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Barely a Blessing (or Nathan vs. The Vending Machine) - Misfits - Gen (Curtis and Nathan) - Words: 1,770
Written for dellessa's fandom-stocking.
Summary: Curtis doesn't want to save the world, but he can't really help but save the people who are sorta his friends.
Content Notes: Temporary (cracky) character death (it's not sad at all, I promise). Swearing.
Author Notes: Takes place in between Season 1 Episode 4 and Season 1 Episode 6.
Betaed by the most wonderful emeraldsnakes.
On AO3: Barely a Blessing (or Nathan vs. The Vending Machine)
Curtis thinks that if he ever told his mom about his ability to turn back time and change the past, she would call him blessed: a gift beyond imagining or a silver lining without a dark cloud. Curtis also thinks that's a bunch of crap. All it means is that he sees a bunch of terrible shit happening - people dying in all kinds of horrific ways is only the start of that list - and he's the only one who remembers. It can start to wear on a person after a while.
Of course, his mom would have to be willing to talk to him for more than a few minutes at a time in order for that conversation to ever take place, not that Curtis ever plans on telling anyone anyway. There are enough things that make him stand out without anything else. Well, among the rest of the ASBOs, he fits in remarkably well. They've all messed up their lives pretty bad, but as far as Curtis can tell he was the only one who'd had a chance at a normal life. Not anymore. Even with the drugs and the ban, maybe he could have managed to do something. But with a power like his, and the messes that they seemed to walk in almost every time they went outside, there was no chance that he could go back to what he was before.
Curtis dropped his paint brush back in the can, ignoring the way droplets of paint splattered on the concrete. It was stupidly warm out, even with his jumpsuit hanging down around his waist, and he seemed to be the only one who was actually working. Alisha was sprawled on the small section of grass near the fence with her phone out. It buzzed frequently as she worked her thumbs rapidly on the keypad. The rest of the group should have been around the corner working on the walls, but when Curtis leaned over he only saw the rollers and buckets abandoned on the ground.
"Screw this. I'm going inside." Curtis stood up straight and stretched his hands up to the sky. "You coming? Alisha?"
Alisha leaned back on one elbow and tugged out one of her earbuds. "You talking to me?"
"I'm going inside. Are you coming?" Curtis repeated, trying to sound less exasperated than he felt.
"Yeah, in a minute." She put her earbud back in and went back to the message she was typing out on her phone.
Curtis shook his head and walked away, leaving his brush and paint where they were. If the probation worker came looking he at least could say that he'd been working and had just gone inside for some water. He pushed through the doors and took a deep breath as his skin prickled in the cooler air inside the building.
"Come on you fucker!"
A familiar shout caught Curtis's attention and he turned down the nearest hallway to investigate the heavy thumping sounds that were echoing in the nearly empty building. When he turned the corner he was utterly unsurprised to see Nathan violently attacking the vending machine. Nathan's skinny arms were flailing against the clear plexiglass that showed the stuck candy bar that he was obviously after.
"You're mine!" Nathan declared, punching one hand in the air before he took a few stumbling steps back and then delivered a rough approximation of a round house kick to the front of the machine.
The plexiglass cracked down the center and Curtis had to admit - if only to himself - that he was vaguely impressed even though Nathan fell immediately to the floor. Curtis turned away, more interested in getting a bottle of water than he was standing around watching Nathan loot the machine. Nathan would share the candy with the rest of them later, and would probably have it tumbling from his locker over the next few days.
He'd only made it about twenty steps when he heard a different type of shout and crash coming from down the hallway. Cursing Simon, because that was who Curtis automatically blamed whenever they did anything remotely heroic, Curtis turned on the spot and sprinted back into the hallway with the vending machine.
Nathan was slumped at the bottom of the machine with blood soaking through his already filthy jumpsuit and clutching one hand to his chest.
"What the hell did you do?" Curtis shouted as he skidded to a stop and dropped down to see where Nathan was bleeding from. He could feel the knees of his jumpsuit dampening in the small puddle of water that had leaked from the nearby water fountain.
"Slipped on the water. My chest," Nathan said, the words raspy.
Curtis stared, wide-eyed with horror, at the sharp piece of plexiglass that had snapped off in Nathan's chest. There were flecks of blood at the edges of Nathan's mouth.
"Got it though," Nathan said weakly as he managed to hold up a Snickers bar. He grinned before he lost consciousness.
Panicked, Curtis felt for his cellphone in his pocket, even though he knew that there was no way an ambulance would get there in time. "No," he said, his throat growing uncomfortably tight and his eyes burning. Even though he couldn't stand Nathan most of the time didn't mean he wanted to watch him die.
Curtis felt the familiar jolt of being pulled back through time, images flashing before him almost faster than he could make out and suddenly he was back standing in the doorway with his skin prickling in the cooler air.
"Damn it." Curtis tipped his head back as he heard the thumping sounds again and stomped in the direction of Nathan and the vending machine. He got there slightly sooner this time, right in time to see Nathan gripping the top of the vending machine and attempting to tip it forward.
"Let it go!" Curtis shouted, his eyes flickering to the puddle of water that was only an inch away from the toe of Nathan's shoe. Nathan's shoelaces were undone and the dirty and frayed ends were dragging behind on the floor.
"What are you going to do? Call the police?" Nathan challenged.
Curtis suddenly understood how Nathan could wind up with community service for stealing Pick 'n' Mix. "You're going to die," he said, walking forward and ready to physically drag Nathan away from the machine.
"Ha, right. No one dies from a vending machine. They only put that on there to get gullible people to not steal from them! You've just got to be smarter than the machine," Nathan said. "I've almost got it anyway. Just a little further."
The machine tipped forward before Curtis could take another step and he watched in mute horror as the machine caught Nathan underneath it with an inhuman scream.
The familiar tug of time being turned back, yet again, prompted Curtis to swear under his breath. He was back at the doorway, sweat uncomfortable on his back in the cool air, and the sounds of Nathan taking on the vending machine coming from down the hall. "If this is more difficult than stopping a freaky serial killer with powers or whatever, I'm going to kill him myself," Curtis said to himself as he walked back down the hallway for the third time.
*****
Curtis learned a couple of things very quickly. Firstly, telling Nathan that he was about to die didn't do any good. Once Nathan had even scoffed and asked him if he could see the future now, and was absolutely dismissive when Curtis reminded him that he could basically see the future. Secondly, restraining Nathan only caused him to fight like a wild man. Again Curtis was a little bit impressed, because he would have thought that it would be easy to kick Nathan's scrawny ass. In the end it had only led to Nathan hitting his head against the water fountain and having some kind of seizure. And finally, he learned that Nathan was ridiculously determined and apparently had about a million ways of breaking into vending machines. Even though Nathan was generally pretty easy to distract, it seemed like the promise of candy was enough to hold his attention completely. Even telling him that the probation worker or the cops was just around the corner couldn't dissuade Nathan from his goal.
Curtis had watched Nathan get electrocuted, bleed out from three different stab wounds, concuss himself, and crush himself five times. Leaving Nathan alone only ended up with Nathan choking to death on the candy bar he'd been after to start with. It was more than a little ridiculous and the last time Curtis had only barely gotten out of the way in time to save himself, let alone Nathan.
Standing back in the damn doorway, the cool air giving him a headache, Curtis decided enough was enough. Time to pull out the big guns.
Curtis walked confidently into the hallway. He was a man on a mission. Nathan had his long, thin body plastered against the machine as he attempted to rock it away from the wall.
Not bothering with words, Curtis took Nathan by the shoulders and turned him away from the machine. It only took a few seconds to build up the nerve but Curtis managed and mashed his lips against Nathan's in what had to be the third most awkward kiss he'd had in his entire life.
Nathan stared for a moment as Curtis released him, his mouth hanging open in what had to be shock, because Curtis wouldn't let it be anything else.
Curtis wiped his mouth against his arm and waited. He thought this was the longest period of time he'd ever heard Nathan be silent.
"You kissed me!" Nathan shouted, his mouth breaking into an enormous grin.
"To save your life. I don't like you, I don't love you, and it will never happen again," Curtis said firmly.
Nathan just laughed. "I knew it! I knew one of us was gay. I would have put money on the weird kid, but then again, maybe he is too! I can't wait to tell the others." He bounced off in the direction of the locker rooms, his joy ridiculously transparent.
Curtis shook his head and followed, already able to hear Nathan shouting that Curtis had kissed him, on the lips with tongue and everything. Deciding to put an end to it, before Nathan added that he'd groped him or something, Curtis rolled his eyes and went into the locker room. At least he'd finally put a stop to the whole vending machine time loop.
Written for dellessa's fandom-stocking.
Summary: Curtis doesn't want to save the world, but he can't really help but save the people who are sorta his friends.
Content Notes: Temporary (cracky) character death (it's not sad at all, I promise). Swearing.
Author Notes: Takes place in between Season 1 Episode 4 and Season 1 Episode 6.
Betaed by the most wonderful emeraldsnakes.
On AO3: Barely a Blessing (or Nathan vs. The Vending Machine)
Curtis thinks that if he ever told his mom about his ability to turn back time and change the past, she would call him blessed: a gift beyond imagining or a silver lining without a dark cloud. Curtis also thinks that's a bunch of crap. All it means is that he sees a bunch of terrible shit happening - people dying in all kinds of horrific ways is only the start of that list - and he's the only one who remembers. It can start to wear on a person after a while.
Of course, his mom would have to be willing to talk to him for more than a few minutes at a time in order for that conversation to ever take place, not that Curtis ever plans on telling anyone anyway. There are enough things that make him stand out without anything else. Well, among the rest of the ASBOs, he fits in remarkably well. They've all messed up their lives pretty bad, but as far as Curtis can tell he was the only one who'd had a chance at a normal life. Not anymore. Even with the drugs and the ban, maybe he could have managed to do something. But with a power like his, and the messes that they seemed to walk in almost every time they went outside, there was no chance that he could go back to what he was before.
Curtis dropped his paint brush back in the can, ignoring the way droplets of paint splattered on the concrete. It was stupidly warm out, even with his jumpsuit hanging down around his waist, and he seemed to be the only one who was actually working. Alisha was sprawled on the small section of grass near the fence with her phone out. It buzzed frequently as she worked her thumbs rapidly on the keypad. The rest of the group should have been around the corner working on the walls, but when Curtis leaned over he only saw the rollers and buckets abandoned on the ground.
"Screw this. I'm going inside." Curtis stood up straight and stretched his hands up to the sky. "You coming? Alisha?"
Alisha leaned back on one elbow and tugged out one of her earbuds. "You talking to me?"
"I'm going inside. Are you coming?" Curtis repeated, trying to sound less exasperated than he felt.
"Yeah, in a minute." She put her earbud back in and went back to the message she was typing out on her phone.
Curtis shook his head and walked away, leaving his brush and paint where they were. If the probation worker came looking he at least could say that he'd been working and had just gone inside for some water. He pushed through the doors and took a deep breath as his skin prickled in the cooler air inside the building.
"Come on you fucker!"
A familiar shout caught Curtis's attention and he turned down the nearest hallway to investigate the heavy thumping sounds that were echoing in the nearly empty building. When he turned the corner he was utterly unsurprised to see Nathan violently attacking the vending machine. Nathan's skinny arms were flailing against the clear plexiglass that showed the stuck candy bar that he was obviously after.
"You're mine!" Nathan declared, punching one hand in the air before he took a few stumbling steps back and then delivered a rough approximation of a round house kick to the front of the machine.
The plexiglass cracked down the center and Curtis had to admit - if only to himself - that he was vaguely impressed even though Nathan fell immediately to the floor. Curtis turned away, more interested in getting a bottle of water than he was standing around watching Nathan loot the machine. Nathan would share the candy with the rest of them later, and would probably have it tumbling from his locker over the next few days.
He'd only made it about twenty steps when he heard a different type of shout and crash coming from down the hallway. Cursing Simon, because that was who Curtis automatically blamed whenever they did anything remotely heroic, Curtis turned on the spot and sprinted back into the hallway with the vending machine.
Nathan was slumped at the bottom of the machine with blood soaking through his already filthy jumpsuit and clutching one hand to his chest.
"What the hell did you do?" Curtis shouted as he skidded to a stop and dropped down to see where Nathan was bleeding from. He could feel the knees of his jumpsuit dampening in the small puddle of water that had leaked from the nearby water fountain.
"Slipped on the water. My chest," Nathan said, the words raspy.
Curtis stared, wide-eyed with horror, at the sharp piece of plexiglass that had snapped off in Nathan's chest. There were flecks of blood at the edges of Nathan's mouth.
"Got it though," Nathan said weakly as he managed to hold up a Snickers bar. He grinned before he lost consciousness.
Panicked, Curtis felt for his cellphone in his pocket, even though he knew that there was no way an ambulance would get there in time. "No," he said, his throat growing uncomfortably tight and his eyes burning. Even though he couldn't stand Nathan most of the time didn't mean he wanted to watch him die.
Curtis felt the familiar jolt of being pulled back through time, images flashing before him almost faster than he could make out and suddenly he was back standing in the doorway with his skin prickling in the cooler air.
"Damn it." Curtis tipped his head back as he heard the thumping sounds again and stomped in the direction of Nathan and the vending machine. He got there slightly sooner this time, right in time to see Nathan gripping the top of the vending machine and attempting to tip it forward.
"Let it go!" Curtis shouted, his eyes flickering to the puddle of water that was only an inch away from the toe of Nathan's shoe. Nathan's shoelaces were undone and the dirty and frayed ends were dragging behind on the floor.
"What are you going to do? Call the police?" Nathan challenged.
Curtis suddenly understood how Nathan could wind up with community service for stealing Pick 'n' Mix. "You're going to die," he said, walking forward and ready to physically drag Nathan away from the machine.
"Ha, right. No one dies from a vending machine. They only put that on there to get gullible people to not steal from them! You've just got to be smarter than the machine," Nathan said. "I've almost got it anyway. Just a little further."
The machine tipped forward before Curtis could take another step and he watched in mute horror as the machine caught Nathan underneath it with an inhuman scream.
The familiar tug of time being turned back, yet again, prompted Curtis to swear under his breath. He was back at the doorway, sweat uncomfortable on his back in the cool air, and the sounds of Nathan taking on the vending machine coming from down the hall. "If this is more difficult than stopping a freaky serial killer with powers or whatever, I'm going to kill him myself," Curtis said to himself as he walked back down the hallway for the third time.
Curtis learned a couple of things very quickly. Firstly, telling Nathan that he was about to die didn't do any good. Once Nathan had even scoffed and asked him if he could see the future now, and was absolutely dismissive when Curtis reminded him that he could basically see the future. Secondly, restraining Nathan only caused him to fight like a wild man. Again Curtis was a little bit impressed, because he would have thought that it would be easy to kick Nathan's scrawny ass. In the end it had only led to Nathan hitting his head against the water fountain and having some kind of seizure. And finally, he learned that Nathan was ridiculously determined and apparently had about a million ways of breaking into vending machines. Even though Nathan was generally pretty easy to distract, it seemed like the promise of candy was enough to hold his attention completely. Even telling him that the probation worker or the cops was just around the corner couldn't dissuade Nathan from his goal.
Curtis had watched Nathan get electrocuted, bleed out from three different stab wounds, concuss himself, and crush himself five times. Leaving Nathan alone only ended up with Nathan choking to death on the candy bar he'd been after to start with. It was more than a little ridiculous and the last time Curtis had only barely gotten out of the way in time to save himself, let alone Nathan.
Standing back in the damn doorway, the cool air giving him a headache, Curtis decided enough was enough. Time to pull out the big guns.
Curtis walked confidently into the hallway. He was a man on a mission. Nathan had his long, thin body plastered against the machine as he attempted to rock it away from the wall.
Not bothering with words, Curtis took Nathan by the shoulders and turned him away from the machine. It only took a few seconds to build up the nerve but Curtis managed and mashed his lips against Nathan's in what had to be the third most awkward kiss he'd had in his entire life.
Nathan stared for a moment as Curtis released him, his mouth hanging open in what had to be shock, because Curtis wouldn't let it be anything else.
Curtis wiped his mouth against his arm and waited. He thought this was the longest period of time he'd ever heard Nathan be silent.
"You kissed me!" Nathan shouted, his mouth breaking into an enormous grin.
"To save your life. I don't like you, I don't love you, and it will never happen again," Curtis said firmly.
Nathan just laughed. "I knew it! I knew one of us was gay. I would have put money on the weird kid, but then again, maybe he is too! I can't wait to tell the others." He bounced off in the direction of the locker rooms, his joy ridiculously transparent.
Curtis shook his head and followed, already able to hear Nathan shouting that Curtis had kissed him, on the lips with tongue and everything. Deciding to put an end to it, before Nathan added that he'd groped him or something, Curtis rolled his eyes and went into the locker room. At least he'd finally put a stop to the whole vending machine time loop.
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"To save your life. I don't like you, I don't love you, and it will never happen again," Curtis said firmly.
Nathan just laughed. "I knew it! I knew one of us was gay. I would have put money on the weird kid, but then again, maybe he is too! I can't wait to tell the others."
Oh, man, this is so Nathan. I just wish it weren't so late, and I had the words to tell you how much I love this. It's lovely how sometimes Curtis can't control his feelings/can't choose when time keeps re-winding. And Nathan's resilience throughout this whole thing is hilarious. I say you've done them both justice!
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Thank you so much!