Every Universe

‣ Guardian AU

pairing ‣ Quinton Aoki x Harrison Chang

prompt ‣ Guardian by Alex London AU

notes ‣ if you've never read Proxy and Guardian by Alex London, you're seriously missing out, because Guardian is one of my favorite books in the entire world, mostly because of Syd and Liam's dynamic. though I have no confidence in writing fanfic on it, so I wrote this, the Guardian AU no one asked for, featuring two characters I finally get to introduce you guys to!

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Harrison was always there, just out of the light, standing in doorways, hovering at the edge of conversations, watching Quinton even as he slept.

Those were the orders of Quinton's parents: Quinton was not to be alone.

It made sense twelve weeks ago, when Quinton was first told about his parent's divorce, since the information could not be revealed to the public under any circumstances, but nowadays, Quinton found that it was the biggest waste of Harrison and his own time. Even if Quinton wanted to talk about the divorce, he didn't have anyone to tell, and why did Quinton care if his parents wanted out of an arranged marriage?

(Quinton knew that there were other reasons for the bodyguard, one involving a poison dart had almost killed Quinton fourteen weeks ago. After all, no matter what the circumstances, Quinton could not die. Therefore, having a bodyguard to protect him from knives and bullets and poison darts and murders made sense, because obviously the normal guards watching him clearly weren't enough.)

Though with his parents separated, it made stuffy functions seem pointless. They held the illusion that everything in their family was going all right, but in reality, Quinton's parents hardly paid any attention to him and were divorced.

Eating the at least twenty shrimp puffs Quinton had grabbed off a waiter, Quinton walked around the restaurant, greeting important officials, and ached for the city air, damp from the rain and a little polluted from smoke. The air may not be good for him, but it did a lot to him than these dinner functions.

Glancing around the room, Quinton spotted Harrison in formal clothes talking to an official, but his gaze wasn't on the official but at Quinton. He shivered, not knowing how to take that information, and then turned away to eat another shrimp puff. Harrison always wore a disguise wherever he went, and he always acted at least a little normal if not stiff in public, but the thing that always set him apart was that no matter what, Harrison was always only watching Quinton.

Though, Quinton would think that after twelve weeks of being stuck with him, Harrison would at least be a little bored at his job. He wasn't, which meant that Quinton was suffering alone. Everyone suffers alone. That was Quinton's philosophy, and he hadn't been wrong yet. So as he finished his last shrimp puff, he walked around the room, looking for the nearest exit, and Harrison moved with him, always ten feet away.

He was really good at that. Always ten feet away; never more, never less. With his stoic nature, Quinton would think that Harrison was a thoroughly bred soldier in his mid-thirties, but they were around the same age. They were around the same age and yet Harrison had accomplished more so far than Quinton would do in his entire life.

Quinton stole a glance behind him, only to make brief eye contact with Harrison, and suddenly remembered that Harrison was far from stoic. He was too far away, but up close, Quinton could see how sad Harrison's eyes were, like a puppy lost in the rain, and how sometimes the wet cement of eyes Harrison had would freeze over. Because Harrison had emotions and compassion, it made him kind and vulnerable. Meanwhile Quinton had a hard edge from numbing himself from pain, doing his best not to care about anyone or anything in life. Sometimes Quinton slipped up, but that's what made him human. On the other hand, Harrison's humane compassion made hurting his feelings a lot easier.