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tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:26 pm
oxfordtweed) wrote in tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:26 pm
Entry tags:
Nicky Angel (5/7)
Title: Nicky Angel
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s:Like in the film, + one or two
Word Count (chapter/total): 1,800 / 15,000
Rating: PG, for swearing
Summary/Warnings: Honesty abound in Sandford.
One thing about kids, is that they seem to lack that certain "brutally honest" filter that most adults seem to develop at some point in their lives. Danny, of course, is excluded from that "most adults" group, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There were some things that really needed said, and Nicholas wasn't going to just come out and admit it on his own, so he needed someone to point it out for him. Even if he didn't necessarily want for it to happen.
I recently watched Dylan Moran: Like Totally, and drew a lot of inspiration from the first half. He had some excellent things to say about kids, and some of them just had to be twisted and bent for my purposes.
“Yes, I realise this is short notice,” Nicholas said tiredly, his mobile pressed up against his ear. “But I only just got him from his mother this week.”
He sat in his office, watching through the Venetian blinds as Nicky grew bored with the video game given to him by Danny, and instead began digging through Tony’s desk drawer. He listened as the stupid girl on the other end rattled on about how he should have started this process months earlier, and not eight days before the fact.
“Well, I didn’t know four months ago that he’d be staying with me, did I?” Nicholas reasoned.
He watched as Nicky discovered the tin Spider-man lunchbox from Tony’s desk, prying the clasps open. Before Nicholas realised what was happening, Nicky unwrapped the usual sandwich provided by Anne and walked it over to Saxon, offering it to the slobbering animal.
“Oh, bollocks!” Nicholas shouted as he scrambled up from his desk.
“Well, if you’re going to be like that—” the girl on the other end said bitterly.
“Hang on,” Nicholas shot as he rushed out of his office, grabbing Nicky by his arm. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m trying to explain, sir,” the girl on the phone started.
“Not you!” Nicholas barked. He put his mobile down on the nearest desk, his attention turned back to Nicky. “Why did you just do that?” he asked, not letting go of the boy.
Nicky shrugged. “I’unno,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor.
“We don’t go digging through other people’s things, and we definitely do not feed other people’s lunch to the dog!”
Nicky squirmed away, rubbing the spot on his arm where Nicholas had grabbed him. “Okay,” he said, sounding suspiciously like he was about to cry.
Nicholas gathered what was left of Tony’s lunch and put it back in his desk. “When Tony gets back, you’d better apologise,” he said, plucking his mobile back up. He put it back to his ear, realising the line had gone dead. Sighing, he shoved it back into his pocket and turned back to Nicky. “Why don’t you come wait for Doris with me,” he said, leading the boy into his office.
As he watched the boy continuously rub the spot on his arm where Nicholas had grabbed hold of him, he began to worry that maybe he’d gone too far, and possibly injured him.
“You all right?” Nicholas asked softly as he got Nicky settled in one of the chairs. Nicky only shrugged. “Did I hurt you? Mind if I take a look?”
Nicky shrugged again, but took his hand away, allowing Nicholas to push his shirt sleeve out of the way. There didn’t even seem to be any redness around the area; he’d likely just scared the child more than anything.
“Doris will be back soon, and then she’s gonna take you to her mum’s for the rest of the day, okay?”
Nicky shrugged. “Why?” he asked.
“Well, there’s not much for you to do round here, is there?” Nicholas asked.
“Why can’t I go with Danny?” Nicky asked heavily.
“Because Danny’s working,” Nicholas tried to reason. “Mrs. Thatcher’s nice, and it will only be a few hours.”
“I don’t want to,” Nicky said stubbornly. “I’m always going off someplace new. I hate it. This place is stupid.”
Nicholas sighed, realising that the boy was right. It was bad enough that his mum had carted him off to stay with some cranky old goat that she claimed was his father, but now Nicholas himself had been sending him off to a different place every day. He checked his watch before casting a quick glance to the pathetic stack of paperwork in his inbox. “Why don’t you go fetch your jumper,” he offered. “We’ll go find something for lunch.”
Nicky looked nervously up at the inspector before getting back to his feet and wandered back out to hunt down his jumper from whichever desk he’d tossed it under. Nicholas gave him a few minutes before locking his computer and following him out, gently leading him out front. He stopped briefly at the inquires desk, leaning in slightly to the lexan shield.
“When Doris gets back, could you let her know there’s been a change of plans today?” he asked, ignoring the sour look Sergeant Turner shot him from over the pages of his book.
“Change of what plans?” he demanded.
“She’ll know what you’re talking about,” Nicholas assured, not quite able to ignore the usual moaning from the sergeant.
They walked slowly down the street to the pub in silence, Nicholas not quite certain how to handle the boy’s wavering comfort level around him. He supposed it was probably normal, given the unusual circumstances governing their current situation, and decided that just letting the boy be would probably be easiest. They walked into the pub, Nicholas fetching up two photocopied menus from a basket near the door, before pausing, looking down at Nicky.
“Do you read?” he asked dumbly.
Nicky shrugged. “Some,” he answered.
Deciding to stick to the path of least resistance, Nicholas dropped one of the menus back in the basket before leading Nicky to a table in the corner. He put the menu down on the table, reading over it quickly. “What do you want for lunch?” he asked.
“Ice cream,” Nicky answered simply.
Nicholas tried not to laugh, which he found to be no small task. “You can’t have ice cream for lunch,” he said simply.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Nicholas said, forgoing any real reasoning. “Dinner, maybe. If you’re good, but not lunch.”
Nicky frowned across the table at Nicholas before getting to his knees. He leaned across the table to look at the menu, Nicholas rotating it so he could see it more easily.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to an item near the bottom.
Nicholas looked at it quickly. “That’s the wine menu,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Nicky frowned, pointing at the menu again. “This?” he asked.
Nicholas looked to see where he was pointing. “The fish?” he asked. “You like fish?”
The boy nodded, sitting back in his seat as a young waitress stepped up beside them. “Afternoon, Inspector,” she said happily. “Oh, is this the boy?”
Nicholas smiled, nodding lightly. “Yeah,” he said. He handed up the menu as she quickly took their orders before bouncing back to the kitchen.
“Why’s everybody keep saying that?” Nicky asked.
“Saying what?” Nicholas asked.
“About me.”
Nicholas sighed. “Because Sandford likes to gossip,” he said honestly. “I was a bachelor that lived alone with a cat. Now I’m a single parent, and that’s all anybody wants to talk about.”
“You’re not my dad,” Nicky said simply.
Nicholas looked up at him suddenly. “What?” he asked.
“I don’t care what mum says. You’re not.” Nicky looked up at Nicholas for just a few moments before looking away again. “How can you be my dad? I never met you before.”
Nicholas sighed heavily, looking down at the table. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he conceded.
“I don’t even know your name,” Nicky said flatly.
“Might as well call me Nick,” Nicholas said, doing a poor job at fighting the feeling of complete failure that began crushing against his chest. “Everyone else does.” He watched as Nicky shifted uneasily before turning his attention away, instead focusing on watching the kitchen door intently.
When Danny returned from his outing with Tony, he found Nicholas slumped over his desk, talking quietly into his mobile. He’d seen the man like this once before, and then the next day, the entire station exploded.
Not that buildings exploding wasn’t extremely awesome in all respects, Danny didn’t particularly want to deal with rebuilding the station again.
He waited quietly by the door, watching as Nicholas finished his telephone conversation with whomever, before finally dropping it onto his desk.
“All right, Nick?” Danny asked, taking a seat in one of the extra chairs as Nicholas looked up bleakly.
Nicholas shrugged hopelessly. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Danny,” he said honestly.
Danny frowned as he leaned across the desk to peer at a few loose forms scattered about. “Looks like your doin’ your weekend reports,” he said simply.
Nicholas shoved the paperwork aside with one sweeping motion. “Not that,” he said. “With the boy. I just...”
Sighing, Danny got up and shut the door, though he knew that if those nosy fuckers really wanted to listen, they would anyway. “He seems all right,” he pointed out. “He just needs some time to adjust, s’all.”
Nicholas cradled his head in his hands, shaking it slightly. “He said something today,” he said.
Danny shrugged. “Good. I were starting to think he were only capable of screamin’.”
“He was absolutely right, in it.” Nicholas held his breath for a few moments, trying to keep himself together. “Biologically speaking, I may be his father, but I’m not the boy’s dad,” he said. “To be that, I’d have to have been there for him before now.” He looked up, rubbing his eyes. “Not just showing up out of nowhere because there was no one better suited.”
Danny couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “Well, that were her responserability too, yeah?” he said. “Weren’t your job to phone up all your exes and ask them if they had any kids, were it?”
Nicholas managed a weak smile. “Guess not, no,” he agreed. “But I still feel like I should have done something.”
Danny shrugged. “What’s stopping you from doin’ it now?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure he hates me,” Nicholas said.
“He don’t hate you, Nick,” Danny insisted.
“Fine. Despises me.”
Danny sighed. “He’s a kid,” he pointed out. “He hates everything. School’s startin’, and he’s gonna hate that. He’ll hate every dinner you ever make him eat. He’ll hate the jumper you’ll make him wear when it’s cold, and then he’ll hate being cold when he leaves it in some shrubs somewhere.”
Nicholas laughed, amused. “I don’t remember being that bad when I was young,” he said.
“Course not,” Danny agreed. “Cause we remembered stuff like that, we’d all know that kids is all little monsters, and we’d never shag anybody on account o’ shaggin’ leadin’ to babies, and the species would die, yeah?”
Nicholas laughed, more easily this time. “I suppose you may be on to something,” he said, reaching for his hat as he got to his feet. “Could you keep an eye on him for about an hour? I have to go take care of some things.”
Danny nodded. “Thought he were going to Auntie Jackie’s?” he asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “I figured it would be less traumatising for him to sit here feeding the dog, than taking him to yet another stranger’s house,” he said.
“’Spose that’s prob’ly smart,” Danny said quietly, following Nicholas out of the office.
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s:Like in the film, + one or two
Word Count (chapter/total): 1,800 / 15,000
Rating: PG, for swearing
Summary/Warnings: Honesty abound in Sandford.
One thing about kids, is that they seem to lack that certain "brutally honest" filter that most adults seem to develop at some point in their lives. Danny, of course, is excluded from that "most adults" group, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There were some things that really needed said, and Nicholas wasn't going to just come out and admit it on his own, so he needed someone to point it out for him. Even if he didn't necessarily want for it to happen.
I recently watched Dylan Moran: Like Totally, and drew a lot of inspiration from the first half. He had some excellent things to say about kids, and some of them just had to be twisted and bent for my purposes.
“Yes, I realise this is short notice,” Nicholas said tiredly, his mobile pressed up against his ear. “But I only just got him from his mother this week.”
He sat in his office, watching through the Venetian blinds as Nicky grew bored with the video game given to him by Danny, and instead began digging through Tony’s desk drawer. He listened as the stupid girl on the other end rattled on about how he should have started this process months earlier, and not eight days before the fact.
“Well, I didn’t know four months ago that he’d be staying with me, did I?” Nicholas reasoned.
He watched as Nicky discovered the tin Spider-man lunchbox from Tony’s desk, prying the clasps open. Before Nicholas realised what was happening, Nicky unwrapped the usual sandwich provided by Anne and walked it over to Saxon, offering it to the slobbering animal.
“Oh, bollocks!” Nicholas shouted as he scrambled up from his desk.
“Well, if you’re going to be like that—” the girl on the other end said bitterly.
“Hang on,” Nicholas shot as he rushed out of his office, grabbing Nicky by his arm. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m trying to explain, sir,” the girl on the phone started.
“Not you!” Nicholas barked. He put his mobile down on the nearest desk, his attention turned back to Nicky. “Why did you just do that?” he asked, not letting go of the boy.
Nicky shrugged. “I’unno,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor.
“We don’t go digging through other people’s things, and we definitely do not feed other people’s lunch to the dog!”
Nicky squirmed away, rubbing the spot on his arm where Nicholas had grabbed him. “Okay,” he said, sounding suspiciously like he was about to cry.
Nicholas gathered what was left of Tony’s lunch and put it back in his desk. “When Tony gets back, you’d better apologise,” he said, plucking his mobile back up. He put it back to his ear, realising the line had gone dead. Sighing, he shoved it back into his pocket and turned back to Nicky. “Why don’t you come wait for Doris with me,” he said, leading the boy into his office.
As he watched the boy continuously rub the spot on his arm where Nicholas had grabbed hold of him, he began to worry that maybe he’d gone too far, and possibly injured him.
“You all right?” Nicholas asked softly as he got Nicky settled in one of the chairs. Nicky only shrugged. “Did I hurt you? Mind if I take a look?”
Nicky shrugged again, but took his hand away, allowing Nicholas to push his shirt sleeve out of the way. There didn’t even seem to be any redness around the area; he’d likely just scared the child more than anything.
“Doris will be back soon, and then she’s gonna take you to her mum’s for the rest of the day, okay?”
Nicky shrugged. “Why?” he asked.
“Well, there’s not much for you to do round here, is there?” Nicholas asked.
“Why can’t I go with Danny?” Nicky asked heavily.
“Because Danny’s working,” Nicholas tried to reason. “Mrs. Thatcher’s nice, and it will only be a few hours.”
“I don’t want to,” Nicky said stubbornly. “I’m always going off someplace new. I hate it. This place is stupid.”
Nicholas sighed, realising that the boy was right. It was bad enough that his mum had carted him off to stay with some cranky old goat that she claimed was his father, but now Nicholas himself had been sending him off to a different place every day. He checked his watch before casting a quick glance to the pathetic stack of paperwork in his inbox. “Why don’t you go fetch your jumper,” he offered. “We’ll go find something for lunch.”
Nicky looked nervously up at the inspector before getting back to his feet and wandered back out to hunt down his jumper from whichever desk he’d tossed it under. Nicholas gave him a few minutes before locking his computer and following him out, gently leading him out front. He stopped briefly at the inquires desk, leaning in slightly to the lexan shield.
“When Doris gets back, could you let her know there’s been a change of plans today?” he asked, ignoring the sour look Sergeant Turner shot him from over the pages of his book.
“Change of what plans?” he demanded.
“She’ll know what you’re talking about,” Nicholas assured, not quite able to ignore the usual moaning from the sergeant.
They walked slowly down the street to the pub in silence, Nicholas not quite certain how to handle the boy’s wavering comfort level around him. He supposed it was probably normal, given the unusual circumstances governing their current situation, and decided that just letting the boy be would probably be easiest. They walked into the pub, Nicholas fetching up two photocopied menus from a basket near the door, before pausing, looking down at Nicky.
“Do you read?” he asked dumbly.
Nicky shrugged. “Some,” he answered.
Deciding to stick to the path of least resistance, Nicholas dropped one of the menus back in the basket before leading Nicky to a table in the corner. He put the menu down on the table, reading over it quickly. “What do you want for lunch?” he asked.
“Ice cream,” Nicky answered simply.
Nicholas tried not to laugh, which he found to be no small task. “You can’t have ice cream for lunch,” he said simply.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Nicholas said, forgoing any real reasoning. “Dinner, maybe. If you’re good, but not lunch.”
Nicky frowned across the table at Nicholas before getting to his knees. He leaned across the table to look at the menu, Nicholas rotating it so he could see it more easily.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to an item near the bottom.
Nicholas looked at it quickly. “That’s the wine menu,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Nicky frowned, pointing at the menu again. “This?” he asked.
Nicholas looked to see where he was pointing. “The fish?” he asked. “You like fish?”
The boy nodded, sitting back in his seat as a young waitress stepped up beside them. “Afternoon, Inspector,” she said happily. “Oh, is this the boy?”
Nicholas smiled, nodding lightly. “Yeah,” he said. He handed up the menu as she quickly took their orders before bouncing back to the kitchen.
“Why’s everybody keep saying that?” Nicky asked.
“Saying what?” Nicholas asked.
“About me.”
Nicholas sighed. “Because Sandford likes to gossip,” he said honestly. “I was a bachelor that lived alone with a cat. Now I’m a single parent, and that’s all anybody wants to talk about.”
“You’re not my dad,” Nicky said simply.
Nicholas looked up at him suddenly. “What?” he asked.
“I don’t care what mum says. You’re not.” Nicky looked up at Nicholas for just a few moments before looking away again. “How can you be my dad? I never met you before.”
Nicholas sighed heavily, looking down at the table. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he conceded.
“I don’t even know your name,” Nicky said flatly.
“Might as well call me Nick,” Nicholas said, doing a poor job at fighting the feeling of complete failure that began crushing against his chest. “Everyone else does.” He watched as Nicky shifted uneasily before turning his attention away, instead focusing on watching the kitchen door intently.
When Danny returned from his outing with Tony, he found Nicholas slumped over his desk, talking quietly into his mobile. He’d seen the man like this once before, and then the next day, the entire station exploded.
Not that buildings exploding wasn’t extremely awesome in all respects, Danny didn’t particularly want to deal with rebuilding the station again.
He waited quietly by the door, watching as Nicholas finished his telephone conversation with whomever, before finally dropping it onto his desk.
“All right, Nick?” Danny asked, taking a seat in one of the extra chairs as Nicholas looked up bleakly.
Nicholas shrugged hopelessly. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Danny,” he said honestly.
Danny frowned as he leaned across the desk to peer at a few loose forms scattered about. “Looks like your doin’ your weekend reports,” he said simply.
Nicholas shoved the paperwork aside with one sweeping motion. “Not that,” he said. “With the boy. I just...”
Sighing, Danny got up and shut the door, though he knew that if those nosy fuckers really wanted to listen, they would anyway. “He seems all right,” he pointed out. “He just needs some time to adjust, s’all.”
Nicholas cradled his head in his hands, shaking it slightly. “He said something today,” he said.
Danny shrugged. “Good. I were starting to think he were only capable of screamin’.”
“He was absolutely right, in it.” Nicholas held his breath for a few moments, trying to keep himself together. “Biologically speaking, I may be his father, but I’m not the boy’s dad,” he said. “To be that, I’d have to have been there for him before now.” He looked up, rubbing his eyes. “Not just showing up out of nowhere because there was no one better suited.”
Danny couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “Well, that were her responserability too, yeah?” he said. “Weren’t your job to phone up all your exes and ask them if they had any kids, were it?”
Nicholas managed a weak smile. “Guess not, no,” he agreed. “But I still feel like I should have done something.”
Danny shrugged. “What’s stopping you from doin’ it now?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure he hates me,” Nicholas said.
“He don’t hate you, Nick,” Danny insisted.
“Fine. Despises me.”
Danny sighed. “He’s a kid,” he pointed out. “He hates everything. School’s startin’, and he’s gonna hate that. He’ll hate every dinner you ever make him eat. He’ll hate the jumper you’ll make him wear when it’s cold, and then he’ll hate being cold when he leaves it in some shrubs somewhere.”
Nicholas laughed, amused. “I don’t remember being that bad when I was young,” he said.
“Course not,” Danny agreed. “Cause we remembered stuff like that, we’d all know that kids is all little monsters, and we’d never shag anybody on account o’ shaggin’ leadin’ to babies, and the species would die, yeah?”
Nicholas laughed, more easily this time. “I suppose you may be on to something,” he said, reaching for his hat as he got to his feet. “Could you keep an eye on him for about an hour? I have to go take care of some things.”
Danny nodded. “Thought he were going to Auntie Jackie’s?” he asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “I figured it would be less traumatising for him to sit here feeding the dog, than taking him to yet another stranger’s house,” he said.
“’Spose that’s prob’ly smart,” Danny said quietly, following Nicholas out of the office.