Spoilers: Can't think of anything.
Summary: It just couldn't happen on the corner of 23rd and I.
He didn't think he ever remembered her looking this beautiful, this radiant, and even as he fought to reject the word, he realized content. She hadn't noticed him yet, and he was still lost in the awe of seeing her after so long, he didn't think he could face actually talking to her, somehow the fact that she had left him seemed irrelevant, he couldn't shatter that peace by believing that now, he was nothing more than a footnote in history for her. He tried not to stare, and to a certain extent he was succeeding, instead risking frequent glances in her direction, studying her every feature, in the brief snapshots his mind was cataloguing he noted every change that was imperceptible to anyone but him.
She was glowing as she laughed with a group of women that were completely unknown to him. He held back tears of anguish, feeling twisted inside for feeling proud of everything she'd accomplished since she left him. And then he chuckled bitterly, hating that she took a path he couldn't ever follow.
He'd often tell Toby that he didn't regret how things turned out between them, and he somehow managed to be convincing, more so as time passed, he'd even managed to be confused by the sympathetic actions of his friends. It was always a conversation that took place without words, and in this instant, as he watched an amazing blush rise through her, and felt her laughter echo through the cold air, his heart wrenched at words that should have been said.
In the moments that he allowed himself to think of her he'd never imagined he'd feel like this when finally seeing her, but then, he never imagined that they would cross paths again, in fact, he tried his best to make sure they never did, at least not like this. That alone should have told him how much he was hurting, but as always, he somehow managed to remain clueless, or perhaps more accurately, he managed to avoid, displace, and deny his feelings altogether.
As he stood across from her, his heart breaking into little pieces with everything that doesn't exist between them now, he decided he didn't care for misdirection any more.
He tightened the scarf around himself and began to walk away with his glove covered hands securely in his coat pockets, with each step his pace increasing, and his heart cracking just that little bit more. He fought with every part of his being to not turn around and take one last look.
He needed to get over her, move on so to speak, but he hadn't ever fully acknowledged that he was stuck on her. It was so much easier to deny how he felt because then he could deny this moment that needed to happen, and now that it was happening, it just couldn't happen on the corner of 23rd and I.