Red and Black – Chapter 9
Okay, this is where everything gets hella cute. These gardens are a place that I've actually been, and I would like to say that they are both beautiful and confusing as hell. Seriously I got lost like, 3 times in the space of an hour.
First date time!
"Come on Tim, where are we going?" He said as he walked hand in hand with Tim, following him through an unfamiliar part of Tokyo; an ancient-looking wall on the left and a small school's baseball field on the right. Gordon was sure that they weren't here to watch a bunch of ten year-olds play baseball, so whatever Tim had in mind had to be behind the wall. He found that his guess was right when they came to an archway in the wall, and were given two small paper bags by woman stood at the entrance in traditional Japanese dress. Tim bowed to the woman as Gordon looked inside his bag to find what looked like tiny cheese croutons.
"Did we just get given tiny cheese croutons?" He asked. Tim laughed and said,
"Not quite, but definitely don't eat them; I don't fancy A&E as a first date location, do you?"
They continued to walk hand in hand until they reached the edge of a huge lake; they were surrounded by beautiful rare trees, blossoms, and flowers. Much to Gordon's surprise, a koi fish jumped up at the side of the lake right in front of him, followed by dozens of others. Tim reached into his own bag and began throwing the croutons at the fish. Oh my god, Gordon thought, I'm so stupid; of course it's fish food!
They continued walking around the pond, throwing the food at the koi; they both kept laughing at the way the koi tried to eat the food. They basically just opened up the entire front of their body to reveal a massive gaping hole, and from the side it looked even more hilarious.
"Hey look, it's you." Gordon pointed out a particular koi to Tim as they kept laughing.
"Says you, Fish Boy!" Tim came back, unsurprisingly with the somewhat unimaginative nickname that John used to call him by.
In the park, time passed; the pair walked around together over bridges and under bent trees, getting lost in the bizarre gardens more than once and despite Tim's Japanese fluency, the maps still made very little sense. They mostly talked about Tim, Gordon discovered that his parents had been dead for some years and his sister had been killed while serving in the Navy; leaving him no other family and very few friends due to the travelling that his work required. It was a lonely life that they both lived, always in isolation; way more travel they could sometimes bare, and fewer opportunities to see each other than they would like.
They finally reached the centre of the park, where much to their relief; there were benches. Tim walked over to a small wooden hut, and returned with two balls of rice and two cups of green tea. They ate and drank almost silently, admiring the view over the lake together; but soon they realised the amount of time that they had spent together when the sun began to fall, by this point Gordon knew that despite the fact that it was too late to hope for daytime flight back to island, it was time to leave.
On their way out of the park they discussed when they could meet again, Tim would be in Russia all of next week; but it was too dangerous for them to be there together. They decided to wait until the week after, when they could be guaranteed a few days together in London. Gordon stepped onto the first step of Tracy One, still not quite at Tim's height, but tall enough to realise and appreciate the height difference. Gordon kissed Tim for the first and final time that day, savouring its sweet explosion taste and passion; knowing that it would be two weeks before he would be able to experience such magic again. Gordon still wasn't sure how he would survive those two weeks away.
But as he prepped for take-off he watched as his lover walked away to the safety of the terminal, and away from him. On the flight home felt a horrible pain, over the worry of what would happen if Tim found out the truth; about International Rescue, what he did nearly every day under anonymous cover, what made him so dangerous to be attached to. Would he leave? Or would there be a day when their lives forced them apart? He tried not to think about it and smiled as he reverted his thoughts back to the delights that waited for him two weeks away.
Sorry it's a short one again, but I hope that instilled some feels and some foreshadowing. *turns on ominous raincloud filter* Will shit go down?
Please R&R with whether you want more date chapters or more general story time, you will also receive a virtual koi fish; seriously they're hilarious to look at and really cute.
Late-o's my little potatoes!