"petal by petal (you open always)" by andrealyn (R)

[paperflowered.livejournal.com]

Fandom: TIN MAN
Pairing: Az/Cain
Length: ~5500 words
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: andrealyn
Author Website:
Why this must be read: Because it takes a cliche (needing an escort to a ball) and makes it so much more than that: a story about two people who have been prisoners, who understand each other and maybe even need each other, and their journeys toward freedom.


“Accompaniment,” he echoed, unflinching and unwavering in his stoic reaction.

“It’s insisted. And Ambrose is taking DG.” She folded her palms in her hands, once-perfect nails now ragged and torn. “I wouldn’t ask, but I need to be there and there are very few men in the O.Z. that I trust to be there with me.”

“And I’m one of them,” Cain announced that reality with great disbelief.

Azkadellia flushed an embarrassed pink and nodded. “DG speaks highly of you and so does Ambrose and Raw.” Cain would, in later weeks, discover that Azkadellia had an apprehension in asking Raw to take her because of all the horrors he might have glanced from a single touch. “You wouldn’t need to look at me,” she told him, almost painfully. “It’s simply necessary to have the accompaniment for propriety’s sake.”


petal by petal (you open always)