|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:26 am
Tony listened as Edward spoke, chewing his mouthful of food slowly. He glanced down at the table, looking guilty.
Was it really not something he liked? That was hard to argue. It certainly felt like something he liked. Very much so, in fact. He always had a blast doing something like hot wiring a car, or robbing someone in an alley, or something else along those lines. Juvenile, he was well aware, but maybe something in him had just never fully matured and that was why he kept coming back to this.
Or maybe he was just justifying it as a character flaw so he could just keep on doing. Since there was clearly nothing he could do to fix the issue if it was part of his nature.
Still, Edward was striking a cord, and Tony couldn't look up at him for a moment. He swallowed hard and sighed. When he did look up and catch Edward's expression he immediately wished it hadn't, because it just made him feel bad about giving in to his bad impulses.
"Of course we got out," he said, very slowly and with some profound thought, "it's not like that. I'm not that man any more. That boy, really, and neither are you. I just think..." he shook his head, not wanting to have a therapy session in the middle of a diner, "I need something that makes me feel like I can actually do something. Have some skill, something I'm good at. Unfortunately, I'm not that good at anything save... you know. All that. I know it's not right, and it certainly isn't worthy in any sense, but... I don't know. I think without it I'd be completely useless." He smiled sadly, then shook his head and forced a laugh.
"I think a topic change is in order."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:50 pm
"Is it?" The worst part was that Edward's voice always remained pleasant, reasonable. As though you were expected to give a different and more correct answer. His voice listed the success criteria you had to fulfill: try again. But maybe there was something weary enough in Anthony's face to get a release, as the other man said quietly: "Maybe it is."
He was digging around in his pocket. There was another Advil he'd obviously taken for luck from Anthony's stash, and this time he swallowed it with a big gulp of water. "I don't think I can do this today anyway," he said. "I've got those pre-flu pains right down in the small of my back."
To tell the truth he was just -- tired, and sad. He also let the shadows of both tiredness and sadness pass over his face where they both knew Tony could see them, even if he regretted that, but it had been a very long time. More brightly, he said: "I'll let you off if you go on a date with Carol." At seeing Tony's face, he said: "All right, though I think she probably has hidden depths. A date, any date."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:46 pm
Tony watched as Edward pulled out another pill, shaking his head. He did note the very real tiredness on the man's face, and something else. Something sad, it felt like. He supposed they had gone from laughing together to bumming each other out. Though, at least for Tony, it wasn't the other man that had drain his spirit a bit.
It was thinking about himself, about the man he was now. Or wasn't. Who he had always wanted to be, even when he was acting like an idiot as a kid. How he wasn't really anything now, anyway, despite 'getting out'. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that he still clung to his past like it was a safety blanket.
"I'm sorry about your pre-flu," he said, absently. He wasn't teasing, but he wasn't paying attention to his wording. Edward's next comment snapped him out of his trance though.
"Excuse me?"
"I will tell you right now," Tony said, leaning forward with his hand raised, pointing at the other man. He was fighting a smile as he spoke, trying to look as serious as possible, "the very last thing I ever want to discover is Carol's hidden depths."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:36 pm
Edward had been drinking his glass of water, possibly to chase down the Advil. This ended in a mouthful getting neatly sprayed over his salad, at which point the fairly depressing bumming-outage turned once more into Edward Nguyen's embarrassed laughter.
"Tony," he said, trying to be scandalised -- and just ended up laughing again, the kind of laughter you got where it was just one degree too high above acceptable and other people were going to look. He tried to clamp one hand over his mouth. It didn't work. He ended up pushing the salad away and doubling over to laugh into his arm until tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
"All right," he said afterwards, when the laughter had subsided. "Check, please. I'm done. I don't think I can even -- " (The sniggers came back.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 11:12 pm
Glad for the change once again, Tony laughed heartily at Edward's reaction, pulling back in his seat and pointing as he spat out his water. He pretended to be sprayed, looking disgusted, then laughed again.
"Careful!" he said between pants for air, "you'll drown that way."
Nearly falling over in his chair, he felt his side burning from the exertion. He gripped it, wishing he hadn't just eaten that large sandwich, feeling like he had just run a mile. It was like a stress cramp, except he was still seated at the lunch table. And it was so worth it.
Heaving a sigh with a sound.
"I think you're right," he said. And sure enough, the waitress thought so too. Though she liked both of them, and loved serving them, she imagined the glares from the other customers were good indicators that the two should be on their way. She gave them the check and Tony paid before Edward could notice. He was still laughing, though not as hard. He could actually talk now.
"Well, that was a good way to spend my lunch break, I have to say. Thanks for always showing up, man, it really does mean a lot to me, even if I don't say it," he didn't mean to get mushy, but he was in a great mood now and it just spilled out between the chuckles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:34 am
They were standing outside the diner. Edward was still mopping water spills off his Spiderman tie, giving up when blotting just made it more splotchy and more obvious. They had stood together laughing on the pavement like two kids kicked out of a movie theater for throwing popcorn. It felt good.
"No," he said, and he glanced a smile over at the older man. "No, I know. I don't think you know how much -- well, maybe you do."
Outside in the city Destiny's lunchtime traffic honked and grumbled at each other. There were the smells of petrol, smoke, concrete. Oily urban smells. "I care about you," said Edward. He said it with unaffected bromantic honesty, but he also said it with the faint air of this is why I say the things I say. 'Care' was easy. Confirmed with, "That's why I worry," like Tony was one of his kids he was keyworker for. "Next time I get the check. What will Carol say if she knows I get the lunch dates and you won't even buy her a coffee?"
At least there hadn't been a spiel. "I'll call you," he said, and glanced at his watch. "I'd better get going if I want to make it to Hillworth by one-thirty. Take care of yourself, Tony. Stop sleeping on your deceptively comfy couch."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:27 pm
Tony couldn't help but smile. He didn't feel embarrassed, or at least not as he thought he might have, from their honest exchanged. Edward was his friend, one of the only real ones he had, and it made it that much more meaningful because they had known each other for so long. Granted, they might not have appreciated the fact until they were both 'out' of that whole mess, but it was still important.
"You can get the check if you beat me to it," Tony laughed, nodding. He tried not to think about Carol, not wanting to spoil his good mood, though he imagined she would probably challenge poor Edward to a show down at dawn, or something similar.
"Sure thing," he glanced at his watch only because Edward had looked at his, and that kind of thing traveled. He realized he was over his break time, but that was okay. Who was going to fire him? He offered his hand for a hand shake and then patted Edward on the shoulder before finally parting ways, heading to walk the short distance back to the library.
He glanced back, "I make no promises about the couch. Take care, Edward. See you next time." He smiled broadly, knowing there would be a next time, because there always was. Most of the time. And he certainly wanted there to be. But for now, he had to start shifting his thoughts away from the past and dirty innuendos back to books and numbers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
