Green Light (GeminiFourth AU)

Extra

4️⃣

"It feels pathetic spending my thirtieth birthday alone, so come over and celebrate it in a way that doesn't remind me of how old I am. And give me something while you're at it," typed Mark, telling Fourth to meet him at the pub.

When Fourth appeared, he wordlessly threw a piece of Tirol chocolate in Mark's face. "Happy birthday, Mark, you parasitic 30-year-old unmarried creep. There's your present."

"What, the anniversary of my birth is only worth ten yen?"

"You're behind the times, man. They're twenty yen now."

"Whoa, for real?" He picked up the candy and stared hard at it.

Who'd have thought something this tiny would get ten yen more expensive?

"Times sure do change."

"You haven't even been thirty for a day, and you already sound like an old man."

"When you get to be my age, you start to really feel the passage of time. Hey, what's that look for? You know, I'm not just saying that because I got dumped by a younger woman."

Mark gave this speech a histrionic flair, but all he got was a look of pity. He wished Fourth would reply with a joke at times like these, but his old friend was an ill-natured guy and always had been. Actually, it seemed like he was getting even more warped lately. Considering Fourth's work and love life were both going great and he basically had no problems, Mark was at a loss to explain this. The human mind was a mysterious thing.

Mark ordered some beer. "Hey, by the way, where's your precious darling today? Mountain-climbing again?" Mark asked, opening a menu.

Gemini, Fourth's lover and Mark's friend, had been in a mountain climbing craze for about a year now. Though the two of them lived together, their work schedules didn't overlap at all, and their weekend hobbies were exactly opposite, too: Gemini liked outdoor activities; Fourth liked indoor ones. But they were getting on all right anyway.

"Fifteen years, huh? You guys have stayed together a pretty long time," Mark said quietly, resting his cheek on his hand.

When Mark found out about their relationship during senior year of high school, he'd been certain it wouldn't stick. To him, romance was something you enjoyed more lightheartedly. He had no interest in an association with risks attached. So he'd followed their relationship with half respect and half disbelief, like he was watching two monks-in-training perform ascetic exercises: "Well, you've sure got energy."

Lately, though, he's got to thinking. Maybe finding someone you shared the same feelings with, whom you could build a bond of trust and happily go through life together with, wasn't a piece of good fortune that was easily come by. "Do you even realize how lucky you are?" Mark said cattily, wanting to tease his friend a little.

"Yeah." Fourth shrugged. "I mean, he could've landed someone better. I think he's a moronic freak for staying with a guy like me for fifteen years."

"What is that, deadpan boyfriend bragging?" Mark asked suspiciously.

The corner of Fourth's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Whoops, you got me."

"Your way of saying things is as warped as ever. Why don't you try just saying what you really mean sometimes?"

"Gemini says the way I talk is cute."

"You know what? Never mind. You don't need to say things straight after all," Mark backpedaled, gooseflesh rising all over his arms.

They were a sickeningly lovey-dovey couple, but Mark knew they'd come close to breaking up more than once. They'd survived many trials, and kept on making the choice to live their lives together. And so Fourth and Gemini were still together.

Mark liked what they had with each other. Having the two of them as a constant in this ever-changing world gave him a strange feeling of relief in those times when he found himself inexplicably forlorn.

May my old friends keep this quiet happiness forever, and may I find a wonderful lover too, Mark wished, and then touched his beer glass to Fourth's in a toast to his thirtieth birthday.

END