Have a very short very bad snippet of a 5K completely self-indulgent Iceman angst fic I’ll be posting tonight hopefully. EDIT: fic is live :)
“Uncle Ice!” Bradley shrieked, arms wrapped around his neck and legs kicking wildly. Ice shushed the boy but couldn’t help the smile on his face.
“Oh, Tom!” Carole walked towards him, having been a few feet behind her son. Ice gave her a side hug, Bradley still pinned to his chest. “Slider said you were away on deployment!”
“I came home early,” he replied. He gently pulled Bradley’s hand out of his hair.
“I can see that,” she beamed. “Oh, they’ve been such a mess without you, never able to make a decision those boys. I just know they were thrilled.”
“I’m sure they will be,” Tom affirmed offhand, more focused on Bradley wiggling in his arms.
“Are you telling me they don’t even know you’re here yet?”
“I just got home-” he quickly checked his watch. “-nearly an hour ago?”
“And not one of them were there to pick you up?” She put her hands on her hips. “You didn’t call them, did you Tom?” She accused, a stern look on her face.
“I did, ma’am. Promise.” Bradley shifted in his grip, putting pressure directly upon a particularly nasty bruise. He couldn’t help his sharp inhale.
“Cut that out, that ma’am business,” Carole scolded him. Tom ignored the pity in her eyes as she looked at him. She stepped forward to take Bradley and set him on the ground. “Uncle Mav is out back in the pool. Why don’t you go find him and tell him about your trip to the zoo?” The boy’s eyes lit up and he immediately took off for the patio door.
“They were all here, Carole,” he tried to reason politely. “There was no way for any of them to get my call.” She gave him a knowing look.
“You are going to march out that door, Tom,” she pressed, pointing a finger at his chest.
“I will be out in a bit,” he promised. “I just need a minute.” He glanced at the crutch leaning against the wall, her gaze following. He hated playing the injured card. Carole nodded, stepping forward to enter the house, but stopped to pull him in for another, much lighter, hug.
“I’m not going to ask what happened. But I hope you’re okay,” she whispered in his ear.
“I will be,” he reassured, sticking his hands in his pockets once they separated. They both knew that was a lie
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Nick is not at all like Henry — in any way. He didn’t need to be. What I needed to find in Henry was an actor who would take this fragile character and hold him in his hand, and protect him. I didn’t need to find an actor to play Henry. I needed to find a caretaker for Henry. Once I found Nick, I knew I had that.
With Taylor, it was much more difficult because the Alexs of the world exist in so many different ways. There are so many different kinds of Alex Claremont-Diaz in the world, and threading the needle on the specificity of what Casey wrote that I wanted to honor — which is that wicked language-forward intelligence; that easy charm — that took a lot of time to find. Then, Taylor showed up. He isn’t at all like Alex, either. I watched Taylor in his auditions turn into this human cannonball.
Nick holds the character, and Taylor had to turn himself into the character.
~ Matthew López
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