Fic! Finally!

[tiggymalvern]

This one took rather longer than planned - kept getting distracted by other stuff. But even allowing for that, I'd been originally thinking mid-March!

Anyway, Asymmetry.

This is the sequel to Balance, and the first sequel my brain has dragged up all on its own instead of having to be prodded at by friends. No-one else I can blame this time, damn....

V/W, NC-17 for sex and language. Oh, yeah, and then there's bondage, since I'm still playing with the Balance themes. I know how much that'll distress you lot if I don't warn for it XD

Comments

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Hot damn.
Before I can comment, I need a cigarette.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Who's been chaining you to the bed then? XD

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

S'not my fault you write the hot that just happens to hit a couple kinks...


Aunt Melanie had always been big on hygiene....
He liked knowing there was still something there she'd approve of.

Oh, ouch.

There must have been a time when he wasn't that way, when Vash had that body with those muscles, tight and compact, all stamina and flexibility, and he must have been fucking perfect. Except not. Wolfwood couldn't see it, couldn't get the idea to sit right in his head. Vash was crazy, reckless and flawed, that was who he was, and how Wolfwood wanted him.

Yes!

Vash would understand how it was.
Vash would be okay with him.
He would.

That's right, Wolfwood. You convince yourself.

The bulb behind him threw his shadow over Wolfwood, his outline stark across Wolfwood's chest, curving along the sweep of his belly and up over one shoulder. His shadow lay where his body wanted to be, his hand by Wolfwood's thigh, his mouth on Wolfwood's jaw, Wolfwood pressed beneath him and entirely his.

Hummana... how do you do that?!

He could read Wolfwood well enough, knew his body and his movements. If he took it slow, and watched, he should see the things Wolfwood wouldn't tell him.

Except that got harder when Wolfwood knew it and was deliberately hiding things. And Vash was fairly sure he was going to do that.

Excellent characterization!

He wasn't okay with anything more than two weeks. Too many ways of losing. Every way was losing.

Wolfwood was still talking about the cuffs.

Vash angsting, and Wolfwood's here-and-now.

God, that was fantastic.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Oh, ouch.

I always have to stick the knife into these guys in a couple of places. I can't help it, Nightow makes me do it....

That's right, Wolfwood. You convince yourself.

Oooh, glad that fix worked! The betas were missing that aspect without that final 'he would'. I think he *is* pretty convinced, actually. The faith by this point in the manga runs pretty deep both ways, and Wolfwood has stuck with Vash when nobody else will. He knows Vash, expects Vash will cut him a good deal of slack, but he can't ever be *sure*....

Many thanks for feeding me so nicely again :-)

[yma2.livejournal.com]

That was very good. The thing I liked best about it, and all your work, has just become apparent. I was reading a friends LJ post today, a very good fic auther, and they were saying that they only ever write sex scenes because they contain character development.
That's what you're great at. You have the characters down so well, especialy Vash, and your sex scenes are good because they enhance and build those characters. There are pleanty of V/W smut stories out there, but yours are possibly the only ones which are not only completely in-character but serve as vehicles for character interaction and development. That's what makes your work truly special. Really, really brilliant stuff. Hot, highly characterised and very beautifuly written. Great stuff.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Darn, how do I respond graciously to feedback like that? Other than to say thank you.

I find reading sex scenes often gets dull if there isn't something else going on in there besides the mechanics of sex. There really are only so many permutations two men can get up to, and after the first year or two as a slasher, they're all getting stale, even the less common ones like rimming!

Almost everything between these two is in what they do and not what they say. I'm just shallow in choosing what I'd like them to be doing while I get my point across XD.

[glass-bullet.livejournal.com]

Very good writing. ♥

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I know it's not what really floats your boat, so I'm glad the style was enough to keep your interest.

[glass-bullet.livejournal.com]

Anything written well keeps my interest, doll.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Very nice, still. XD

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

And your fix worked XD.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but you made it work. Heh.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

So it's just like Wolfwood to figure it's only fair to use the handcuffs on himself for a change, because if Vash can handle it, so can he.

I think between Wolfwood's innate sense of fairness and their highly competitive relationship, it was pretty much inevitable. Plus, with Wolfwood's guilt over working for Knives, and all of that about to fall down round his ears, I think it's likely he'd transfer his own issues over being tied down and controlled onto Vash and feel guilt over that too, even though Vash is obviously dealing with it better than he did at first. There are times when Wolfwood really does make his own life more complex.

Thanks for all the lovely feedback!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I'm not much sure how a situation like that would turn out between these two guys

Badly, would be my immediate answer to that! I can't imagine either of them would consider bondage their idea of a fun time. Which is why I really had to screw with the poor bastards to get them to do it.

I'm glad you made it end badly, I guess!

After Balance, an evil little part of my mind was just looking for an excuse to get Wolfwood in those handcuffs XD. I'd already had him say he wouldn't do it, and having it go wrong struck me as so much more interesting than just having Wolfwood get over his issues and get fucked!

I honestly don't think Vash had given much thought to Wolfwood's side of things while he was making life easier on himself, not until he was forced to look at it. The man can get too focussed and self-involved sometimes.

Glad you had fun with it! XD

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Because I knew you wouldn't do the same thing over again!

Oh, I could have done. I could have done more playing around with Vash's head very easily, because there are interesting places to go in there. But Wolfwood in handcuffs makes for some very pretty visuals and I'm shallow, really XD.

I can think of a lot of things in Wolfwood's past with the Eye of Michael and such and such where he very well could've been restrained

We don't see much of that, but there were definitely restraints. Vash doesn't know any of that stuff till later, no, though to be fair to Vash, handcuffs have unpleasant associations for him too, ie jail. Neither of them are ever going to view being tied down as something benign.

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

But Wolfwood in handcuffs makes for some very pretty visuals and I'm shallow, really XD.

And you know we love you for it.

[sara-tsuzuki.livejournal.com]

I read Balance, to understand Asymmetry. It was like take an intense trip over this two men feelings. Woaaaaaa!!
I like so much the end, when Vash and Wolfwood rest togheter. Sweet image. I love all the story.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Heee! Thank you - that's exactly what I aim to do when I write :-)

I just love these two guys so much. They make so many things better for one another, but their lives really do suck, and they can't fix everything. They're just so good together, they make me all mushy, and sad because it's never enough.

[sara-tsuzuki.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Never is enough when they are togheter, and never is enough for the fans!!! >______

[tameiki.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo! Tiggy-fic. *bounces off for a cigarette first and then to read the fic* See? I can, too, learn from other people's mistakes. This way I won't need one after finishing. Right?

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't you be in bed asleep by now anyway? ;-)

[tameiki.livejournal.com]

Took the two heathens out, had a smoke, came back in and read and drooled. Wow. You pulled out all the stops on this one in the "hotness" category! There's something about the handcuffs and what they signify that pushes all the right buttons for me. Thanks for ending my day in such a spectacular fashion!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

It's easy to be hot when almost the whole 10,000 words is about two hot guys wanting sex! Dunno where the plot went this time, but glad you liked! XD

I just had fun playing around with what the handcuffs do to their heads, poor guys. Because handcuffs do signify all that stuff, even though they don't want them to, and they can't avoid dealing with it in the end.

I do like making these guys miserable. I'm such a bitch XD.

[tameiki.livejournal.com]

I do like making these guys miserable. I'm such a bitch

But you do it so well and that's what I love about you! :D

[hibem.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can scrape enough non-melted brain cells together to form a coherent reply to this, but I will try.
You. You! You are so good. You can crawl inside their heads and start dragging out all the snarly, twisty, skittish bits that make them so fascinating. And, even more impressively, you tease out all the subtlties and complexities that crop up when those two get close enough to start tripping over each others' snarly bits. I am always utterly floored by your fic because it's so clearly them.
This time around I was especially interested in the way you handled Vash's power(s), especially with him 'feeling' Wolfwood's mind. Also, a good dose of awkward/terrible sex is a welcome balm after reading the same idealized, emotionally shallow sex scene over and over again for years. And, since it's them and they need each other and are both stubborn as rusty nails, bad sex and misunderstanding and struggle is ultimately ok. Much love for that.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

since it's them and they need each other and are both stubborn as rusty nails, bad sex and misunderstanding and struggle is ultimately ok.

*happy sigh* This is their whole relationship as it is canonically in a single sentence (well, but for the sex part XD). Both of them are very much used to doing things exactly how they want, and that inevitably causes clashes. But that same stubbornness means they'll always find a way to make things work between them because they want to stick together. They won't give that up. These two men repeatedly make exceptions and allowances for one another that they just won't make for anyone else. I love that about them.

All I do is take that awkward, complex, intensely dedicated relationship that Nightow gives us, and put it into sex too. And yeah, that means sometimes it's a hassle and they inevitably meet up with one another's issues, but they deal, the way they always do. Because, as you say, they're them, and they need each other :-)

[hibem.livejournal.com]

All I do is take that awkward, complex, intensely dedicated relationship that Nightow gives us, and put it into sex too.

And that's why you're so, so good because you see and understand all that complexity (even when he's not saying it) and can navigate it well enough to show what would happen if the sex is there. Believably. Oh, and did I mention afjslkjfHot!-ly?

And that's what I love about them, too- that feeling that despite everything and anything else, they're always going to work together because that's who they are.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

well enough to show what would happen if the sex is there. Believably.

I don't know about you, but there's no question that there's sex in my version of the manga. It's just off-screen!

Seriously, I find it really hard to imagine there wasn't something there in the manga. With the amount of time they spent together, the emotional depth, the way they were so natural with one another, they were very stupid guys who robbed themselves of a lot of comfort if they didn't at least jerk each other off. And once they're jerking each other off, it would kind of naturally start to go further because of how close they are....

[uiggu.livejournal.com]

Gaaaaaaah. I haven't read anything truly good like this in such a long time. There is so much going on here and you have to read it slowly in order to get it all. So sharp and funny and hurty, all at once, and (as usual) your characterization makes me want to weep for joy.

The edge of Wolfwood's mouth curled sharp and deliberate. "I'd planned on fucking you, Tongari, not your virgin aunt."

And --

"Fuck whining! You're damn heavy and your metal shit's digging in my ribs."

Hee! Your Wolfwood-voice is unerringly right. Just when the angst is getting really oppressive and I just want to kill myself, there's bits like those to leaven things. :D

His voice. Wolfwood had talked to him, and that had helped, that had mattered, made it more about the man he was with and not the circumstances. Wolfwood had given him a focus on everything that was right about this. He opened his mouth to speak and...

He didn't know what to say.

This is possibly my favourite bit in the whole thing, and I can't even properly say why. It just is.

A familiar metallic scrape, the drag of chain against bedframe. "Just a sec, hang on just a sec, okay?" He half sat up, both hands shoving things aside on the table now. They barely owned anything between them, what the hell was all this junk doing here?

This is just great writing. You really feel his panic.

I love that I truly didn't know how it was going to turn out. It's very rarely that I'm actually surprised by fic any more.

All in all, it's utterly fab and I love you. Mwah!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Gaaaaaaah. I haven't read anything truly good like this in such a long time.

Yeah, I feel that pain. Where did all the fic go? *sniff* The few decent V/W writers seem to be engrossed in other fandoms or RL.

Just when the angst is getting really oppressive and I just want to kill myself, there's bits like those to leaven things. :D

That's Nightow, I just imitate. Always steal from the best... XD

Hey, I didn't for sure how it was going to end until after I started it either ;-) Glad you had fun with it!