is a constant enabler of my DON'T WRITE ABOUT OHIO. Like, come on. It's unavoidable. I still plan to write that Jersey Five-0 fic at some point. It's just - constant. Every single little thing about Danny screams me and home to the point where I don't even notice it half of the time.

So anyway. I really, honestly, I love to see you doing this, kind of writing a love song to your own place with the boys. It's really interesting, because, you know, when I'll do it it'll be all stereotypes and shit we all know about anyway, but this right here is more - individual? It's what Ohio is for you.

Hooooly Jesus this comment has run away from me. Um. Yes. I love this because it is so warm and cozy and feels like home, like your home.

Date: 2011-03-28 06:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fic-kitty.livejournal.com
Doooo iiiiiit. WRITE ALL THE JERSEY FIC EVAR. It is my kryptonite of Hawaii Five-0 fic because, see, THERE'S A REASON, um, so. Like. Steve is totally on his home turf, right? Hawaii is his PLACE, its his THING and Danny is the Interloper, and although Steve has been away for a long time its still home, because home is... whatever, immutable. So I have a thing for "Steve in Jersey" because it is such a turn the tables moment, and I LOVE READING THAT, I love reading about Steve kind of off balance and not knowing shit, like, what kind of coat you need to wear if it might snow and rain in the same afternoon. AS IT DOES IN SPRING IN NEW ENGLAND/EAST COAST SOMETIMES. (I'm from NH, that's ALMOST NJ. Sort of.)

SO WHAT I SAID BEFORE ABOUT WRITING JERSEY FIC. SOMEDAY. ADD IT TO THE LIST. :D

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Date: 2011-03-28 06:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fic-kitty.livejournal.com
BUT GYZYM. Writing about something you know makes your prose so completely believable! It's almost like cheating! Who doesn't like cheating once in a while! I will cheat the crap out of my new snippet project!

NOT THAT YOU NEED TO CHEAT. I'm sure if you'd written about Steve and Danny in Budapest it would have come out equally as sparkling and rainbow-like :D

Date: 2011-03-28 06:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fic-kitty.livejournal.com
ALSO (and I need to pay for a freaking account already so I can edit my comments) ALSO I LOVE THE BIT ABOUT HALLOWEEN. I THINK ANY HALLOWEEN WHERE THERE IS NO CHANGE OF FOLIAGE IS FAKE. FAKEOWEEN. So, that hit close to my heart :D

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From: [identity profile] sunsaralyn.livejournal.com - Date: 2011-03-29 09:02 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2011-03-28 07:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com
It sounds like you might have teeny tiny love affair going on with Ohio ;)
I love the feeling that shines through this so completely. Danny's love for Steve and your love for your home in equal measure. I am glad you ignored your moratorium on Ohio fic. Really glad.

Date: 2011-03-28 07:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] viennajones.livejournal.com
It took some skill to focus on anything that came after these lines:
It could be worse, is the point, and then Steve pulls him behind a Jonagold tree and kisses him, the chilled wind leaving his lips a little chapped. He tastes spicy like the cider he's been downing and he's laughing even as he shudders because he's not made for this kind of weather, and Danny reels him in, hands fisted in the hem of his coat. Steve smiles against his mouth and, yeah, Danny can think of places he'd rather be, but not that many, not right now.

They are SO - FUCKING - PERFECT. I will print them out and put them up on my wall and give you photographic evidence just so you know that this is the best not-fanfiction I have ever read. And if that makes you do it again, my mission in life is complete. I am not exaggerating, okay?

He yanks Danny onto the couch, grabs one of the blankets they keep everywhere because they both get cold asjdfalhsdkjfshdf they both get cold, oh god. I love this so much. Because Hawaii, as wonderful and amazing as it is and as much as I want to go there right now, deprives us of all that lovely atumn/winter/spring fic.

Also, thanks for that art rec, it's gorgeous!

Date: 2011-03-28 07:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] illian.livejournal.com
. . . LJ/Internet ate my comment. DAMN IT. *flounces*

Date: 2011-03-28 07:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] celemie.livejournal.com
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Date: 2011-03-28 07:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secondsilk.livejournal.com
This is awesome. I love reading stories set in people's home-places. I totally get the sport thing even though I know nothing about American sports, because my team is historically the worst performing in the AFL.

What happened was that they had to follow some nasty criminal types to Ohio, which was fine and they got them sent to the feds and everyone was happy. Except that someone on Hawaii has made more of a complaint against Steve than the Governor can easily get rid of, so Steve's persona non grata in Honolulu until the Senate enquiry is over - probably not til the middle of February. Moving out of Ohio would be too much of an acknowledgement that they can't go back home (and neither of them really wants to risk staying in Jersey, afraid it won't be easy to leave, that it might be too much like a home), so they stay exactly where they were when they got the call from Chin that there was an actual warrant for Steve's arrest.

I know nothing at all about how the various legal jurisdictions work in the show or are supposed to work in real life, but I don't care, because I love USian winters.

Date: 2011-03-28 07:46 am (UTC)
ext_559841: suspended on silver wings~ (Scotty Bedhair)
From: [identity profile] shiroi-ten.livejournal.com
*flail* SNIPPETS OF LOVE. Ohio sounds so good now, even with the biting rain and all that. I can just imagine the flush of Danno's cheecks and Steve's grin and jasgdks EVERYTHING HERE <3

Date: 2011-03-28 07:48 am (UTC)
somehowunbroken: (5-0 Steve/Danno car bkg)
From: [personal profile] somehowunbroken
So I'm feeling a bit conflicted, here, thinking that maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this for your sake, but I very much want to - the whole scene in the car with red and gold and sleeping Steve is just stunning, really. And they're being so domestic, and maybe that's my secret fic-love, curatinfic of all shapes and sizes, but I certainly would encourage your Abu-like tendencies in this regard. ♥

Date: 2011-03-28 07:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gunslingaaahhh.livejournal.com
I LOVE IT.

WHATCHU GOT AGAINST BOSTON, HUH? I HALE FROM THERE AND ITS THE BALLS.

Date: 2011-03-28 08:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sirona-gs.livejournal.com
OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD, PURE GOLD. I think my heart swelled up five sizes while I was reading this.

Somehow, this line: his big bad SEAL knocked out by the sound of tires on asphalt, like Gracie when she was two and three and four. -- it makes me almost unreasonably happy. I could just cuddle it forever!

ALL THE HEARTS, JIZZY. ALL OF 'EM.

Date: 2011-03-28 10:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com
Mmmmm, these are lovely. You and your delicious domesticity. ♥

Heh, I am the opposite with the whole do not touch the lamp thing. ...I mean, okay, I've not written anything that takes place in Hawaii since high school, but recently I've been fairly shameless with the Portland thing, and while I'm not too worried about actual self-insert (again, not since high school, lol oh god, fifteen-year-old me, what even), I am constantly shamelessly inserting little bits of my life into things, usually in such a way that no one would ever notice, but. I KNOW.

I like your little love letter to Ohio. It makes me happy. Love letters make me happy. Also it makes me think of my dad. Also I like the cardinal because cardinals are adorable.

DID YOU KNOW. THERE ARE CARDINALS IN HAWAII.

Date: 2011-03-28 11:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theonlytwin.livejournal.com
I love place stories like this. All the taste and texture and feeeeeeeeling.

Date: 2011-03-28 11:34 am (UTC)
siria: (h50 - boys point)
From: [personal profile] siria
Abu and I both approve of your choices.

Date: 2011-03-28 11:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oaktree89.livejournal.com
Ok, so a) I love Walnut's art, and I am so psyched (as a trainly commuter myself) to check this out, so thanks for the rec! and b) I was born in Cleveland, as you may remember, and lord I wish I were in H50 fandom so I could read Cleveland-y fic. Good on you for repping the cloudiest, muggiest city on earth! (Also has a great philharmonic) :D

Date: 2011-03-28 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com
Awwww, this is so lovely! And I think we've discussed this already (OH, I KNOW WE HAVE) but love letters to the states we love ARE TOTALLY A-OKAY WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, INDULGE, INDULGE, WRITE IT HOYAY ♥

Date: 2011-03-28 12:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wheres-walnut.livejournal.com
<3 LOVE LETTER TO OHIO. IT IS NOT CHEATING IMO IT IS GETTING REALISTIC AND LOL I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU PUT BASKETBALL IN THIS, THAT IS SO APPROPRIATE. WE ALL MISS FALL DANNO. EVEN WHEN WE LIVE HERE. AKSDJFAEJNSBCX I LOVE YOU PLEASE ALWAYS WRITE ABOUT OHIO FOREVER IT IS MY FAVORITE WHEN YOU DO. You've written about the winters before! SURELY THE RULE CAN BE BROKEN MORE THOROUGHLY.

Ace use of Abu.

/my deep and unending embarrassment/mortification which I mostly slept through yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss good unintentional plan:

Date: 2011-03-28 12:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wheres-walnut.livejournal.com
^ ONE OF THE STATEMENTS ABOVE IS MISLEADING. AS YOU KNOW. I DO NOT LIVE IN OHIO. IF I DID WE'D BE GETTING WASTED ONCE A WEEK.

Date: 2011-03-28 12:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skyvehicle.livejournal.com
shit.

...I go to U of M.

WHAT. DO. WE. DO???

( I mean it's 5-0 and I don't read 5-0 because I don't watch 5-0 so I guess, I guess we're okay?

FOR NOW.

Date: 2011-03-28 12:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] robanybody.livejournal.com
TOUCH THE LAMP, TOUCH IT. If it means more loveliness like this, NEVER STOP WRITING FIC ABOUT OHIO. ♥________♥

Date: 2011-03-28 12:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lasamy.livejournal.com
♥___♥

Date: 2011-03-28 12:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dogeared.livejournal.com
Steve pulls him behind a Jonagold tree and kisses him, the chilled wind leaving his lips a little chapped. He tastes spicy like the cider he's been downing and he's laughing even as he shudders because he's not made for this kind of weather, and Danny reels him in, hands fisted in the hem of his coat, as;dflaksdjfads;lfkasjdf;lasdkj meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!

Date: 2011-03-28 01:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ecarian.livejournal.com
*flails around in incoherent delight* Domestic!!! I <3 the domestic!

Date: 2011-03-28 02:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hungerpunch.livejournal.com
you're making me consider watching this H5-0 show and i don't even have time for it! is it on netflix?

Date: 2011-03-28 02:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bluespirit-star.livejournal.com
This fic is like the blanket that Steve & Danny keep on the couch, & I'm all wrapped up warm & snug inside.
*so much love*
Thank you.
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