Art Baker oftentimes felt like a bridge.
It had always somehow been this way – he was the nice one, but he wasn't a pushover, so he was often used to settle playground or sibling disputes. He was used to connect people, and he honestly didn't mind. Even now on the Walk it looked to be the same – he genuinely liked both Hank Olson and Abraham, and they genuinely hated each other.
He'd even grown sort of close to Collie Parker while observing them.
"What a coupla goddam idiots," Parker muttered as they watched the two walk near each other, exchanging words and rude gestures. "There's no fuckin' point in what they're doing. Christ."
"It's kind of funny," Baker said just as Abraham shouted something that even made Collie Parker wince. "Olson's face is redder than Abraham's sunburn."
"Olson's a prick."
"I like him," Baker said. He thought about it a little. "You're not wrong, though."
"C'mon, you like 'em both, go make them stop shouting at each other. It's giving me a goddam headache."
With that, Parker dropped back to antagonize Barkovitch. Why he'd do this, Baker had no idea, but Baker decided that he could try and patch things up a little. If he was being totally honest, he was getting a headache, too, and he generally thought arguments and negative feelings were a little bit entertaining.
He walked up to come even with them. "So," he said. Both of them looked at him. "Parker's getting a headache."
"Good," Olson said.
"Shit," Abraham said.
"What's up with you two, anyway?" Baker asked, sliding his hands into his pockets and rolling back his shoulders. "The first time you saw each other you were at each other's throats."
"He tied his jacket around his waist like a twelve year old, what was I supposed to do? Of course I laughed at him."
"What else am I supposed to do with it?"
Baker rolled his eyes and watched them continue to argue. He wondered if he was doing any good by coming over here. He wondered where McVries and Garraty were, and what they were doing. He wondered whether McVries had made a move on Garraty yet.
Because Art Baker was not blind, and neither was Parker, who had, very seriously at around two o'clock, told him that he thought that McVries was queer for Garraty, and didn't know if Garraty had the same sort of feelings. Baker had, of course, listened intently with one eyebrow cocked.
Then he'd looked at the two of them walking together and came to the exact same conclusion.
"Hey. Baker."
Baker walked back to walk with Parker, who had a grim smile on his face. "I made it worse."
"You sure as hell made it worse," Parker said. "I can't even feel good about fuckin' with that little prick back there. It was too easy, but I kept gettin' distracted by those idiots."
"I tried," Baker said.
"No you didn't."
"Don't you trust me?" Baker said, voice a little teasing. Parker glared. Baker shrugged. "Well, it's funny."
"Like hell it is," Parker muttered. Baker didn't say anything. He just watched Abraham and Olson until Abraham decided to be the bigger person and dropped back to talk with Parker and Baker. "You're giving me a headache, idiot."
"Not my fault Hank Olson is the most annoying thing on the planet," Abraham said promptly. He switched his gaze to Baker. "I don't know how you can stand him."
Baker shrugged and dropped back to walk by himself. Abraham continued talking to Parker and Olson stalked along by himself. Baker was content to be by himself, because as much as he did like most of the people on the Walk, it was nice to have some time to think every so often. There were times when he didn't want to be a (failing) bridge between two people that hated each other and he just wanted to be a person.
He didn't know how long he was going to live, and sometimes he wanted to contemplate that. Being human was dying, he knew that, he embraced that. It was why he'd gone on the Walk in the first place – to die. Really, he was fulfilling his duty as a human by dying. And if he were a bridge, he couldn't just sit down and die.
But both Abraham and Olson would die, too, probably before he did. Olson had been stiffening up for a while now, and Abraham… he had the shoes to keep going forever, and quite possibly the mental stamina, but he was really too skinny. Parker might beat him. Parker was tough, Parker was saner than most of the kids on the Walk, and if Parker went down he would go down swinging.
But Baker didn't think he would win. Baker didn't honestly know who would win, but he hoped that it wouldn't be him.
This was requested on Tumblr, by someone who wanted a Baker-centric fic featuring Parker, Abraham, & Olson!