InsaneJournal

writing, I has it
Zacharias turns his mobile phone on after seven days, secretly expecting it to not be able to handle the heat (it is Muggle technology after all, how good can it really be?) and is rather pleasantly surprised to find that for some inane reason there's actually reception around the temple. He hits "1" and "send" and puts the phone to his ear, stomach tightening slightly at the lengthy silence before the ring tone starts.

"What are the roaming charges like from Israel?"

Terry's voice sounds funny over the line, not quite like him, and there's static in the background, but it's more than he's had for a whole week and the tightening in Zacharias' stomach moves up to his chest as he smiles giddily. "I have no fucking idea. I'm pretty sure I can afford it though."

There are voices faint in the background and he wonders what Terry's doing and where he is. Maybe he has people over, or he could be visiting Michael and Patricia or Penny, or walking down a street somewhere in central London. The thought of all those people squashed in together seems wildly alien right now. "How's the temple?"

"Fantastic. It's stinking hot and we've spent most of the time praying and reading Torah in Hebrew. On Thursday we spent the whole day fasting and this guy from Switzerland fainted. I'm going to stop at the beach on the way back and just swim for a couple of days, apparently it's incredibly blue and the water's warm all day, even better than Italy. How's England?

"Rainy. You're going to freeze your bollocks off when you get back after all that sun." Terry sounds positively gleeful at the prospect and Zacharias makes a face, forgetting he can't see it. It's strange talking to someone so far away, and for a moment he closes his eyes so he can pretend they really are just in the same room. "Sounds like you're having fun, though, I mean aside from the fainting bits. Bet you're getting all tan too."

"You're all going to look pasty next to me," he agrees solemnly. "Will you help warm me up? We get next to no privacy here, I'm going to be really fucking horny by next weekend."

Terry's laughter echoes down the phone line. "Should you be coveting your neighbour's arse right now? That doesn't sound very godly."

"Lucky I'm not Him then. I'm sure He won't mind, I thank him for your arse all the time." It comes out rather more seriously than he'd intended and there's a moment where all he can hear through the mobile is the static of the long distance and the voices he can't quite pin down before he adds, even more seriously, "I miss you."

"Yeah, you too. Six more days, yeah?"

"Half-way there. I'd better hang up, we're about to eat."

"Okay. See you on Sunday."

He wants to say a thousand different things or just send this feeling through the line, exultant and glorious, but instead he just presses "end call" and turns the phone off. Best to save the battery.


It's just past ten so I might go to bed pretty soon.