crack_van | The Deeper I Spin/De Profundis by Clandestine (NC-17)

Fandom: U2
Pairing: Bono/Larry Mullen, Jr
Author on LJ:

clandestine269
Author Website:

u2slash, and please note, to join u2slash you must be over eighteen years of age and have your birth year displayed on your profile page.
Why this must be read:

Because it's Bono/Larry? Oh, not good enough? OK, let me 'splain :-) This is good old break-up fic (but fear not!), full of angst and mixed messages and ill communication and misunderstandings and good intentions paving the road to hell and heartbreak and emotions running high and...anyway. It's told from Bono's point of view, and guys, if you were to look up "unreliable narrator" in a lit textbook you could find this story. If it wasn't, you know. Fanfiction. And RPS at that. Ahem.

It's set during the Berlin sessions for the Achtung Baby album, which, as any fan could tell you, were fraught with creative, emotional and interpersonal problems for the band. Clandestine has chosen very well to set it here, in a period where tensions were already running at a fever pitch. The last thing anyone needs right now is a meltdown on Bono's part or a closing off on Larry's, and the Edge and Adam of this story (especially the Adam) are perhaps a little less patient and less inclined to put up with any nonsense than they might be in a story by another author. Understandably so, particularly given some of Our Hero's behaviour, excuse though he may have.

This fic is something of a rollercoaster, but like any good rollercoaster, it's well worth the ride. I am just *stoked* that she finished it in time for me to rec it here!

His parents named him Brian Peter George St. Jean le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, and he's fond of telling people that with a name like that, he had no choice but to become an artist – or a musician. He became both, and one as brilliant in his field as anyone could wish for.

I simply call him Brian or sometimes, when referring to him, Eno. He's my friend and although we've occasionally driven each other nearly insane through these past six or seven years, he's one of the people whose opinions I respect the most. He's also one of the few I know who is crazier than myself, though he usually hides it way better than I do.

When he enters the studio, a new energy occurs like out of nowhere, or maybe it's just that we're all so happy to see him again. Greetings and laughter fill the room as he hugs his way through our small party.

"Ah, Bono! Ca va?" He kisses me on the cheeks and I give him a crooked smile.

"Spent too much time in Paris lately?"

He laughs. "One can never spend too much time in Paris."

I hug him. "It's great to see you again."

"So, how are you?" he says softly into my ear.

I don't trust my voice to answer him, so I just hug him more tightly as I involuntarily release a trembling sigh.

"That bad, eh?" He hugs me back, reassuringly. "Well, we'll have to deal with that later. Right now, I think we need to have a look at what you boys have achieved lately."

I let go of him, grateful for the fact that he immediately distracts everyone by demanding coffee and a listen to the tapes, shitty as they are. It gives me time to wipe my eyes, draw a deep breath and square my shoulders.

Brian's here now and everything's going to be all right. If I repeat that to myself, I can almost start to believe it.

The Deeper I Spin, then follow the links to De Profundis

*I am hosting this myself, so if I have buggered up a tag anywhere, please let me know? :-)