Fic: Waiting For the Stars to Fall
26 Nov 2015 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritSo, I finished The Forsyte Saga and, yes, it was great. More anon, I should think, if I ever have brain. In the meantime, it struck me that if I wrote Fleur/Michael fic, it would hit one of my 'impossible' bingo squares (unrequited pining). (I had completely forgotten Michael somehow, even though now I've remembered, I know that was what kept me reading all the later books - teeanged me got reluctantly hooked on Fleur/Michael & it's been an influence ever since. I just forget everything, apparently.) So, here's a ficlet, ducky. ;-D
None of this is getting my Yule-fic written, of course, but slight character vignettes don't require more of me than I've got right now & my Yule-fic would. (If I default, that'll still be my story.) /o\
***
Title: Waiting For the Stars To Fall
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lost_spook
Rating: PG
Word Count: 856
Characters/Pairings: Michael Mont/Fleur Forsyte
Notes/Warnings: None. Post (1967)-series – some spoilers in passing. (I have read the books, but too long ago to have a clue what’s canon-compliant or not.) For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hc_bingo square “unrequited pining”.
Summary: Michael reflects on what he wants from Fleur. It’s a dangerous question.
***
He says, when it finally seems prudent to do so, and only just makes it a question, that perhaps she doesn’t want to finish sitting for that portrait now.
Fleur thinks for a while before replying; one never knows at times like these what might be passing through her mind. Then she puts her hand over his and gives a quick shake of her head. “No. I can’t. I simply can’t. Is that too awful of me?”
Michael smiles. “Not at all. Entirely understandable.”
“I do think,” she adds, in what sounds like a non-sequiteur and he is sure can’t be, “that painters are such horrid people.”
Michael leans back in the chair and laughs. “What, all of them? Not one decent chap among them? Surely not.”
“One, perhaps,” says Fleur, a brief flicker of amusement in her face, before her expressions darkens. “But probably just the one.”
“Goodness.” Michael doesn’t ask for an explanation. He’s pretty sure that at bottom, it’s not to do with painters or even her father’s death; it’s connected to Jon. He’s got a sixth sense for when that’s the case, or maybe it’s only too much time spent working out the mysteries of Fleur, but whatever it is, he’d rather he hadn’t sometimes; it’s damned uncomfortable.
“He is horrid, though,” Fleur continues, almost breathless, as if it matters to her in some way she’s not explaining. “Or too seeing maybe.” She plays with Michael’s hair lightly as he sits next to her, leaning in against her and, quite stupidly, such things still make his heart beat with sudden irregularity. A bird of hope made her nest inside him several ages ago and she flutters her wings alarmingly at times like these, but Michael’s grown used to it.
Fleur pauses then, and pulls back. “He said men are happy with only the body, but women always have to go after the soul of a person. Do you think that’s true?”
If it’s true, thinks Michael, then he ought to be perfectly content already and have no aching inside for something more from Fleur. He feels it’s a bit of an all or nothing sort of statement, too grandiose for him. Like most things, there’s probably some truth in it, but what use is a body without whatever it is that animates it from within? Call it heart or soul or life essence or anything you like, but nothing’s any good without it. He doesn’t want someone who isn’t Fleur, and wouldn’t want her silent, unresponsive or in any way not Fleur. Perhaps the man only meant that it’s best to accept what you can have and not keep asking for more until you get something you don’t, but Michael’s not sure that’s entirely fair either, not put like that.
“Well, Michael?” she says, sounding bemused by his moment of introspection.
He only grins at her. It’s probably not a safe question to answer, not if she’s taking it seriously. “You should ask Uncle Hilary. He’s the one who’s supposed to be chasing people’s souls, after all.”
“Is he?” Fleur gives a small laugh. “I thought he was merely after our purses so he could buy up slum streets to his heart’s content.”
Michael shrugs, and then looks up at her. “Still, the chap’s not taken the clergy into account, has he? Probably overlooked a dozen other things, too, ducky. It’s not worth worrying over.”
“Yes, what does he know?” says Fleur, and Michael knows one can’t fix things so easily, but she sounds more like herself and that’s something. “Oh, Michael! Talking of slums, you’ll never guess who wrote me a letter. It arrived today.”
“Oh?”
“One of my girls, from the rest house. All painstakingly written out in pencil. Thanking me for arranging the lovely holiday and telling me I really ought to be a Minister’s Angle. Do you think she meant a ministering angel?”
“I hope so,” Michael says. “Although I suppose her English teacher might not. Still, bully for her! See, Fleur?”
Fleur stubs out her cigarette on the ash tray beside her, and gives a rueful smile. “You mean one of them doesn’t hate me?”
“No, darling,” says Michael. “No.”
She sighs then and looks at him. “Michael, I do care, you know. Quite dreadfully sometimes, in my own way.” She runs her fingers through his hair again and kisses his forehead. “I’ve told you – I’m a Forsyte. I know the value of things.” Then she smiles more fully – always a little dazzling still – and kisses him again, at which point he casts all painters’ half-baked philosophies and thoughts of slum clearance schemes to the wind.
It comes back to him, though, in the middle of the night, when he can’t help going over her words in his head, the way they lift him and hurt him; the pain and the pleasure inextricably intertwined. He decides before going to sleep that, when it comes down to it, what he wants is Fleur, and any part of her that she feels she can give him – so long as it comes unasked for and freely. The rest doesn’t matter.
***
None of this is getting my Yule-fic written, of course, but slight character vignettes don't require more of me than I've got right now & my Yule-fic would. (If I default, that'll still be my story.) /o\
***
Title: Waiting For the Stars To Fall
Author:
lost_spookRating: PG
Word Count: 856
Characters/Pairings: Michael Mont/Fleur Forsyte
Notes/Warnings: None. Post (1967)-series – some spoilers in passing. (I have read the books, but too long ago to have a clue what’s canon-compliant or not.) For
hc_bingo square “unrequited pining”. Summary: Michael reflects on what he wants from Fleur. It’s a dangerous question.
***
He says, when it finally seems prudent to do so, and only just makes it a question, that perhaps she doesn’t want to finish sitting for that portrait now.
Fleur thinks for a while before replying; one never knows at times like these what might be passing through her mind. Then she puts her hand over his and gives a quick shake of her head. “No. I can’t. I simply can’t. Is that too awful of me?”
Michael smiles. “Not at all. Entirely understandable.”
“I do think,” she adds, in what sounds like a non-sequiteur and he is sure can’t be, “that painters are such horrid people.”
Michael leans back in the chair and laughs. “What, all of them? Not one decent chap among them? Surely not.”
“One, perhaps,” says Fleur, a brief flicker of amusement in her face, before her expressions darkens. “But probably just the one.”
“Goodness.” Michael doesn’t ask for an explanation. He’s pretty sure that at bottom, it’s not to do with painters or even her father’s death; it’s connected to Jon. He’s got a sixth sense for when that’s the case, or maybe it’s only too much time spent working out the mysteries of Fleur, but whatever it is, he’d rather he hadn’t sometimes; it’s damned uncomfortable.
“He is horrid, though,” Fleur continues, almost breathless, as if it matters to her in some way she’s not explaining. “Or too seeing maybe.” She plays with Michael’s hair lightly as he sits next to her, leaning in against her and, quite stupidly, such things still make his heart beat with sudden irregularity. A bird of hope made her nest inside him several ages ago and she flutters her wings alarmingly at times like these, but Michael’s grown used to it.
Fleur pauses then, and pulls back. “He said men are happy with only the body, but women always have to go after the soul of a person. Do you think that’s true?”
If it’s true, thinks Michael, then he ought to be perfectly content already and have no aching inside for something more from Fleur. He feels it’s a bit of an all or nothing sort of statement, too grandiose for him. Like most things, there’s probably some truth in it, but what use is a body without whatever it is that animates it from within? Call it heart or soul or life essence or anything you like, but nothing’s any good without it. He doesn’t want someone who isn’t Fleur, and wouldn’t want her silent, unresponsive or in any way not Fleur. Perhaps the man only meant that it’s best to accept what you can have and not keep asking for more until you get something you don’t, but Michael’s not sure that’s entirely fair either, not put like that.
“Well, Michael?” she says, sounding bemused by his moment of introspection.
He only grins at her. It’s probably not a safe question to answer, not if she’s taking it seriously. “You should ask Uncle Hilary. He’s the one who’s supposed to be chasing people’s souls, after all.”
“Is he?” Fleur gives a small laugh. “I thought he was merely after our purses so he could buy up slum streets to his heart’s content.”
Michael shrugs, and then looks up at her. “Still, the chap’s not taken the clergy into account, has he? Probably overlooked a dozen other things, too, ducky. It’s not worth worrying over.”
“Yes, what does he know?” says Fleur, and Michael knows one can’t fix things so easily, but she sounds more like herself and that’s something. “Oh, Michael! Talking of slums, you’ll never guess who wrote me a letter. It arrived today.”
“Oh?”
“One of my girls, from the rest house. All painstakingly written out in pencil. Thanking me for arranging the lovely holiday and telling me I really ought to be a Minister’s Angle. Do you think she meant a ministering angel?”
“I hope so,” Michael says. “Although I suppose her English teacher might not. Still, bully for her! See, Fleur?”
Fleur stubs out her cigarette on the ash tray beside her, and gives a rueful smile. “You mean one of them doesn’t hate me?”
“No, darling,” says Michael. “No.”
She sighs then and looks at him. “Michael, I do care, you know. Quite dreadfully sometimes, in my own way.” She runs her fingers through his hair again and kisses his forehead. “I’ve told you – I’m a Forsyte. I know the value of things.” Then she smiles more fully – always a little dazzling still – and kisses him again, at which point he casts all painters’ half-baked philosophies and thoughts of slum clearance schemes to the wind.
It comes back to him, though, in the middle of the night, when he can’t help going over her words in his head, the way they lift him and hurt him; the pain and the pleasure inextricably intertwined. He decides before going to sleep that, when it comes down to it, what he wants is Fleur, and any part of her that she feels she can give him – so long as it comes unasked for and freely. The rest doesn’t matter.
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 03:27 am (UTC)And now you've finished the Forsyte Saga I can tell you about the family phrase it originated! It's "he's an artist" to refer to characters whose behaviour is pretty awful from an objective point of view, but who you (and the narrative) still completely sympathise with and excuse, like normal standards and morality don't apply to them somehow - Young Jolyon is the original artist.
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 09:12 am (UTC)And, aha, that's great. (Although, it's also interesting, because it's not a reading I would get from the 1960s version, so I wonder if it's just a different reading, or a shift of emphasis from the 1960s to 2000s? We do sympathise with Jo, of course, and having an affair & wanting a divorce in the 1880s was rocking the boat, but he doesn't do it because he's an artist - he just isn't Forsyte enough to stay in a loveless marriage with Frances (who hasn't slept with him since June was born) while having an affair on the side with Helene, which the rest of his family would think was acceptable, which is Forsyte skewed morality. Philip, maybe, that's true of, but I don't know? And the other artists are kind of awful but talented, like Aubrey Green and Harold Blade (the idea Fleur is discussing here is Harold Blade's, not Jon's, but Jon reluctantly agreed with it). Irene's artistic, but that's never held up as an excuse for anything she does - her excuse is like Jo's - that she never loved Soames, that she couldn't even find him anything but physically repulsive and she wanted freedom, which wasn't allowed to her because she was a woman. It's a similar reason as to Fleur's behaviour later - they're both women who needed more independence, the ability to work, just in very different ways & even for Fleur it wasn't quite an option yet. I think there's an over-arching them or Forsyte possessiveness + money being the only value vs love and freedom, with a side note as to the need to make sacrifices for the future, because there will be one, despite the politicians, and when you should and shouldn't make those sacrifices. I think June would excuse an artist anything, though! But that's just June.)
Anyway, thanks for reading - I'm glad it works regardless of the version watched! ♥
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 07:45 am (UTC)Congrats on another bingo square! It might not help with the Yuletiding, but all achievements are worthwhile.
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 09:19 am (UTC)(Sometimes really obscure fandoms are the best; I had one fic that stayed on 2 hits for a year or more - but it also had 2 kudos. 100% reader satisfaction or what??)
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 03:34 pm (UTC)You may not be Yuletiding, but you're keeping your writing muscles fit:)
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2015 05:13 pm (UTC)Yeah, but it also counts as using up what little brain I do have and Yuletiding needs to happen soon or I really am going to be defaulting because I just can't do things in a hurry while I'm ill.
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Date: 28 Nov 2015 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Nov 2015 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 29 Nov 2015 03:09 pm (UTC)