#ao3roulette2023

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 5 Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 4269 Chapter: 5 of 7 Warnings: None

He can see, not hear, James’ chest rise and fall in a sigh of resignation before he slings his guitar case off his shoulder and squeezes it over top of the seat into the back, water dripping onto the upholstery. He folds himself into the passenger’s seat with an audible squelch and yanks the door shut behind him. The honking reaches a crescendo and Robbie puts the pedal down.

“What are you doing out walking in this?” Robbie asks, more concern and dismay creeping into his voice than he intends as he switches on the heating.

“Wasn’t raining when I started,” James replies, tone clipped. He rubs his hands together in front of the heating vent, staring straight ahead.

Robbie sighs. “Even in good weather walking along here is dangerous.”

“Is it?” James says, tetchily. Robbie spares him another glance. James runs a hand over his face and hair, shakes water off onto the floor, and sighs. “I suppose that means you saved me.” He sounds none too happy  about it.

“We’re even, then.”

James lets out a huff of a breath. “If you say so.” He rubs his hands together again and presses them right up to the heating vent.

The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 5 on Ao3

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 6 Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 3192 Chapter: 6 of 8 (chapter count went up) Warnings: None

“Made you a brew.” Robbie nods toward the mug on the small coffee table. “Might be a bit cold by now. I could do another.”

“Cheers.” James picks up the mug—one sock on and one foot still bare, his toes flexing on the rug—sips, grimacing slightly, then leans down to pull on his other sock. “I was thinking,” he says, as he reaches for his boots and puts them on, “that restaurant by the little harbour from the other day, their lake fish dishes are some of the best.”

“Down by the supermercato?” Robbie hadn’t noticed a restaurant there, but there are restaurants all along the lakeshore, and one restaurant looks much the same as another. The truth is, when James is around he does tend to draw Robbie’s focus.

“It’s a bit hidden from the harbour, easy to miss,” James says. Before finding James in the tunnel, Robbie had planned to drive back here and have a meal somewhere. A meal with James sounds even better, perfect even. James looks up at him. “Fancy a walk?”

The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 6 on Ao3

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 4 Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 4187 Chapter: 4 of 7 Warnings: None

“You waiting for the shop to open as well?” Robbie asks, pitching his voice loud enough for James to hear across the piazza.

James looks up. He doesn’t seem any more surprised to see Robbie now than he had when Robbie found him busking a couple of days ago. Almost as if he’s been waiting for him. Robbie can’t help but smile at the possibility that that may be true.

“Is that what you’re doing?” James asks.

“Aye.”

James pushes off the wall, closing the book and stuffing it into his coat pocket as he walks across the square. He takes one last puff off his cigarette, drops it to the cobbles, and sits down next to Robbie on the bench, his knee brushing Robbie’s as he settles in.

The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 4 on Ao3

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 3 Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 2737 Chapter: 3 of 7 Warnings: None

As Robbie turns down a narrow street that leads away from the flow of pedestrians heading to the castle, the indistinct murmur of music he first heard a few streets back solidifies into a melody; still faint but even more intriguing than those first few scattered notes. The streets are so narrow in this part of town that backs up against the mediaeval city wall the dark wood roof overhangs of the buildings almost touch overhead, distorting sound in the narrow spaces as it echoes off stone walls and around corners, obscuring the direction the music is coming from.

Looking up, there is only a thin stretch of blue sky, with glimpses of the eastern mountain peaks like an even higher wall rising up above the rooftops. Robbbie rounds another corner and the music grows a bit louder; it is undoubtedly strings of some sort. No, a guitar. But not the way he’s used to hearing the guitar played. A haunting melody, though haunting isn’t quite the right word. Ethereal maybe? And strangely compelling. Robbie keeps walking, following the music as it winds its way from one street to the next, until it’s been a couple of turns since he’s seen another person.

He stops for a moment, spinning slowly in a circle as he listens. It strikes him that, in all likelihood, this entire street looks the same now as it did five hundred years ago, six hundred even. If it weren’t for someone’s laundry hanging on a line strung between two buildings above him (and the brightly coloured plastic clothespins) he could very well have been transported back in time.

The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 3 on Ao3

[greenapricot]

Title: The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 2 Author: greenapricot Fandom: Lewis Characters: Robbie Lewis, James Hathaway, Laura Hobson Pairing: James Hathaway/Robbie Lewis Rating: Gen Word count: 2995 Chapter: 2 of 7 Warnings: None

“Oi!” someone shouts.

Before he can turn to look, a hand grips Robbie’s upper arm, yanking him back roughly onto the narrow pavement as a motorbike goes screaming past inches from where he was about to step.

“You all right?” the same voice asks. Robbie is still staring down the road, a bit dazed, watching as the motorbike weaves between cars, when he registers that the words are in English, posh accent, not Italian.

“Aye, cheers.” Robbie turns to take in the man standing next to him, his hand still raised as if he’s prepared to pull Robbie back from the street again. “Guess I haven’t got the hang of looking left for traffic.”

The man is tall, young, barely more than a lad, his short, blond hair almost golden in the early evening sun. He smirks down at Robbie. “Just arrived, then?”

“This afternoon.” Robbie takes a step further onto the pavement, his heart still beating too quickly in his chest.

A couple speaking to each other in Italian push past them, another speeding motorbike slows as they step authoritatively out into the street in front of it, crossing without incident.

Robbie harrumphs.

“You have to do it like you mean it,” the lad says.

“Of course,” Robbie says, petulantly.

The lad looks him up and down, his smirk curving up into a smile. “Fancy a drink?”

The Names of All the Wind - Chapter 2 on Ao3