The San Francisco airport is quiet and dark, the sounds of few layover passengers shuffling about, accenting the silence.
Behind him, Angel pulls along a large suitcase. Fragile: Handle with care, a tag on the suitcase warns. A large, royal blue duffel bag hangs off his shoulder, his name and #48 embroidered on one side and the Wanderers' shield on the other.
He spots two familiar faces, sitting on the bench and having some sort of argument.
"It's temporary, Tomek." The taller and older looking man mumbles. He grabs the other's shirt collar and pulls it over his head. Tomek easily escapes his grip and slaps the other's arm. "He's not gonna live with you forever. Unless you two, like, agree on it."
"Hey, Matti, you know what else was 'temporary?' My broken leg." Tomek says, his voice flat. He tugs on his shirt to fix the creases. "I don't skate as fast anymore."
"Shut up, that's got nothing to do with him." Matti says. "I played with him in Sweden during the lockout. He's not that bad, I promise."
"Who's not that bad?" Angel finally breaks in, stopping right next to the bench.
The two look up at Angel, who, in complete honesty, looks like shit. He's got stubble that's grown past the point of a shadow, bags under his eyes, and bags dragging behind him. There's a huge bruise on his temple. Angel gives a half-ass smile.
"Your roster photo looked way cuter." Tomek says, breaking the silence.
Angel only stares at him, surprised at his forwardness and maybe possibly a little freaked out. The silence returns.
"Uh, yeah." Matti coughs and he stands to greet Angel. He puts his hand on his face, inspecting the bruise. "Fuck, man, you told me that stuff happened, but I didn't think..."
"Matti, stop, honestly, I'm fine." Angel laughs it off, but he has an edge on his voice. "Just a bad roomie."
"Well, your new one's not a dick." Matti says, and hugs him. Then, lowering his voice, he continues. "You're safe with him, okay? He likes you already, Angie."
"Thanks, Zh-" Angel stops. He winces. "...Matti."
"It's... It's not a problem." Matti pats his shoulder and motions to the person behind him. "So, this is Tomek Trcka. Team calls him Turk."
"Um, nice to meet you." Angel holds out a hand. Tomek nods and shakes his hand, and his palm is warm, a nice contrast to Angel's cold, dry hands. Angel shivers.
"...Yeah." Tomek nods again, his eyes squinting even smaller and his lips dropping into a frown.
He drops his hand- well, it was more like he forcibly takes his hand back from Tomek- and turns back to Matti. "Can we get going?"
"Sure. Race you there." Matti stands and swoops out the door, leaving the other two in the dust.
"...Do you need help with that bag?" Tomek asks as the two begin walking after Matti.
"Yeah, please." Angel sighs as the weight is taken off his shoulder. He rubs the spot the strap was digging into.
Tomek effortlessly slings it on his shoulder and gives Angel another small smile- a subtle, but observable pinch at the corners of his lips. Angel notices how the beauty mark on the right side of Tomek's face also raises with the smile. It's very slight and hard to see amongst his freckles, but Angel still takes note of it.
Angel shakes his head, knowing that he's caring too much. That flutter he feels- it's all too familiar.
The shorter leads the way to Matti's SUV, his stride bouncing, almost like a skip. Angel laughs softly, but makes sure only he hears it.
Find someone that'll make you happy, Zhenya had said. Dylan comes to mind- Dylan's loved him, stayed for him, fought for him.
And yes, Angel was happy with him. Was. Until, y'know, it turned out Dylan didn't actually love Angel, not even as a friend.
Angel may have accidentally loved Dylan Karr in another time, but this is now, and Angel knows better. If the thing Angel had with Dylan wasn't real, then how much more is it going to hurt when it is?
Find someone that'll make you happy.
Angel wonders if someone like that even exists.
"What's wrong?" Matti asks, turning his mirror to see Angel. He keeps his head forward, eyes back on the road. "You're doing that face."
"I don't know. I'm just thinking about Dylan." Angel says, slouching into the cushion of the back seat. His seatbelt rubs against his face, making his stubble burn. He doesn't mind, he's had worse happen to him.
Tomek glances back at Angel from the front passenger seat, eyebrows furrowed.
"Karr? Your little crush?" Matti snorts, obviously disapproving.
"God, no. Not anymore." Angel sighs. Relief or regret, he doesn't know. He pulls his phone out and pulls up his conversation with him.
"What happened?" Tomek asks.
"Well, for starters, I was traded here." Angel dryly responds instead of actually sharing what had actually happened. He squints at his phone, reading a new text from Dylan.
Dylan: I'm so sorry about everything I freaked out okay? It'd be all cool if you just forgive me and we just start new
Angel's face burns and he feels his blood heat. But, at the same time, a part of his mind is screaming to forgive him.
"Angel?" Matti snaps him back to reality. "Årud to Angel, do you copy?"
"Huh?" Angel looks up from his phone.
"Tomek is asking if you've seen the sights here in the city." Matti repeats, his tone rocking back and forth rhythmically like he's reciting a poem.
"The season doesn't start for a while, so I was thinking it'd be a good way to meet some of the team," Tomek says, not phased.
"Um, that would be really cool, yeah." Angel says, then directs his attention back to his phone. He sends Dylan a message.
Angel: You're a piece of shit :)
He switches his phone off and follows the road up and down with his eyes, half grinning, half grimacing. A new start where he can't ever turn back? Where he doesn't even know if the people are trustworthy? Where he has to rebuild his entire identity and reputation?
Perfect. It's just what he ordered.
YOU ARE READING
ANGEL CHIRPS
General Fiction"Angel, you're trying to prove yourself to people who don't care about you." Currently being adapted into a webcomic, check out the story so far on theteamtrauma.com !
