Little Thefts by Shaenie (NC-17)

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Walt Bannerman
Author on LJ: shaenie
Author Website: Mindless Entertainment with Absolutely No Redeeming Features
Why this must be read:

Every time Johnny touches someone, he sees a part of them that they never chose to show him. It's a potent intimacy--some would call it a trespass--but it's one that he has very little control over, and the knowledge that comes from it can hurt as much as help. The only way to avoid it is to avoid that contact, but even that can be revealing, if that someone knows what to look for. In this fic, Walt is a little too observant for the comfort of either Johnny or himself. Little Thefts is threaded with touch, and the consequences of avoiding it and embracing it. It's also a powerful story of two men who are inextricably entwined in ways that even they have difficulty understanding.

Walt doesn't push it, doesn't demand answers that Johnny clearly doesn't want to give. Instead, he says, "What is it you're looking for, when you're touching my wife and my son?"

Johnny can smell the tang of wine on Walt's breath -- and yeah, without the wine, Walt never would have asked this, though Johnny's sure this is the question, the one Walt had wanted the answer to when Walt had invited Johnny to dinner in the first place -- and he hears himself open his mouth and let out an furious bark of sound that at first seems meaningless, formless, but Walt frowns and cocks his head to one side and says, "Light?" in the manner of a man that's repeating something that he doesn't understand, and obviously he'd heard a lot more clearly that Johnny had. "Light?" he says again, and Johnny shakes Walt's hand off his arm and takes a couple of steps away.

"How many killers have I helped you catch, Walt?" Johnny asks, and his voice is a little hoarse, but sounds otherwise reasonable, at least to his own ears. "How many criminals and freaks, how many truly bad guys?"

Walt circles around until he's facing Johnny, and his eyes are a little wary, but they always are when he looks at Johnny, aren't they? "A bunch," he says with a little shrug, and Johnny almost smiles because that's so Walt, even though Johnny would bet almost anything that Walt knows exactly how many, that Walt could break it down for him in a serious of orderly categories with precise numbers, and maybe footnotes for those lunatics that fit into more than one category.

Little Thefts

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this rec - this fic was amazing, and I've told the author so too :-)

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

Quite welcome! I'm glad it's been such a hit.