Matter of Time by hearts_trickle (R)

[tortoisegirl.livejournal.com]

Fandom: WATCHMEN
Pairing: light Eddie Blake/Hollis Mason
Length: ~900 words, with a short follow-up in the comments
Author on LJ: hearts_trickle
Author Website: hearts_trickle
Why this must be read:
The two things I really like about this fic are its style and its portrayal of Eddie's relationship with other characters. It's very stylized, and I had to read some passages over a few times to get a hang of the flow. Once you get into it, though, it has the effect of getting you very close to the character; putting you in the frame of mind of this drunk man who doesn't quite know what he's doing. It's a really effective way of using format to complement content. Though its short, it packs in a lot about Eddie. It covers (in a very slick way) his attitude towards and current relationship with Hollis, Sally, Laurie, and several more of his old teammates. We see his priorites, and his reaction to those priorities. Overall it's a really nice exploration of the character.

That's the nice thing about Hollis. He may not want to talk to Eddie, and he may have fists curled up in his voice when he does, but he never hangs up. Almost never. Usually never.

Hello? Hollis says over the line, sounding like Eddie's just fucked him raw. Or, all right, like he just woke up.

Hollis, hey. Hey.

What do you want, Eddie?

Eddie can hear static from the way Hollis is moving, hauling himself out from under the covers. Eddie always talks as long as he can stand his own voice. I've been thinking.

Matter of Time