In Every Universe

7

They make a run for the truck.
Wet to the bone, they enter and slam the doors shut. Win turns on the engine and it sputters to life. He switches the windshield wiper on but even at the highest setting, it could not cut through the rain.

Win hesitates. Visibility was low and the thought of driving in these conditions scared him but he didn't think Bright would be amenable to waiting out the rain. He very clearly has been wanting to go home from the start.

Win decides to take his chances and he gingerly presses on the gas pedal. The truck lurches forward but they haven't even gone a couple hundred meters before they hit what seemed to be a protruding rock.

"Watch it!", Bright yells, splaying one hand across Win's chest just in time to prevent him from banging against the steering wheel.

"Sorry," Win responds, visibly shaken.

"What are you doing?," Bright says, tone still sharp.

"I said I'm sorry."

"You can't see anything can you?"

Win thinks Bright was criticizing him. And it stings. "Why can you?," he shoots back, voice shaking almost as badly as his hands.

"I think it's best if we stay put. Let's stay here, okay?"

Win is surprised by how gentle Bright sounded. "But you don't like being with me."

"That's not true."

"Bright, you once hid behind your bookshelf for an hour just to avoid talking to me."

"You saw me?"

"It wasn't a big bookshelf."

"Fine. How about this? I like you more than I like car accidents."

"How sweet of you."

"That's what I am - all honey and sugar."

Win laughs despite himself. "You're right. We should stay put. Clearly we're both not thinking straight."

"I forgot how dark it could get here. That's on me."

"It's fine. This trip was actually very helpful."

"It wasn't very helpful to your bumper."

Win shrugs. "Hopefully it's a small dent."

"You're hungry right?"

"Yeah...I doubt there's a restaurant here though," Win quips lamely.

Bright rummages through his groceries. "You like mangoes, right?"

Win stares at Bright as he pulls out two mangoes and starts peeling them open. "How do you know that?"

Bright hesitates for a very brief moment, so brief that anyone else would not have noticed but Win was watching him like a hawk.

"Who doesn't like mangoes?," Bright says as he hands one fruit to Win.

"How do you know me?"

"We met each other at the hospital? We work at the same place?"

"I don't buy it. You push me away. You warn me to stay away. And you keep letting slip that you knew me before."

"You're reading too much into this."

"Am I?"

"Obviously," comes Bright's flippant response. But he could no longer make eye contact.

"Tell me why you hate me and I'll decide if I believe you."

"I don't hate you."

"I don't believe you."

Lying to Win was not something Bright was skilled at. Those crescent eyes had the uncanny ability to coax truths from Bright's lips. But he had to lie. There was no way he could let Win know. No way he'd allow him to ever remember.

"I tell everyone to stay away from me, you are not special," Bright says, forcing the frost back into his voice.

He ignores how his heart melted at the sight of Win's cherub cheeks and the adorable way fruit juice was making it's way down his chin.

"I never said I was. But anyone can tell you take special pains to push me away."

A half truth then. Bright could manage a half truth. "Because you seem like a person who sticks."

"Are you calling me clingy? Because excuse me-"

"No. I am saying there are people who have the natural ability to carve spaces for themselves in other's lives. People who with one smile or one hello, you can never get out of your mind."

"You think about me?"

Bright swallows. This is dangerous territory. "I shouldn't," he manages.

"Because of your wife?"

"Because I destroy people who get too close. There is a reason I keep to myself Metawin."

"You think you're a jinx?"

"Jinxed. Cursed. It doesn't matter what you call it, the result is the same."

Win laughs and this takes Bright unaware.

"Are you trying to prank me? I'm not that gullible," Win says.

"I am being serious."

"First gods, now this. You never struck me as someone who believed in magic and superstition."

"Why not?"

"You seem too uptight for that."

"Getting close to me would be bad for you. You need to trust me on this."

"We don't need to be close. We could just be buddies. Bros. Aren't you tired of avoiding me? Our shop is so small."

This is a bad idea. A very bad idea.
But those eyes. That face that was far too close to him in this very small space.
"Acquaintances," he says, a little too softly.

Win smiles.

Bright acts on instinct, wiping the mango from those perfect lips with the knuckles of his hand.

Win is surprised but only smiles wider. "I'd love that," he says. "I'd love to be acquaintances."

Fire was traveling from Bright's fingers to his entire body. He longed to feel that mouth on his skin one more time. A mouth he'd loved for a multitude of lifetimes.

But he didn't sacrifice this much just to cave in to his own weaknesses.

"Good," he said, trying to move farther away. "Acquaintances then."

Win didn't seem to sense the heartbreak Bright was trying to keep at bay. In fact, Win seemed relieved to be called a friend - well, a little less than a friend by the man in the passenger seat.

He began talking - telling Bright stories from his childhood, recounting memories with his brother, his misadventures in school.

It rained all night long and Win was as relentless as the sky. Showering Bright with a warmth he so sorely missed.

Bright doesn't remember when Win fell asleep or when the rain started to slow.

All he knows is that Win's hair was tickling his nose and the crook of his neck. All he knows is that he was courting disaster and he needed to find a way to get Win out of his life somehow. But maybe not at this moment.

All he knows is that right now, while the other is lost in dreams, Bright can kiss the top of Win's head and whisper softly "I miss you, Love." And no one will be the wiser. Not even the gods.