fic: The Kids Are(n't) Alright
Fandom: Havemercy (Volstovic Cycle)
Pairing: Hal/Royston
Rating: M
Words: 15,266
Royston unbolted the lock and pulled the door open, but the person on his doorstep wasn’t who he expected.
“Hello Uncle Roy,” William said. “Who’s Owen?”
For perhaps the first time in his life, Royston found himself at a loss for words. He struggled to find the right thing to say, but the problem was solved for him when, after a moment of appallingly gauche silence, the streetlamp behind his favorite nephew helpfully exploded.
Author's Note: Earlier this year I reread Havemercy for the first time since I was Hal’s age (20). I am currently Royston’s age (35), so as you can imagine, the change in perspective was WILD. I liveblogged the whole experience here, including this post about wanting to see William as the fantasy equivalent of a gen-alpha nightmare. This isn't really that, but it's close.
I pulled a ton of stuff straight from canon via a complicated color-coded highlighting system across all four books, so as soon as I figure out the best way to do it, I'm going to post an annotated version with footnotes citing where I pulled certain details from.