When We Met, Chapter 1

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

Title: When We Met
Pairing: Eventual Ace/Spanners
Beta: techh_ism and my gf
Chapters: 1 of 15?
Rating: G, eventual R
Summery: Before Ace went Dimension hopping he met a young scouser. One meeting changed their lives forever.
Disclaimer: Red Dwarf isn't mine, and Ace and Spanners are sadly the property of Grant Naylor.

            The first time Lister met him when he was thirteen. He was skate boarding at an abandoned park with some friends. They were taking turns jumping over a rail, daring each other to do stupid stunts.

            Lister wasn’t expecting to be stunned at the sight of the older teen, but he froze and fell off his skate board. The teen was looking around the area, scratching his head. At first glance he was nothing spectacular, but he held himself with an air of confidence. His hair was light brown, and curly, and he was tall, lips drawn in a frustrated frown, and eyes focused. He was handsome. That was the bottom line. Around here it was rare to see someone like that.

            He glanced in Lister’s direction, noticing the boy was still sitting on the ground. Lister felt his face heat up, but it must have been from the warm day. The older teen walked over, helping Lister to his feet, and grinned. Lister never saw anyone smile like that, so cheerful and casual, it lit up the man’s whole face. “Sorry to bother you,” he said. “Maybe you can help me.”

            Lister dusted off his pants, embarrassed for staring. He noticed his friends stopped skating and stared at him and the older teen. “Wa’ d’ya need help with?”

            “This is one of my first times on Earth, let alone Liverpool. I’m looking for an Academy somewhere near here.”

            “Academy?” Lister asked, trying to remember if there was something like that nearby.

            The teen laughed, “I have an appointment with the dean in a half hour, and I appear to be lost.”

            Lister scratched his head, “I think there’s one not far from ‘ere.”

            “Which direction?” the teen asked, cocking his head.

            “I can show ya.” Lister didn’t know why he offered, for all he knew he could get killed, but he was oddly drawn to the man.

            “That would be excellent, Skipper.”

            “Dave.” Lister extended his arm.

            “Arnold.” They shook hands.

            “Hold on a sec.” Lister ran over to his friends and told them he was taking this guy down the street to the big fancy school they all ignored. They warned him of the usual dangers. One guy suggested Lister rob the guy. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He turned back to Arnold, who was waiting patiently. “Later!” Lister called back.

            He walked up to Arnold, “Come on,” he said, grabbing his skateboard.

            At first they walked silently, Lister wanted to say something. “So…Where ya from?”

            “Io.” Arnold replied, looking around the neighborhood.

            “Why’re ya looking fer a school here? Kinda far, ain’t it?”

            Arnold laughed, “My mother insisted. It’s supposed to be a good school, but I’m going in to turn them down.”

            “Why?” Flying all the way from Io to turn down a school? ‘Ez crazy.

            “I’ve decided to join the Space Corp. School would get in the way of that.”

            “Tha Space Corp? Wow…” thirteen year old Lister couldn’t imagine anyone joining the Corps. This guy had to be old. Like twenty or something. “How old are ya?”

            “Nineteen. You?” Arnold smiled down at him.

            Lister blushed, “Thirteen.” He felt very young.

            “So, you’re still in school?”

            “More or less.” Lister glanced away, not wanting Arnold to think he was a failure. Why do I care?

            “School is important, Dave. Never know where you’ll be in 10 years.”

            “Says tha guy who’s turnin’ down a good school fer tha Corps.”

            “Doesn’t mean I slacked in school. Just means I know everything I need to know.”

            “Maybe I know everything I need ter know.” Lister glared slightly.

            Arnold laughed, “Well, where do you want to be in 10 years, Dave?”

            Lister felt himself blushing again, “Dunno, guess I’ll see when I get there.”

            “Sounds like a plan, Davey-boy” Arnold patted him on the back. Lister realized they’d reached the school. Lister stood there awkwardly.

            “Well, 'ere ya are, Arnold.” Lister said, awkwardly. He didn’t want to go back to the skate park. Lister had no idea why he was so drawn to this man.

            “Thanks, Davey-boy. You’re a life saver. Anyway I can repay you?”

            Lister got annoyed at himself as he blushed again. “You don’t have ter, it wusn’t a big deal.”

            “T’sh, p’shaw, nonsense. I want to repay you.”

            Lister laughed, “Okay fine. ‘ow about ya buy me sumthin’ ter eat?”

            “I can do that. I have to go in now. Do you wanna wait for me? Or we make a date next time I’m in town?”

            “When will ya be in terwn again?” Lister asked, a smirk forming on his lips.

            Arnold thought for a moment, running a hand through his brown curls. “I have no idea, Davey-boy. I just don’t want to take anymore of your time.”

            “Not like I ‘ave anythin’ better ter do. I can wait.”

            Arnold grinned. It was that same easy grin which almost left Lister speechless. “I won’t be a mo’.” Lister nodded and watched Arnold walk into the school.

            Sitting on the stone border, which hid the school from the hooligans of Liverpool, Lister waited. He didn’t understand why he was so drawn to this man. His friends probably were wondering where he was, but Lister didn’t budge. He would wait.

            After what felt like a half hour, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. “I’m done. Sorry that took so long.” Lister jumped, falling off the border. “Are you alright?” Once again Arnold helped him to his feet.

            “Wha’ took ya so long?” Lister asked, rubbing gravel off his hand.

            “The dean wasn’t pleased with my decision and tried to talk me out of it. So, what’s good to eat around here?”

            Lister decided not to ask more about schooling; “Follow me.” He said instead, picking up his skateboard.

            He and Arnold walked in silence, but it was a pleasant silence. Lister led Arnold to a popular Indian Curry stand. Arnold bought both of them a curry and a kabob, they sat on a bench to eat.

            “Thanks.” Lister said, feeling awkward that a stranger just bought him food.

            “Nonsense, Dave. I owe you.”

            “Ya really don’t. It’s not like me leadin’ ya ter tha academy wus such a big deal.”

            “I took time out of your day. And it’s a big deal to me. Now I can join the Space Corps without my mother interfering.”

            “Are ya tha first in yer family ter be in tha corps?”

            “No. My three older brothers are all officers. But mother felt like I had other potential.”

            “Three older brothers? Wow…”

            “Do you have any siblings, Dave?”

            “Nah. I wus abandoned in a pub when I was 6 weeks old, in a cardboard box. Me dad adopted me, course he died when I wus six.”

            “Abandoned? That’s horrible.” Arnold look appalled at the notion.

            Lister never told any of his friends this, why was he telling this stranger. “I suppose. I’m over it.”

            “I wouldn’t be.” Arnold said, taking a bite of his kabob. He swallowed, “I’d try to hunt down my real parents.”

            “Maybe I wul. I mean, I’m only thirteen. I have time.”

            “That you do.” Arnold stood, dusting crumbs off his slacks. “Sadly I have a shuttle to catch back to Io, so I have to be off, Dave.”

            “Really?” Lister wanted him to stay. He swallowed the rest of his kabob whole, almost choking, and stood.

            “’fraid so.” Arnold said, placing a hand on Lister’s shoulder. “It was very nice to meet you, Dave. Maybe someday we’ll run into one another again.”

            “It was good ter meet ya too, Arnold.”

            A grin broke on his face, “Call me Ace.”

Comments

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Awww, I like this. A sweet first meeting for Ace and Spanners. I look forward to more. :)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it. Ace and Spanners have a long future ahead. Maybe. There will be more to come.

[kronette.livejournal.com]

WHEEE! Very nice set up for their future relationship (however it may go). I was grinning about as wide as Lister, there at the end. "Date" indeed.

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've very proud of this fic. I might post chapter 2 either tomorrow or sometime this week.

[bayliss.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I'll be waiting for more. :-)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it. More will come soon.

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

I love Lister/Ace or Lister/Rimmer!Honestly, I half expected Lister to kiss him! This was just too good! Baby want more! :)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

As much as I live Rimmer/Lister, I prefer Ace/Spanners. This fanfic won't have any Rimmer/Lister at all, it's gonna be all Ace/Spanners and Spanners/Kochanski. But i'm glad you like it.

Spanners is a little young for Ace at the moment, sorry XD

More will come soon.

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

Is Spanners going to chuck her out the airlock? And 1 correction: there should be a 'was' in the first sentence, between the 'him' and 'when'. I love Lister/Rimmer. Maybe because Rimmer reminds me of me.

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

Erm...no. I'm following Canon as much as possible. And I don't hate Kochanski nor her relationship with either Lister or Spanners. This fic is mostly Ace/Spanners, but I do include some Spanners/Kochanski and I'm not editing it out.

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

Well, some warning will be nice. I hate Kochanski and her whole Kochanski//Lister relationship.:p Now if Kochanski were a guy, it would take some time, but eventually I would more than likely be on board with it.

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

I only intend to make a warning if there's any sex at all, otherwise their relationship is pretty important to my plot. I'm sorry if you don't enjoy it, but there are plenty of other fics to read. I really don't want to see any Kochanski bashing.

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

I won't bash her! I may hate her, but I don't hate her that much! ( Well, I guess I do!) I'll just skip the parts with her in them, as I wanna see where this relationship goes. I'm copying this to my own archive, as I really do like it, if you don't mind.

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

Then I should tell you that in later chapters Kochanski will be in almost all of them. She's pretty important to the plot and if you're gonna skip it then you won't keep up with the story.

And personally, I'm not a fan of people saving fanfics into their own computer, but that's just me. Sorry, but it's on here and on my Archive account, and that should be enough should you ever want to read it again. So, sorry, but I do mind.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Personally I'm interested in all RD characters to a certain extent. They're all part of the fascinating world that Grant Naylor created. Kronette's just written a het fic with Rimmer / Yvonne McGruder and I liked it because it was well written.

I love the Lister / Rimmer relationship (and Ace / Spanners, and Lister / Ace), but I have nothing against Kochanski. I like fics best when they're fair to all the characters featured. :)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad. This fic is mostly Ace/Spanners, but it does have some Spanners/Kochanski. C8

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

I've sometimes been asked with regard to some of my fics if I have a problem with Kochanski! I genuinely don't dislike the character and have loved both the actresses who've portrayed her (although I think Chloe got a rough deal with the way her version was written). The trouble with Kochanski is that - when you're writing slash - she becomes well...an obstacle that you have to write around. Some people do this better than others and most people do it better than me. It's sometimes too easy to just make her a bitch to facilitate plot. When I fall into this trap I generally try to at least make her a well-meaning bitch! :-)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

I've seen that too. It bothers me when people hate a character. I'm not a fan of Chloe's version, but I love Clare's. I hope you like the way I wrote her. She'll be in the fic in a few chapters.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

You make a very good point. I haven't encountered that problem yet, but when I do I hope I'll find a good solution. :)

Sorry for the OT, Goku_Lover. I'll stop now. ;)

[goku-lover21.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's fine. I'm just sorry for starting a discussion. I just hate it when people say they hate a character. I don't mind if people dislike a character, but I just think it's silly to hate them.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

I agree. Maybe I should start a new thread about women in slash. I'll think about it.

[vejgeta9.livejournal.com]

I don't hate Chloe, please don't misunderstand me. I can't really say I hate her character. I just hated how she treated Lister. I hate that I said anything now.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

It's OK, I wasn't having a go at you. I've seen other posters say they hate KK (or Ace, come to that), and it just started me thinking about unpopular characters and why they tend to be so (generally because they get in the way of a poster's OTP).

Don't take it personally. :)