A very quick and unedited little fic for @artsyneurotic, who wanted some Tron angst to pass the time waiting a delayed flight. Enjoy!
Specks of dust floated through the bleary, yellowish light shining down from the grating above the touch-screen desk. It didn’t provide much illumination, but it was enough—enough to see the desk and the servers attached to it, the deteriorated couch and its ragged blanket, the dusty books resting on the shelves set into the back wall. It was enough to see the laser, sitting dormant and unassuming in its stand, and the three people who were ranged silently around the basement, none of them looking at each other.
Roy sat at the desk, gazing down at it but not resting his hands on the keyboard that glowed at the bottom of the screen. Instead a hand twisted through his hair distractedly, the other partially covering his mouth as he watched the steady blink of the cursor.
Lora stood near the door, eyes riveted to the laser that was a near copy of her life’s work, altered but horribly recognizable. Her hands were clenched at her sides, nails digging into the soft skin of her palms as they trembled.
Alan was on the couch, staring down at something in his lap—an old handheld game, one of Flynn’s favorites. He ran a thumb over the plastic edge, still smooth but brittle after so many years of abandonment, smearing dust over the dead screen.
None of them had said a word since Sam and Quorra had gone back upstairs, leaving the three alone to work through the overload of information that had just been given to them. A story about living programs, murdered miracles, warring factions, a genocidal tyrant with a too-familiar face, and a final sacrifice to stop him—Sam had told them all of it with a voice that had tried its damnedest to remain steady, Quorra filling in the gaps when Sam faltered. Once the story was finished, Sam had risen to his feet and left quickly, muttering something about the stuffiness of the basement. Quorra had followed without a word, looking at them all with a sadness that seemed beyond her years before going out the door.
Alan was the first to speak, his voice low.
“He was here. He was here the whole time.”
Roy turned in his chair to look at him, and then to Lora, uncertainty obvious in his face.
Lora met his gaze for a moment before turning to her husband, expression set. “Alan, don’t.”
Alan didn’t look up, didn’t even acknowledge the response. He spoke again, almost to himself. “He was so close. I could’ve done something. I should’ve—looked harder, tried harder…”
“Alan, we never stopped.” Roy leaned forward in his chair, trying to catch Alan’s eye, to no avail . “Alan, come on. It’s not our fault we didn’t know about this. None of us knew Flynn had a—a hidden lab under his arcade.”
“He didn’t tell us about any of this,” Lora said, glancing again at the inoperative laser. “He didn’t tell anyone. We couldn’t have known.”
Alan shook his head, still staring at the game that was now clutched tightly in his hands. “No,” he said, his voice. “We saw his notes—we should’ve figured it out—we could’ve found him, we could’ve helped…and now he’s—“
He broke off, and took a shaky breath. His next words seemed to echo in the small space, a thought that all of them had shared as they listened to the story but that none had been willing to voice.
“And it’s our fault…”
His voice cracked as he said it; his head ducked lower, and even in the dim light it was obvious his shoulders were trembling. Lora was across the room in an instant, wrapping her arms around him as she sat down beside him. He didn’t make a sound as he leaned into the embrace, only continued to shudder. Roy got out of the chair and settled on Alan’s other side.
“Alan,” he said, putting an arm around his friend’s shoulders, “please. Please don’t say that.”
“It is,” came the muffled response, “if we hadn’t—the page, that was because of us, if we’d just left it alone…”
“We didn’t know,” Roy told him, trying to keep his own voice from breaking. “We didn’t know what would happen.”
“We were just trying to find him.” Lora’s voice didn’t shake, but her eyes were squeezed shut. “We just wanted to bring him home.”
Alan shook his head, but said nothing, just hid his face in Lora’s shoulder. Lora hugged him closer, moving her arm so that it rested next to Roy’s. Roy slipped his fingers over Lora’s own, squeezing them tight as he leaned his forehead on Alan’s shoulder. The three stayed that way for a long time, clutching at each other like lifelines in the dimness of the basement. None of them were willing to say the obvious, to put into words the horrible truth that kept running through their heads: if they hadn’t tried so hard to find him, Flynn would still be alive.
T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)
This isn’t like a ride or die headcanon, but here’s a different one from the one I did for yurishark’s ask, a silly one: Roy is Jewish and usually invites Alan (and Lora if she’s around) over for at least one night of Hanukkah every year. In return Alan invites Roy over for Christmas (neither he nor Lora are particularly religious in my headcanon so it’s more an excuse to get together for a nice dinner than anything), if he isn’t visiting Lora in D.C. Roy buys them ugly Christmas sweaters as presents practically every year, and Lora insists they both wear them as much as possible during Christmas week. Alan gets embarrassed by how atrocious some of them are but Lora and Roy both think it’s hilarious.(Alan bought Roy a Hanukkah one in revenge once. Roy loved it and wore it for like a week straight. Now he buys them because he knows Roy likes them.)
R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships
I haven’t read much Tron/Ram but the stuff I HAVE read is adorable and I love it. Beyond that I don’t THINK I have any rare pairs….though I guess you could maybe argue that the ot3 is much less popular than Alan/Kevin (or Alan/Sam lmao) within fandom? And Jordan is rarely if ever mentioned…anywhere, but I would love to see more with her and Kevin (and hell, some where she interacts with Alan and Lora would be AWESOME)O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of?
Actually I’m listening to Breathing Underwater by Metric right now and it never fails to remind me of Alan and Tron. N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)-The ladies, full stop, but especially Lora and Yori and Jordan-I live for ot3 fic, it is my lifeblood-TR3N actually existing…
