![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Sweet Peanut: CHAPTER THE SECOND
Fandom: Left 4 Dead 2
Characters: The survivors, L'il Peanut
Rating: PG-13
Words: 1008
Summary: The epic love story between a jaded con-artist and a...carnival mascot peanut? OH NOES.
Notes: In this chapter: NICK SLEEPS WITH LIL' PEANUT, AW YEAH. Also he talks with Ellis and there is a moment of gay panic.
this one's still a little rough around the edges, editing wise.
---
The saferoom they'd found in the Tunnel of Love was easily the most comfortable saferoom Nick had encountered. That didn't mean Nick was actually comfortable while inside it. Yeah, the floor was carpeted and there was actual lighting for once, but a thin, scratchy, confetti-colored carpet smelling vaguely like old socks and eye-searing pink-and-purple 'mood lighting' was only a small step up from plain concrete and flickering florescent strip lights.
And why was it so cold? Nick tried to suppress a shiver and drew his ruined jacket around his shoulders. They were in Georgia; wasn't there a law of nature or some shit about the weather always being balmy, no matter what the season? He was pretty fucking sure he'd read that in a travel brochure or something.
Nick tried to button up his shirt in an attempt to conserve body heat, but given that most of them were either hanging by threads or missing completely, it was a futile effort. He glanced around the saferoom, wondering if anyone else was have the same problem.
It certainly didn't seem like it. Coach lay sprawled out in the center of the saferoom, snoring blissfully. Rochelle was curled up in one of the corners, her head resting on Gnome Chomski's shoulder. In the cheap neon lighting, the gnome was creepier than usual, the garish pink and purple reflecting off his plastic eyes eerily, the shadows making his mild smile almost...sinister. Nick suspected the sight would leave him with more nightmares than the zombies.
As for Ellis, he was -
Ellis was...
Ellis wasn't in the saferoom.
Nick sat up, glaring into the purple shadows as if Ellis might pop out of them at any moment. He had no idea where Ellis might have gone – hell, Nick didn't even know when or how Ellis had managed to leave the saferoom without anyone noticing him, given that subtly was not merely a word absent from Ellis' vocabulary but a concept that Ellis was mentally and physically unable to grasp. Of course, Ellis also had an uncanny knack for getting into trouble when trouble seemed impossible to be had. Maybe Ellis' unparalleled skill in getting screwed superseded his equally impressive ability to make his presence known in the most obnoxious manner possible.
Just as Nick pondered this pressing question, the door swung open with a protesting metallic shriek. Ellis walked in, hands behind his back and the biggest, most shit-eating-est grin Nick had ever seen plastered on his face – and when he noticed Nick was still awake and watching him, his grin somehow got wider. Nick resisted the sudden urge to shove past Ellis and run like hell.
“Hey, Nick,” Ellis said brightly. “I saw you was having trouble sleeping, so I got somethin' for ya.”
Nick's eyes narrowed. This sounded suspiciously like the set-up of a low-budget porn movie. “What is it, Ellis?”
Ellis pulled out a stuffed plush of Lil' Peanut with a flourish.
Shit.
Ellis pressed the plushie into Nick's limp, unwilling hands. “Give him a squeeze,” Ellis coaxed, apparently not noticing or not caring about Nick's obvious grimace. “He talks!”
Not knowing what else to do, Nick squeezed.
“I looooove you!”
Ellis beamed. Nick shuddered. Out of what he could only assume was morbid curiosity, he squeezed Lil' Peanut again.
“You're my best friend in the whole wide world!”
“Shit, he's a needy little fucker, isn't he?” Nick said, holding the peanut plushie out at arm's length.
Ellis gave Nick a Look, which Nick had learned meant Ellis was about to lecture him about not being an idiot like everyone else. “Lil' Peanut isn't needy. Just because he's brave enough to be honest with his feelings don't mean you gotta make fun of him.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever – how is an annoying peanut toy supposed to help me sleep?”
“Well, duh, Nick, don't everybody sleep better when they got a friend next to 'em? And don't say Lil' Peanut ain't your friend, 'cause he's everyone's friend. Everyone's,” Ellis said, nodding emphatically.
And Nick would have said something to the effect that unlike Ellis' mental development, he, Nick, was not five years old, and would most definitely not have a better sleep with Lil' Peanut – but Ellis was giving him those upsetting puppy-dog eyes, the eyes that said I am the saddest little boy in all of Georgia so please please please pretend we're buddies, and while Nick was proud of his asshole status he was also not entirely heartless.
Also they were surrounded by zombies and Ellis was a dead-eyed shot with a sniper rifle, so it was in Nick's best interests to stay on Ellis' good side.
Nick grudgingly drew Lil' Peanut closer. “I guess he'll make an okay pillow or something.”
“Lil' Peanut beats up bad dreams, you know,” Ellis said suddenly. “Me'n him, we used to bang up them nightmares all the time.”
Nick stared, this being the only appropriate response to such a confession.
“...I'm going to bed,” Nick said, slowly backing away from Ellis.
“See? It's already working!” Ellis smiled, then let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “Speakin' of bedtime, I think I'm gonna hit the sack too.”
“You go do that,” Nick said. He went back to his corner and laid Lil' Peanut on the floor. The plush toy did turn out to be a half-decent pillow, its curved contours just right for accommodating a human head comfortably.
The only problem was the voicebox, which went off the moment Nick put his head on the toy.
“You are wonderful!”
“You suck at flattery, Peanut,” Nick muttered, then stopped.
Was he talking back to a peanut plush? God, whatever mind-disease Ellis had must be catching. Nick closed his eyes and tried to shut out everything carnival related.
“I looooove you!” Lil' Peanut chirped ominously, the declaration the last thing Nick heard before drifting into a neon-pink tinged darkness.
---
in the next installment: Action! Danger! A roller coaster ride! And a super-special-awesome bonus pairing: Rochelle/Gnome Chompski!
IT WILL BE AN EXCITING TIME.
Fandom: Left 4 Dead 2
Characters: The survivors, L'il Peanut
Rating: PG-13
Words: 1008
Summary: The epic love story between a jaded con-artist and a...carnival mascot peanut? OH NOES.
Notes: In this chapter: NICK SLEEPS WITH LIL' PEANUT, AW YEAH. Also he talks with Ellis and there is a moment of gay panic.
this one's still a little rough around the edges, editing wise.
---
The saferoom they'd found in the Tunnel of Love was easily the most comfortable saferoom Nick had encountered. That didn't mean Nick was actually comfortable while inside it. Yeah, the floor was carpeted and there was actual lighting for once, but a thin, scratchy, confetti-colored carpet smelling vaguely like old socks and eye-searing pink-and-purple 'mood lighting' was only a small step up from plain concrete and flickering florescent strip lights.
And why was it so cold? Nick tried to suppress a shiver and drew his ruined jacket around his shoulders. They were in Georgia; wasn't there a law of nature or some shit about the weather always being balmy, no matter what the season? He was pretty fucking sure he'd read that in a travel brochure or something.
Nick tried to button up his shirt in an attempt to conserve body heat, but given that most of them were either hanging by threads or missing completely, it was a futile effort. He glanced around the saferoom, wondering if anyone else was have the same problem.
It certainly didn't seem like it. Coach lay sprawled out in the center of the saferoom, snoring blissfully. Rochelle was curled up in one of the corners, her head resting on Gnome Chomski's shoulder. In the cheap neon lighting, the gnome was creepier than usual, the garish pink and purple reflecting off his plastic eyes eerily, the shadows making his mild smile almost...sinister. Nick suspected the sight would leave him with more nightmares than the zombies.
As for Ellis, he was -
Ellis was...
Ellis wasn't in the saferoom.
Nick sat up, glaring into the purple shadows as if Ellis might pop out of them at any moment. He had no idea where Ellis might have gone – hell, Nick didn't even know when or how Ellis had managed to leave the saferoom without anyone noticing him, given that subtly was not merely a word absent from Ellis' vocabulary but a concept that Ellis was mentally and physically unable to grasp. Of course, Ellis also had an uncanny knack for getting into trouble when trouble seemed impossible to be had. Maybe Ellis' unparalleled skill in getting screwed superseded his equally impressive ability to make his presence known in the most obnoxious manner possible.
Just as Nick pondered this pressing question, the door swung open with a protesting metallic shriek. Ellis walked in, hands behind his back and the biggest, most shit-eating-est grin Nick had ever seen plastered on his face – and when he noticed Nick was still awake and watching him, his grin somehow got wider. Nick resisted the sudden urge to shove past Ellis and run like hell.
“Hey, Nick,” Ellis said brightly. “I saw you was having trouble sleeping, so I got somethin' for ya.”
Nick's eyes narrowed. This sounded suspiciously like the set-up of a low-budget porn movie. “What is it, Ellis?”
Ellis pulled out a stuffed plush of Lil' Peanut with a flourish.
Shit.
Ellis pressed the plushie into Nick's limp, unwilling hands. “Give him a squeeze,” Ellis coaxed, apparently not noticing or not caring about Nick's obvious grimace. “He talks!”
Not knowing what else to do, Nick squeezed.
“I looooove you!”
Ellis beamed. Nick shuddered. Out of what he could only assume was morbid curiosity, he squeezed Lil' Peanut again.
“You're my best friend in the whole wide world!”
“Shit, he's a needy little fucker, isn't he?” Nick said, holding the peanut plushie out at arm's length.
Ellis gave Nick a Look, which Nick had learned meant Ellis was about to lecture him about not being an idiot like everyone else. “Lil' Peanut isn't needy. Just because he's brave enough to be honest with his feelings don't mean you gotta make fun of him.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever – how is an annoying peanut toy supposed to help me sleep?”
“Well, duh, Nick, don't everybody sleep better when they got a friend next to 'em? And don't say Lil' Peanut ain't your friend, 'cause he's everyone's friend. Everyone's,” Ellis said, nodding emphatically.
And Nick would have said something to the effect that unlike Ellis' mental development, he, Nick, was not five years old, and would most definitely not have a better sleep with Lil' Peanut – but Ellis was giving him those upsetting puppy-dog eyes, the eyes that said I am the saddest little boy in all of Georgia so please please please pretend we're buddies, and while Nick was proud of his asshole status he was also not entirely heartless.
Also they were surrounded by zombies and Ellis was a dead-eyed shot with a sniper rifle, so it was in Nick's best interests to stay on Ellis' good side.
Nick grudgingly drew Lil' Peanut closer. “I guess he'll make an okay pillow or something.”
“Lil' Peanut beats up bad dreams, you know,” Ellis said suddenly. “Me'n him, we used to bang up them nightmares all the time.”
Nick stared, this being the only appropriate response to such a confession.
“...I'm going to bed,” Nick said, slowly backing away from Ellis.
“See? It's already working!” Ellis smiled, then let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “Speakin' of bedtime, I think I'm gonna hit the sack too.”
“You go do that,” Nick said. He went back to his corner and laid Lil' Peanut on the floor. The plush toy did turn out to be a half-decent pillow, its curved contours just right for accommodating a human head comfortably.
The only problem was the voicebox, which went off the moment Nick put his head on the toy.
“You are wonderful!”
“You suck at flattery, Peanut,” Nick muttered, then stopped.
Was he talking back to a peanut plush? God, whatever mind-disease Ellis had must be catching. Nick closed his eyes and tried to shut out everything carnival related.
“I looooove you!” Lil' Peanut chirped ominously, the declaration the last thing Nick heard before drifting into a neon-pink tinged darkness.
---
in the next installment: Action! Danger! A roller coaster ride! And a super-special-awesome bonus pairing: Rochelle/Gnome Chompski!
IT WILL BE AN EXCITING TIME.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 08:29 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 08:59 pm (UTC)From:LOL, gay panic, I love it. And awwwwww at Ellis bringing Nick a stuffed Lil' Peanut. 8D
More, MOAR. XD