drink with me to days gone by

Title: Freedom
Fandom: Lost
Characters: Sayid, Hurley
Spoilers: Through Season 4 Finale
Prompt: I began writing this for lostfichallenge #73: freedom, but it was never posted.
Summary: Sayid steals Hurley away from the institution.

( The unmarked car pulled out of the gated entrance, gravel churning against the tires like a growling beast. Sayid glanced over his shoulder at Hurley, who sat in silence in the back seat, mechanically running the belt from his robe between his fingers as he stared vacantly out of the window. )

Title: Summer Camp
Fandom: Lost
Characters: Sawyer, Hurley, Locke, Claire
Spoilers: Through Eggtown
Prompt: lostsquee - "Only from disaster can we be resurrected. It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything."; un_love_you - "This cancels out the hurt."
Summary: Sawyer and Hurley are roomies; set immediately following the events of Eggtown.

( Dude, is that a handprint on your face? )

Title: Panic Prone
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Ron, Hermione, Harry
Timeline: post Deathly Hallows
Author's Note: The week after the release of Deathly Hallows, I was still on a Harry Potter high. A friend attempted to feed my Harry Potter hunger by prompting me to write about a certain moment post-Deathly Hallows. This is the result.

( Their months of unbroken nuptial bliss seemed to be fizzling out like a poorly cast Patronus... )

The sound of the turning deadbolt reverberated off the walls of the silent apartment suite. The darkness of the entry way was all-consuming like an underground crypt, and as Chase made his way down the hallway, he felt as if he were back in the catacombs of the ancient cathedrals he would visit as a child. A flip of a switch, and the memories were gone, lost to the rich furnishings before him that never quite felt like home.

He tossed his bag carelessly onto the leather sofa and headed for the small bar that sat between the twin bay windows. He hesitated for a moment, his fingers outlining the rim of an empty glass that sat overturned as if waiting to be filled. Tie loosened, and a sweep of the hand through his hair, Chase reached for a bottle. Gin. Completely unopened and previously untouched, yet always there, as if it served as a reminder of something tragic. The tonic water was in his hand before he realized it, and as he added the gin into the shallow glass, his eyes burned at the familiar scent. When the liquor finally met his lips, his stomach lurched as if in protest. But then came the calm. The warm and numbing sensation that filled him to his very extremities. He took another drink and winced, brushing his tongue across the inside of his stinging lower lip. Maybe this was not such a fine idea.

He set the gin and tonic down and began to walk away, but then in one quick movement, returned and finished off the drink. Placing the empty glass upside-down on the counter, he turned his back on the bar and moved toward the large windows. With the curtains brushed aside, he could see the edge of the campus through the hazy pre-dawn light. As he stood with his weight against the wall, his eyes focused on the street lamp until it became just a florescent blur and his mind wandered back to the light, the heat, the contact of the night before. Even if he were the type of person to be filled with regret over each and every spontaneous decision, it would not apply to last night. It would not apply to Cameron and the result of months of anticipation. “Why are you so calm?” His eyes wandered back toward the bar. Everybody lies.

Matthew pulled the door shut behind him and leaned against it, still clutching the door knob. His vision began to blur and the hallway around him spin. He let out a long, hitched breath and gasped for another, realizing that he had been holding his breath. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he did, short, choppy images played in his head like a movie: long fingers tracing pale skin; blue eyes affixed on his own; deep, wet kisses; skin touching skin. Matthew's eyes fluttered open and then closed again, as if he could will the images from his mind.

A piercing ring interrupted the sound of his own heart beating in his ears. He reached up and brushed aside the hair that clung to his damp forehead, then retrieved his cell phone from his pocket. "No, Sarah. I'm coming. I just got a little side-tracked." He pushed himself away from the door and began walking down the hallway. As he reached the stairwell, he paused, glancing over his shoulder once at the door he had just left. With a guilty shake of his head, he took a deep breath and walked away.