A Cyborg 009 ficlet by Maria.
Shonen-ai and spoilers warning!
"Hey, Jet... asleep already?".
Jet Link blinked. He and his friend Francoise Arnoul were lying down on the grass of Central Park, staring at the stars - or what the polluted air of the Earth allowed them to see. She, however, didn't exactly have that problem... all it would take her to solve it was to use her enhanced senses, and she'd be able to see the blinking light dots in the dark sky much clearly.
"... Not exactly", he merely told her, not looking at her.
"Were you thinking of something?", she insisted, and he felt her eyes fixed on his face.
/Geee... she doesn't give up, does she/, Jet thought when he heard her say that.
He himself wasn't sure how to reply to such a question - not even to her, one of the few people able to get him to answer to almost any questions. And that was because Francoise was the best friend of Joe Shimamura, the man he loved, and even after they got together she still shared a bond with him... one that Jet wasn't able to exactly classify, and it still made him kinda uncomfortable at times.
/Once she was like this with him... yet you never know.../
Until few years ago, Jet didn't understand even why he was still alive. He should've been dead decades ago, yeah, most likely killed in one of the streetfights so common in the old Bronx... the same one he still lived and worked in. And yet there he was, lying on the grass and stargazing with a beautiful woman who shared that sort of bittersweet destiny with him and Joe...
What a strange thing.
"... Jet".
He sat up and stared at Francoise... who also was the first friend he had after Black Ghost stole their lives away. He had seen her angry, sad, happy, scared - but unless he had no real choice, he barely allowed her to see more of him. And such things just happened once or twice, when he tried to cheer her up after anythign bad involving her and Joe happened...
"What do you want?", he finally asked.
"To know if we're both thinking of him...", she nonchalantly said, extending her hand to grab his'. This took Jet so much by surprise, that not even being one of thew fastest Cyborgs of the group allowed him to avoid that contact, and soon his rough hand was under her smooth one.
/No, Francoise... you're not seeing through me... you won't do this to me... /
Jet felt his face burn in embarrassment as much as if she was kissing him instead of just taking his hand (he was still unused to body contact unless it was a death-life situation or high pressure), and tried to brush Francoise' hand away - but her smooth grip was stronger than he thought, and he couldn't.
"Jet...", she mused, his hand under hers, "we both care for Jow, and love him in our own ways...".
Yes, that was true. She gave Joe her emotional support, helped to cure his wounds, and made him smile. In the other hand, Jet pushed the Japanese into action, helped him to fight for his beliefs, and even stayed once by his side when they were about to die...
"He chose to be with you, and I'm okay with it", she continued. Jet couldn't see any pain or resentment in her face as she spoke. "But I wonder... are you okay?".
"I don't know why I shouldn't!", he retorted harshly, and again tried to get his hand free. But she was faster, and placed her other hand over the man.
/NOW I'm trapped./
"Hey, it's not sin to doubt", and she suddenly laughed. "You know I've hesitated and angsted lots of times, you've seen me".
But Jet wasn't in the mood for smooth talking, exactly. "What are you trying to tell me?".
"I'm trying to tell you", she cut him off, "that you should believe in him and yourself, just like the time you saved him",
Their eyes met, and none of them could break eye contact for several seconds. Then, he sighed, and she let go of his hand.
"... You know it's still not easy for me", he murmured, alomost like spitting the words out.
"Who said it'd be easy, anyway?", and she laughed a little. "No one ever said that life after Black Ghost was a road covered in roses".
"Unlike that virtual space that sphynx bluit for you only in his world?".
She was quite taken aback by the comment, but after some second she was ready to reply. And when she did it, she spoke in a low, kind of sad voice.
"But.. that wasn't real", she said. "Sphynx... no, Carl... he chose to trap himself in that world, the one that was the space between dream and reality, since he couldn't deal with his own death, his feelings, and his loneliness. That was sad, so sad".
Jet sighed as she looked at the sky sadly. /I so did NOT need to say that/. But few seconds later, she stared back at him, still a little sad but determined to not let it dominate her.
"However, Jet, you're not Carl", she said. "You can still build a whole world of your own without closing yourself to anybody else. And specially, not to Joe".
A whole world for him and Joe? Well... Jet wasn't sure if he'd succeed. And in other times, he would've yelled at Francoise for the mere suggestion...
/It won't hurt to try, though.../
"... Whatever you say", he just murmured.
But he could bet that Francoise knew she had won this match.