On the Subject of Being Lostby ALC Punk!Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine. Owned by Marvel.
He drew in again and coughed. Drank and winced at the taste. Warm and stale the beer tasted like piss. No, it tasted worse, goat piss or yak urine. The air currents around him shifted, the chair across from him creaked slightly as someone slid into it. "Fuck off." Whoever it was shifted slightly, but remained. "Sod the fuck off you miserable bastard." Her scent wafted over to him. He clamped down on the fag and drew again. "I'm not going away. You're being childish, but I think you're allowed that." He raised the glass and drank more yak piss. "I guess I just talk at you then, if you don't want to answer. I need to say it anyway. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for letting you walk out without a fight. I wish--I *can* wish all I want that you hadn't left in the first place. I can wish that you would have talked. I can even wish that--stop me if this is getting boring--I hadn't gone off to SHIELD. That I hadn't thought for even an instant that life might be nice if it were more normal with someone closer to my age." She paused and a glass clinked against teeth. The sound of her swallowing was loud in their little corner. "I wish you hadn't run off. I wish you hadn't felt the need to hide. And I wish that I'd found you sooner." He drank again. For a time there was silence. He went through two more cigs. A glass shattering broke the stillness. "Talk to me, please!" She sounded almost desperate, pain lacing her words. Ragged. "Tell me what you want." "Sod off. Go away." His voice was hoarse with misuse. He drank again. The taste hadn't improved. The table shifted and the chair scraped back. "I-I love you." Three simple words fill of such pain and longing they should break a heart or two. The heart they shattered on felt like obsidian. She was gone, he could hear her, walking away. His eyes creaked open and he tried for one last glimpse of her, of perfection. Bent shoulders, confident stride and that gorgeous hair. Slowly the vision penetrated ~Get up you stupid sod. This was what you were waiting for, wasn't it?~ His legs felt like jelly. The chair toppling over precipitated him onto the table. And through it. The crash was loud and the stream of invective he let loose while struggling back to his feet added more noise. People ignored it. And she was gone. Out the door, out of his life-- Cursing even more, he lurched for the door. The bouncer stopped him and he blindly thrust bills at the hulking brute. Outside the sunlight seared into his sodden brain through beer-soaked eyes. He winced and frantically scanned the street. There! She was getting into a cab, he lurched towards her, "Wait!" It came out a croak, barely reaching the fly buzzing at his left ear. She certainly didn't hear it and her cab pulled away. There was another cab across the one-way street and he ran, trying to catch it. The driver saw him, "Yeah, where to?" "Follow *pant* that cab! *pant*" His nicotine and booze coated lungs struggled for breath. The cabbie looked at him, then shrugged as he shoved a handful of bills at him. "Right. Yes, sir." And they were off. Headed into downtown. Eventually, they pulled up outside a department store and all parties disembarked and paid their fares. He was able to walk normally now and exertion had burnt most of the alcohol down to a bareable level. The nicotine buzz was wearing off and he stopped to light up again. And was promptly old by the door man he approached that it was a no smoking building. Snarling, he stubbed it out and shoved past the man into the gloom of the building. "Shit." He'd lost her. No, wait! That brunette hair was riding the escalator. Ignoring the other shoppers and merchandise, he ran across the floor, weaving and ducking. The escalator moved to slow so he ran up it. "Excuse me." It wasn't her. He cursed and whirled around, trying to see her. Nothing. "Attention shoppers, there is now a special.." "Intercom. A sodding intercom." He set off for an information desk. There it was. And yes, there was a man standing there announcing. "Attention shoppers, would--" "Give me that bloody thing, you prat. 'Allo? *cracklewhine* This had better be fucking on. Hallo. Look, I'm sorry, too. I just.. Bloody hell this won't work, what are you Dr. Joyce or sommat? Hey, do you mind?? This is the woman *I* love not your plodding girlfriend!" "All I'm saying is that sorry doesn't count--tell her you love her.. Hey, maybe you might want to take a shower, too? Women seem to like that and, man, you've got a pong on you that--" She'd started at the first sound of his voice. Yes, she'd been thinking of him, but.. Over a loudspeaker? Her jaw dropped as he continued speaking. And then the conversation started. ~Damn, where's the info desk?~ Blindly, she shoved past people, "Excuse me, excuse me. Get out of my bloody way!" "..you've got a pong on you that--" She froze her heart in her mouth, ~Love?~ She could see him now, standing there arguing with the little man holding the mic, looking suddenly uncertain. He straightened and leaned forward. "Katherine Anne Pryde, I love you." "There, mate, any woman that can resist that is not right in the head." The clerk informed the rather shabby and gaunt man standing there, who had just bared his soul in the middle of a department store. And then she was standing there in front of him, eyes wary even through tears. "Pete?" She flung herself into his arms and he staggered a bit. "You stupid git, you had to follow me! Why didn't you just call after me? Oh," She wrinkled her nose. "And you do need a shower. I-I'm babbling." She pulled back and looked into his eyes, "I love you too, Peter Wisdom. But really, um, you are a bit dirty. Why don't we go and find a shower?" And they were gone. _--Finis--_
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