This is just something pretty short... from Sept, 2001. But if you haven't read it, it's new to you! Please enjoy.
Title: Bridge of Summer
Author: Ileana (babygray)
Pairing: 1+2
Disclaimer: GW is not mine. This is pure jest.
Notes: Plot influenced by Banana Yoshimoto's Moonlight Sonata (printed in Kitchen). A bit rough and un-beta'ed. The angst starts here, by the way...
Duo is grateful for the shadows of early morning, especially in July. The city has been hit by a terrible heat as of late. He lifts his thermos of iced coffee to the dark river and the lightening sky, giving thanks that it's never too hot for a morning jog, so long as the sun doesn't rise.
Heero smirks as he watches his partner's salute before looking down once more at the cool, dark waters below. "You seem to be in a great mood."
Duo laughs. "Me, nah..." He drinks from his thermos of coffee without pretense. "There's just something about summer, though..."
Heero looks at Duo's face with strange care. Two strangers... forging a friendship under only one circumstance...
There's something strangely beautiful in Duo's face. Duo comes to the bridge morning after morning, sweaty and exhausted, but always with a smile on his face. Heero sees it, no matter how dark it is.
At first, Heero did not want to know anything about this bridge friend, but as days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, he begins to itch for more of this man.
What is his whole name?
What does he do for a living?
Is he even married?
A bird cries out in the distance, calling out to all the sleeping to awaken to the sun.
"Duo..." He takes a sip of the cold coffee Duo had served him.
"Yeah, Heero?" He puts his thermos down and stretches his arms above his head. He grins as a bit of reflected light flashes in his eyes.
"Do you... want, um..."
"Yeah?" Duo watches Heero, waiting. Below, a fish splashes up from the dark water.
"Go to the beach with me tomorrow?" he rushes out.
Duo's smile crashes slowly as the question slips from Heero's lips. Moments upon moments slide against each other as Heero watches Duo's unpleasant reaction.
There have been moments while on the bridge with Heero that Duo will admit to wishing to see him as something other than a guy he meets after his morning jog. There is some regret within him, but he can't get involved with this man.
He knows nothing of this man other than his first name and his habit of exercising early in the morning. That is enough, he thinks briskly to himself as he lifts the thermos from the concrete and stretches his hand out for the cup still in Heero's possession.
Heero sees the sudden flash of fear flash in Duo's eyes, just as surely as he sees the steel within them now as his hand asks for his cup back.
He has broken the trust. The bird sings out once more.
He hands back the cup with some reluctance.
Not looking to see if there is any more of the coffee in the cup, he faces the river and turns it upside down. An ounce or two escapes to the river.
He tops off his thermos and tucks it away in the small pouch he has brought with him before turning once more to Heero.
He, of course, is gone now, gone before the last drop of coffee that had touched Heero's lips joined the dark river.
Duo snorts, strangely not surprised in Heero's actions, before walking back home.
--
It's colder this morning than yesterday, Duo thinks to himself absentmindedly as he leans against the railing. A hand reaches into his pouch and pulls out his thermos. Earl Grey.
It's Heero's favorite, just the way he likes it: sugar, milk, and a hint of lemon. He may not know much about his bridge friend, but he does know what he likes to drink on unusually cold mornings. Maybe he will let Duo apologize today.
Duo was wrong for doing what he had done yesterday. He likes Heero, really.
He stands on the bridge, waiting patiently for his partner's arrival from the east, even as the river turns from black to a presentable royal blue.
Even as more and more pedestrians pass him by, he stays.
Even as his stomach growls for food... and as the sun prepares to set, he waits.
As the last rays of sunlight disappear that oppressively hot day, he waits.
Only at the appearance of faint stars did he retreat back home.